Saturday is announcement day for one of the best prospects that the state of North Carolina has seen on the recruiting trails. 2022 5✮ DT Travis Shaw will reveal his destination following the first game of his senior season on Friday with the Grimsley Whirlies, who began their defense of the 4A state title.
Shaw’s commitment, which was set last week on social media, will take place from Grimsley High School and will be available via live stream on CBS Sports HQ at 6:30 PM EST. Shaw, the No. 3 overall player in the 2022 class, will announce between the Tar Heels, Clemson, Georgia and North Carolina A&T, a final four that he released back in the middle of June.
The Tar Heels will head into the decision as the heavy favorite, but that has not been the case for the majority of this recruitment. The Clemson Tigers were perceived as the leader for services for the majority of his recruitment, even dating back to the middle of June. What appeared to turn everything in the right direction for the Tar Heels was his official visit to Chapel Hill, which took place on the final weekend of June. The momentum for the Tar Heels appeared to begin almost immediately on that official visit, as they received two crystal ball predictions on the first night he was on campus and they have not looked back. Now, just prior to the start of an exciting 2021 season for the program, they may be able to land this huge commitment and continue to add to the hard charge they are making to be a year in and year out contender.
The predictions strongly favor the Tar Heels approaching the announcement between the two major sites. The Tar Heels hold all but one of the crystal ball predictions on 247Sports website at the time, but each of the last eight predictions are in favor of Mack Brown and crew and have a confidence level of six or higher. As for the Rivals Futurecast, the Tar Heels own seven of the eight predictions, but each of the last seven including the one cast by their national recruiting director, Mike Farrell.
If the Tar Heels can secure this commitment, it will without a doubt be one of, if not the biggest recruiting wins in Carolina history and for a variety of different reasons.
Landing his commitment would only further put the nation on notice about the momentum that the program has been making since Brown’s return and would give them a commitment from yet another game changing defensive lineman. Today could very well be a happy one for the Tar Heels when it is all said and done.
Prediction: North Carolina