After committing to Duke in April, East Lincoln QB Chazz Surratt picks UNC

If not for a far-reaching academic scandal that has hung over North Carolina’s athletic program for months, East Lincoln quarterback Chazz Surratt said he would have committed to play football in Chapel Hill long ago.

Surratt committed to Duke in April, but the Tar Heels continued to recruit him as he followed the NCAA investigation into the school.

Last week, Surratt said North Carolina coaches told him they felt strongly the football program would not receive heavy sanctions. Thursday night, Surratt said Tar Heels basketball coach Roy Williams promised him a walk-on spot if he came to Chapel Hill.

Friday morning, Surratt, 18, called Duke coaches and told them he wasn’t coming. He then called UNC coach Larry Fedora and told him he would be a Tar Heel.

Scout.com ranks Surratt, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior, as the state’s No. 2 quarterback prospect behind Cuthbertson’s Austin Kendall, an Oklahoma recruit.

“It’s just the relationship I had with Carolina’s coaches,” Surratt said, “and I have been following them (and the NCAA issues). Last week, they said it was looking good and the lawyers were saying it wasn’t going to touch football. That re-opened my thought process.”

Surratt led East Lincoln to a 16-0 record last season and a state championship. He threw for 4,338 yards and 51 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,239 yards and 22 scores. When he committed to Duke April 21, he chose the Blue Devils over Boston College, Clemson, Georiga Tech, North Carolina, N.C. State, Tennessee, Wake Forest and West Virginia.

Surratt is also one of the state’s top basketball players, earning all-state honors after leading East Lincoln to the 2A state championship, where the Mustangs lost to Kinston and All-American Duke recruit Brandon Ingram, spoiling an unbeaten season.

Surratt said he felt at peace with his decision.

“I spoke to the Duke coaches earlier (Friday),” he said. “They were pretty upset, as you would probably expect. I felt like this was a good decision for me. Carolina would’ve been my first choice if not for the allegations. I have grown up being a Tar Heel fan. My family are Tar Heels fans. I really liked everything about it when I went to visit. I just felt like it was a good fit at UNC.”

Surratt said Tar Heels coaches have offered his brother, Sage, a 6-2 junior wide receiver, a scholarship to play football. He said Williams also extended the walk-on basketball offer to Sage Surratt. Sage Surratt is also being recruited by Wake Forest for basketball and is receiving Division I basketball interest from seven or eight schools, Chazz Surratt said.

Football

Independence High defensive lineman Christian Colon, a 2014 Charlotte Observer all-star, committed to Penn State. Colon, 6-3 and 315 pounds, had 101 tackles, three sacks, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries against constant double-teams last season.

Basketball

Former West Charlotte High basketball star Thad Bonapart, a two-time Observer Player of the Year, has put together the first Queen City Holiday Classic Dec. 28-30 at Vance High. It’ll be the second tournament in Charlotte that week, along with the Hoodies House of Hope event that will begin its third year.

Bonapart’s tournament will feature Pinetown Northside High and top 10 national recruit Edrice Adebayo, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound power forward who is being heavily recruited by North Carolina and Duke. Adebayo will be a senior this fall.

Bonapart, who led West Charlotte to back-to-back state titles in the early ’90s, will have a 10-team field: Cape Henry (Va.), Arden Christ School, Coolidge (D.C.), Columbia Keenan, Raleigh Millbrook, Moravian Prep, Pinetown Northside, Columbia Ridgeview, Vance, Raleigh Word of God.

▪ Rodney Hasan is Garinger’s new boys’ coach. He replaces Carlton Anthony, who resigned for medical reasons. Hasan was a longtime coach at Eastway Middle and a former Concord Cannon assistant.

▪ Several Observer-area players are participating in the Southeast Summer Showcase Sunday at Summit School in Winston-Salem. The event brings together some of the Southeast’s top players for a day of instruction and games.

Briefly

Former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ Chief Operating Officer Maurice Green will serve as president of the N.C. High School Athletic Association board of directors for the 2015-16 academic year. Green, a Duke law graduate, is superintendent of Guilford County Schools.

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 1:58 PM with the headline "After committing to Duke in April, East Lincoln QB Chazz Surratt picks UNC."