Heels First to Offer Sheffield
By Justin Rowland
Tar Heel Illustrated Staff Writer
North Carolina was the first school to offer a defensive tackle from Florida State's backyard. Will the Heels have staying power?
Jalon Sheffield is only a sophomore at Leon High School in Tallahassee.
Surprisingly, although Sheffield's hometown is also the home of Florida State University, he grew up cheering for another member of the "Big Three".
"A dream for me is to go to Florida," Sheffield readily admits.
He may get that chance. The Class of 2017 recruit is already 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds with plenty of time left to grow and a frame that's nowhere near a finished product. North Carolina's offer was the first but it probably won't be the last.
"UNC offered pretty recently," Sheffield told TarHeelIllustrated.com. "I'd say that came about a month ago. They came to the school and saw me working out. It was during workouts. I think they came to see other players but they saw me, too, and they asked about me.
"I know it was their defensive coordinator that came by but he got fired," he said.
So that leaves Sheffield in a state of limbo, so to speak. With Gene Chizik now coordinating the defense and heading the staff on that side of the ball he's likely to have his own say in personnel decisions regarding recruits. Sheffield is certainly on UNC's radar but he will probably be eagerly awaiting that first contact from UNC now that Chizik is coordinator.
"I think the first time I saw them play (on television) was last year in their rivalry game against Duke. That was the first time I saw them," he said. "So I've seen them play."
But that's it as far as his knowledge of UNC so far.
Sheffield said his recruiting coordinator and offensive line coach at Leon has told him that coaches from Kentucky have inquired. Florida has shown some interest and so has Charlotte. He unofficially visited Florida a couple of weeks ago and that bolstered the Gators as a program of interest for him.
This post was edited on 3/27 9:30 AM by Andrew Jones
By Justin Rowland
Tar Heel Illustrated Staff Writer
North Carolina was the first school to offer a defensive tackle from Florida State's backyard. Will the Heels have staying power?
Jalon Sheffield is only a sophomore at Leon High School in Tallahassee.
Surprisingly, although Sheffield's hometown is also the home of Florida State University, he grew up cheering for another member of the "Big Three".
"A dream for me is to go to Florida," Sheffield readily admits.
He may get that chance. The Class of 2017 recruit is already 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds with plenty of time left to grow and a frame that's nowhere near a finished product. North Carolina's offer was the first but it probably won't be the last.
"UNC offered pretty recently," Sheffield told TarHeelIllustrated.com. "I'd say that came about a month ago. They came to the school and saw me working out. It was during workouts. I think they came to see other players but they saw me, too, and they asked about me.
"I know it was their defensive coordinator that came by but he got fired," he said.
So that leaves Sheffield in a state of limbo, so to speak. With Gene Chizik now coordinating the defense and heading the staff on that side of the ball he's likely to have his own say in personnel decisions regarding recruits. Sheffield is certainly on UNC's radar but he will probably be eagerly awaiting that first contact from UNC now that Chizik is coordinator.
"I think the first time I saw them play (on television) was last year in their rivalry game against Duke. That was the first time I saw them," he said. "So I've seen them play."
But that's it as far as his knowledge of UNC so far.
Sheffield said his recruiting coordinator and offensive line coach at Leon has told him that coaches from Kentucky have inquired. Florida has shown some interest and so has Charlotte. He unofficially visited Florida a couple of weeks ago and that bolstered the Gators as a program of interest for him.
This post was edited on 3/27 9:30 AM by Andrew Jones
