2021 recruiting and commitments
- Thread starter WoadBlue
- Start date
With a limited amount of scholarships left, recruits better get onboard the Tar Heel Express while they can.
He has the same kind of truly unique skills with speed and quickness, strength per pound, and nose for the ball. He just isn't as big. But he can be moved all over the field, causing DCs to make big adjustments.With his speed, I'm hoping he can develop into a player with skills similar to LT's(I know, blasphemous right?), and wreak havoc from all over the field, similar to the way Simmons was used at Clemson. The kind of playmaker that every QB has to account for on every play.
The 2020 and 2021 classes on D are National Championship quality.
Yesterday's double commitment might move a needle or two toward UNC.
In college, Page is probably going to be a 340 pound NG. That super size with real talent is one thing this D is still missing.
We just lost 1 young OL to the portal. Logan Taylor has a HUGE upside because he is a native Canadian who just began playing American HS football. I assume he is an automatic take the second he is ready. Colby Smith has similar potential to be a large, limber OT able to hold his own against top DLs. He is far too promising to allow to go to Moo or anybody else if we have a scholarship.
I'd take both right now. Load up on top DL and OL talent when you can.
Thank you Deana and Andrew, good stuff! Deana's one of the few people who has a more southern accent than I do. I love it.
I'm worse, (or better, depending on ones personal taste). I grew up farming in Edgecombe County. I still live here, but work for the railroad now. Back to recruiting.
I prefer it to a Jersey or Boston accent any day. The women have always loved it.
Back to recruiting, who will get on the Tar Heel Express next?
She has that particular Carolina accent I haven't heard regularly in decades. So I like heating her.
Call me naive, but the longer Page waits, the better I feel. He could choose Clemson tomorrow and be done with it. He hasn’t. The more NC recruits sign with UNC, the more there is momentum for guys like Ritzie and Page to follow their fellow NC players and commit to UNC. It’s a momentum thing.
Ritzee tweeted about the in-state movement. Maybe he's getting ready to pull the trigger.
I've said it before, and so have others: the guys who play major minutes, some reserves as well as starters, on the first UNC National Champ in football will be legends for a lifetime. That goes double for the NC natives.
Yes indeed. I get the feeling Ritzie really likes UNC but really wants to take his visits and be feted by other schools, and who can blame him? The COVID-19 crisis has thrown a monkey wrench in on that. Still, as we get more commitments from other fellow NC kids, many of which he interacts with on social media, I think he’s getting more excited about being a part of the building of something that could be very special to his home state.
Now he may hold off and wait until the COVID-19 crisis abates and he can take his visits, who knows what a teenager will do? But nobody knows when that will be either. My gut says he pulls the trigger fairly soon, or it could just be all that deguello chili I ate today.
I think he’s a special player and I want a commitment from him as much as any other defensive recruit we’re pursuing, with the possible exception of Page.
Now he may hold off and wait until the COVID-19 crisis abates and he can take his visits, who knows what a teenager will do? But nobody knows when that will be either. My gut says he pulls the trigger fairly soon, or it could just be all that deguello chili I ate today.
I think he’s a special player and I want a commitment from him as much as any other defensive recruit we’re pursuing, with the possible exception of Page.
Its hard to imagine a national championship trophy being brought back to Chapel Hill in January... But if we keep recruiting at this level then talent will not be what stops us from winning one under Mack. We need the player development, schemes, and play calling to match the high bar that Mack has set with recruiting.
This January, yes it is. We’re still a couple of years away from having the talent and the experience to legitimately contend. But we’re making strides in that direction.
I was pleased with our performance last year. We had a chance to win every game. We were more fundamentally sound right away, something Fed’s teams just weren’t. We had less penalties, less turnovers, and actually looked like we’d practiced proper tackling techniques.
Now with an influx of more talent, we need to learn how to win more of those close games.
Yeah I just meant January in general, since we're used to bringing them home in April.
If you think back to 2015, we had a ton of close plays and breaks got our way to keep that win streak alive. I don't think that team was all that much more talented than we will be in 2020. If Longo opens up the playbook and Sam performs how we all expect him to, then 10 wins and an ACCCG appearance are totally realistic possibilities, just based on the offensive production we should have. And if we could hang with Clemson last year, then we can absolutely do it again this year.
We have a pretty favorable OOC schedule starting in 2021. The opportunity is there.
We have to realize that the big boys (Bama, Clemson, tOSU, etc.) recruit like this every single year. 2021 appears to look amazing, assuming that we can sign all of them and also that they stay healthy during their senior seasons. But, for us to ever get into the college football playoffs, we need to recruit like this again and again and again.
Maybe not top 5 level, but top 20 every year. We may not even finish in the top 10 this year, simply because we're only supposed to sign about 21 recruits. But you're right, teams like OSU, LSU, Bama, Clemson, etc... bring in top 10 classes year after year. That's how you build quality depth and have sustained success on the field.
From some of the stuff I've read online it seems like Page has really been slipping. Not managing his weight well (poor diet) and doesn't have the work ethic most programs would like to see. He fell out of the top 200 on TOS.
Yep, undoubtedly.
I believe that's exactly what has happened. I think he's spent so much time being treated like royalty by every major program in the country that he has gotten out of shape. Some guys his size can't afford to relax their regimen one bit or they balloon up. I think Page may be one of those.
It could be tough to correct the weight issues because you can’t just run him back into shape like a skill player who put on a little extra fluff in the summer. At that weight, it puts a ton of stress on the joints. Wherever he ends up he’s probably going to end up spending a lot of time in the pool and on the stationary bike. One major concern there is that it is virtually impossible to add a significant amount of muscle while in a caloric deficit, unless you’re brand new to weight training. So every day you have to spend getting him to cut weight is a lost opportunity to be building up his strength. A player who comes in slightly under weight can afford a lengthy bulking phase because they can spare a few pounds of fat that comes with the muscle.
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Yep, it's going to be tough for him to shed 30 pounds. And one has to think that his stamina is very poor right now. There's a lot of baby fat on that young man.It may take a couple of years to get him into good enough shape where he can play a lot of snaps.
Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to see him in baby blue. But he's made his row harder to hoe, and perhaps significantly so.
Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to see him in baby blue. But he's made his row harder to hoe, and perhaps significantly so.
I did a little research. This info is based off Rivals.
Clemson built their program with good classes then once they made it to the title game in 2015 (Jan 2016) then the recruiting went to another level.
Year Rivals ranking 5* 4 * 3*
2011 .. 8 .... .... 4 .. 6 .. 15
2012 .. 14 .. .. .. 0 .. 9 .. 11
2013 .. 14 .. ..... .0 .. 10 .. 10
2014 .. 13 .... .. . 1 .. 7 .. 12
2015 .. 4 .. ..... . 3 .. 9 .. 10
Clemson built their program with good classes then once they made it to the title game in 2015 (Jan 2016) then the recruiting went to another level.
Year Rivals ranking 5* 4 * 3*
2011 .. 8 .... .... 4 .. 6 .. 15
2012 .. 14 .. .. .. 0 .. 9 .. 11
2013 .. 14 .. ..... .0 .. 10 .. 10
2014 .. 13 .... .. . 1 .. 7 .. 12
2015 .. 4 .. ..... . 3 .. 9 .. 10
You need to average top 10 classes in four consecutive years. I think Clemson is the only playoff team to not have done it and they were close. So you're basically looking at rosters that have over 50% blue chip recruits.
He's a definite take for us in this class. I feel like the longer his recruitment drags out. the better chance we have. We'll just have to wait and see.
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Interesting development with Korey Foreman , 5* DE committed to Clemson.. possible flip to Southern Cal.
Nice stats, good observation. I wondered about this.
Another crystal ball in to UNC for Ritzie.
Who put in the CB? Not all CBs are created equal, lol!
I did not know that.. maybe he should flip to Auburn or LSU.. Memphis? How about Missouri?
Lol. Michael Clark (24 of 24 correct thus far for 2021) put one in for us in February and Demetric Warren (37 of 41 correct thus far for 2021) put one in for us today.
If they get that thing back on dry land I'd suggest putting it in the shop and invest in a larger propeller.
