The 2021 and 2020 in-state classes in NC were unusually loaded with defensive players, which coincided with getting rid of a staff that wasn't getting the job done and then flipping the best QB in program history from FSU in 2019. Those two factors made it appear to in-state guys in those two classes that something was different in Chapel Hill. Then to our staff's credit, they were able to get the players on the roster to play well enough to make it to the Orange Bowl just two years after winning only two games. So they've been able to sell a mix of hope and demonstrable progress, along with the idea that "the best in NC play at UNC." For the moment, recruits are buying it.

As far as why "defensive recruits" specifically, there's a long history of quality defensive lineman coming from the state of NC. One theory is that a lot of these kids who end up being 6.3-5 and weighing 275-325 as seniors in high school played a lot of basketball growing up. Travis Shaw is a great anecdotal example of that. Dexter Lawrence also comes to mind as a recent example. A kid Travis's size shouldn't have elite explosiveness and quick feet, but he does. A kid that can do what he can do is naturally going to be on the defensive of the ball, and if he's an example of a kind of athlete that is a bit more common in NC, then that's part of the reason why UNC is getting big defensive recruits at a time when we've emphasized in-state recruiting.

When Butch was here and John Blake was landing uber talented d-linemen from out of state like Robert Quinn and Marvin Austin, honest UNC fans will admit that it felt like something squirrely might have been going on behind the scenes to land those guys, which turned out to be the case. It doesn't feel like that this time around. There are logical and legal reasons for why these current kids feel like they have a connection to UNC.

If you've got some grass to cut, take a listen to this podcast from the Carolina Insider from back in April of 2018 when UNC's former AD (Dick Badour) was interviewed and gave some VERY candid comments about the John Blake situation and then also about how he and Frank Beamer had a handshake deal for Frank to leave VT and become UNC's coach. Fascinating stuff.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jones-and-adam-bring-you-a-candid-and-must/id1153767411?i=1000519246318





[Post edited by RoanokeHeel at 08/23/2021 10:35AM]