Concerns about the new coronavirus are preventing football prospects from visiting campuses this spring and keeping college coaches from traveling to evaluate them.
North Carolina coach Mack Brown said he believes this could cause more 2021 recruits to stay closer to home, though that remains up for debate.
“I do think all the kids being at home with their families, there is a little concern,” Brown said. “You love your family, you’re wanting everybody healthy. So I do think that this is encouraging people to stay closer to home.”
Brown built the Tar Heels into a power in the 1990s by making sure North Carolina’s best recruits didn’t leave the state. He is doing it again in his second stint in Chapel Hill.
Eleven of the top 13 verbally committed 2021 prospects from North Carolina have chosen the Tar Heels, according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports.com.