National Signing Day in North Carolina could be colored Tar Heel Blue
The start of the high school football early signing period Wednesday could be big for fans of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
UNC coach Mack Brown welcomes a class that is expected to include five of the Observer’s top 10 recruits in the state. In fact, the Tar Heels will get three of the top four: No. 2 Desmond Evans (defensive end, Lee County), No. 3 Kedrick Bingley-Jones (defensive tackle, Providence Day), and No. 4 Myles Murphy (defensive end, Greensboro Dudley).
Overall, UNC has commitments from nine of the Observer’s Top 25. N.C. State has four. Duke and Wake Forest don’t have any.
In South Carolina, five of the top 10 recruits in the Observer’s S.C. Top 25 are committed to the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Clemson, much more focused on national recruiting, will pick up just one of the Observer’s S.C. Top 25 - defensive back Tyler Venables from Daniel High. Venables is the son of Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
Clemson did grab two of the top five recruits from North Carolina: 5-star Mallard Creek linebacker Trent Simpson, the No. 1 ranked player in the state and the No. 3 ranked recruit nationally at his position; and Leesville Road offensive lineman Mitchell Mayes. Mayes, ranked No. 5 in North Carolina, is No. 151 overall nationally and No. 5 at the offensive guard spot.
▪ Nationally, Clemson has the No. 1 ranked recruiting class according to 247Sports, folllowed by Alabama and LSU. North Carolina (No. 17) and South Carolina (No. 18) are the next highest ranked Carolinas schools.
▪ The early signing period, which began two years ago, will run through Friday, Dec. 20. More than 80 percent of prospects are expected to sign early, many with the intent of graduating this month and heading to campus in January — and spring practice not long after that.
The traditional signing period for high school football players begins Wednesday, Feb. 5.
North Carolina Top 25
| Rk. | Name (School) | Size | Pos. | College |
| 1. | Trenton Simpson (Mallard Creek) | 6-3, 230 | LB | Clemson |
| 2. | Desmond Evans (Lee County) | 6-6, 240 | DE | UNC |
| 3. | Kedrick Bingley-Jones (Providence Day) | 6-5, 266 | DT | UNC |
| 4. | Myles Murphy (Dudley) | 6-4, 280 | DE | UNC |
| 5. | Mitchell Mayes (Leesville Road) | 6-4, 306 | OL | Clemson |
| 6. | Muhsin Muhammad (Myers Park) | 6-0, 185 | WR | Texas A&M |
| 7. | Ja’Qurious Conley (Northside) | 6-2, 203 | DB | UNC |
| 8. | Jacolbe Cowan (Providence Day) | 6-5, 262 | DT | Ohio State |
| 9. | Porter Rooks (Myers Park) | 6-1, 191 | WR | NC State |
| 10. | Cameron Roseman-Sinclair (Myers Park) | 6-0, 195 | DB | UNC |
| 11. | Mohamed Kaba (Clinton) | 6-3, 210 | LB | South Carolina |
| 12. | Ray Rose (South Point) | 6-1, 205 | WR | UNC |
| 13. | Da’Qon Stewart (North Mecklenburg) | 6-1, 195 | WR | South Carolina |
| 14. | Davin Vann (Cary) | 6-2, 275 | DT | NC State |
| 15. | Mike Wyman (Dudley) | 6-3, 195 | WR | South Carolina |
| 16. | Aydan White (Christ School) | 6-2, 170 | DB | NC State |
| 17. | Shane Whitter (Williams) | 6-0, 222 | LB | Oklahoma |
| 18. | Kendall Karr (Cramer) | 6-4, 230 | TE | UNC |
| 19. | Quentin Williams (Mallard Creek) | 6-3, 234 | DE | Miami |
| 20. | Stephen Sings (Vance) | 6-3, 225 | DE | undecided |
| 21. | Jhari Patterson (AC Reynolds) | 5-10, 190 | WR | undecided |
| 22. | Devan Boykin (Ragsdale) | 5-11, 175 | DB | NC State |
| 23. | DJ Jones (Pine Forest) | 5-11, 190 | RB | UNC |
| 24. | Jaylen Smith (Hertford County) | 6-4, 280 | DT | Oregon |
| 25. | Jonathan Adorno (Rolesville) | 6-4, 290 | OL | UNC |
South Carolina Top 25
| Rk. | Name (School) | Size | Pos. | College |
| 1. | Jordan Burch (Hammond) | 6-5, 275 | DE | undecided |
| 2. | Alex Huntley (Hammond) | 6-4, 285 | DE | South Carolina |
| 3. | Luke Doty (Myrtle Beach) | 6-1, 195 | QB | South Carolina |
| 4. | Jalin Hyatt (Dutch Fork) | 6-0, 175 | WR | Tennessee |
| 5. | Tonka Hemingway (Conway) | 6-3, 255 | DT | South Carolina |
| 6. | Mason Garcia (Carolina Forest) | 6-4, 218 | QB | East Carolina |
| 7. | Tyshawn Wannaker (Calhoun County) | 6-4, 330 | OL | South Carolina |
| 8. | Andru Phillips (Mauldin) | 5-11, 180 | DB | Kentucky |
| 9. | Trai Jones (Abbeville) | 6-2, 265 | OL | South Carolina |
| 10. | Tylee Craft (Sumter) | 6-4, 180 | WR | North Carolina |
| 11. | Deshawn Watson (Barnwell) | 6-1, 201 | LB | undecided |
| 12. | O’Donnell Fortune (Sumter) | 6-1, 170 | DB | South Carolina |
| 13. | Stan Ellis (Gaffney) | 6-0, 180 | WR | App State |
| 14. | Ger-Cari Caldwell (RH-Northwestern) | 6-4, 190 | WR | undecided |
| 15. | Jy Tolen (Gilbert) | 5-11, 190 | QB | undecided |
| 16. | Lavel Davis (Woodland) | 6-6, 215 | WR | Virginia |
| 17. | Tyler Venables (Daniel) | 5-10, 191 | DB | Clemson |
| 18. | Je’Mari Littlejohn (Gaffney) | 6-0, 220 | LB | App State |
| 19. | Xavier McIver (Cheraw) | 6-2, 290 | DT | East Carolina |
| 20. | Anthony Jackson (Rock Hill) | 6-1, 170 | DB | Charlotte |
| 21. | Rahjai Harris (Byrnes) | 5-10, 205 | RB | East Carolina |
| 22. | Jalen Coit (Cheraw) | 5-11, 160 | WR | NC State |
| 23. | Parker Clements (Lugoff-Elgin) | 6-7, 270 | OL | Virginia Tech |
| 24. | Dallan Wright (Saluda) | 6-1, 175 | WR | undecided |
| 25. | Jakobe Quillen (Wilson) | 6-3, 190 | WR | undecided |
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 6:36 PM with the headline "National Signing Day in North Carolina could be colored Tar Heel Blue."
