Friday night, one of the Tar Heels’ longtime targets in the 2021 class is set to announce his commitment.
2021 4✮ DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, a senior at Gaffney High School in Gaffney, SC, announced via social media earlier this week that he was set to make his college announcement later tonight, but did not reveal a time. Earlier this morning, Ingram-Dawkins announced a final four that consisted of the Tar Heels, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee and that he will reveal his official decision at 5:30 via 247Sports video stream.
Ingram-Dawkins’ recruitment has been a confusing one to get a strong read on until the end and you still never really know. As his recruitment has progressed, though, there have been two teams that have primarily emerged as the favorites. The Georgia Bulldogs seem to be the team that Ingram-Dawkins has been the closest tied to lately, as he has repped their gear pretty often in recent months. However, he still remains pretty active with South Carolina and definitely has some deep ties to them and the coaching staff. Tennessee had built some momentum earlier in the cycle, but with the commitments that the team has already received on the interior of the defensive line prior and the departure of defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbraugh likely means they will struggle to pull this one off.
As for the Tar Heels, the staff has developed a nice connection with him and he also seems to have a good relationship with a lot of the current commits. There was a time where it felt like the Tar Heels were right there with the Bulldogs and Gamecocks, but that momentum that the Tar Heels had at that time seems to have faded. The transfer of Kobe Paysour to Gaffney was something that the Tar Heels were hoping might have an impact on the direction of Ingram-Dawkins recruitment, but his choice to announce his decision now doesn’t seem to favor the notion that he will commit to the Tar Heels.
The crystal ball predictions seem to fall in line with the thinking that Georgia and South Carolina are the favorites. The Bulldogs hold the edge in both the 247Sports and Rivals predictions, with all of the most recent predictions on the site going in their directions.
The Tar Heels appear as if they will miss on this talented interior defensive lineman, but the Tar Heels will be fine at the position. The staff’s attention at the position can now fully turn towards the 2022 cycle, where the Tar Heels have three major in-state targets that they have established a really strong relationship with out of the gate.
Prediction: Georgia