University of North Carolina Athletics
GoHeels Exclusive: Signing Day Notebook
February 7, 2019 | Football, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
When Mack Brown was announced as North Carolina's new football coach on Nov. 27, the Tar Heels' 2019 recruiting class ranked 62nd nationally, according to 247Sports.com.
About three weeks remained until the early signing period. Only 10 weeks stood between then and Wednesday's traditional February signing day. Along with hitting the recruiting trail, he also needed to assemble his coaching staff, which wasn't completed until four weeks ago.
Yet, despite such challenges, the 24-man recruiting class that Brown and his staff put together ranked 32nd overall in the 247Sports Composite as of Wednesday evening.
"We signed a better class than I would've ever dreamed," said Brown during his signing day press conference. "That first night I sat here and said, 'Oh, my gosh, we're so far behind it's amazing.' … We're so far ahead. I'm excited about this class instead of like, 'Eh, we did OK.'"
Here are three more notes from the press conference:
'Balanced pretty well'
After signing 19 recruits during the early signing period, Brown said UNC needed to add more depth at linebacker, cornerback and along the offensive and defensive lines. By Wednesday evening, it had accomplished that.
Brown finalized his first class back in Chapel Hill by signing linebacker Eugene Asante, defensive back Don Chapman, offensive lineman Ty Murray and defensive linemen Wisdom Asaboro and Raymond Vohasek.
"We've got a tremendous class considering a lot of people with early signing day lose the first class," Brown said. "You just don't get a class; you get a few players. And we've got a class. It's balanced pretty well by position. So we did not lose our year. In fact, we gained some really good football players and that will help us next year as well as going into the future."
Carolina's class consists of five defensive linemen; four offensive linemen, receivers and defensive backs; two specialists and linebackers; and one quarterback, running back and tight end.Â
Emphasizing in-state recruiting
With the addition of Asaboro, from Charlotte, the Tar Heels inked five of the top-25 in-state recruits, according 247Sports. The others are Sam Howell, a four-star quarterback from Monroe; Khafre Brown, a four-star receiver from Charlotte; Triston Miller, a four-star offensive lineman from Charlotte; and Emery Simmons, a three-star receiver from Parkton. None of those players were committed before Brown's arrival.
Overall, 10 of UNC's signees are from North Carolina.
"That number will go up significantly when we're here for a year," Brown said. "What we want to do is recruit the best players in the state of North Carolina. … That's where they were raised, that's where their families can go see them play, that's where their friends can go see them play and their high school coaches. That will be what we're pushing in every home in the state of North Carolina: Stay at home, play for your home state."
So far, Brown said that message has appealed to in-state prospects, both in this year's class and in future ones.
"I think it's evident with the 2020 kids that they're all very interested and we're in on about every prospect in this state," he said. "In fact, I don't know of one that we're not right now … I feel so good about our future because of the way that the in-state guys are reacting to us right now."
'A blueprint'
Although the players he's now recruiting weren't alive when his first tenure in Chapel Hill ended about 22 years ago, Brown said he's still able to sell them on the success that he had then.
He talks to them about Carolina's 24 first-round NFL Draft picks, six of whom played for him. He also said many of the current players have asked him about some of the memorable moments from his first go-around, such as when the fifth-ranked Tar Heels hosted second-ranked Florida State at Kenan Stadium in 1997.
"There's a blueprint of what it can be and that's why we came back," Brown said. "We want to get it back to being better than it was before. So get it back to where we were, but now you can win a national championship here. We couldn't before because the BCS was more difficult. But Clemson has shown if you win this league and you can beat a team like Clemson, who is the best team in the country, then you can win the national championship."