Mack Brown Is Building A Powerhouse At North Carolina

Last year, Mack Brown took over a North Carolina team that went 3-9 and 2-9 in the two previous seasons combined. In his first year at the helm of the Heels, he guided them to a 7-6 record, which included a 55-13 trouncing of Temple in the Military Bowl. Mack Brown is an excellent coach, and this is his 2nd stint at the school after spending 16 years at Texas from 1998 to 2013. He had five years in the booth before the Heels came calling.

In his first go-round with the team, Brown was just 2-20 in the first two years but 67-25 over his fine eight years with them. In his final year with the team (1997), Carolina went 10-1 but they were on probation so no postseason play for them that year. Brown is trying to work his magic with this team again and he is off to a fine start. He has been known as a great recruiter and he has been working his mojo here at Carolina in the second stint.

According to the Tar Heel Times, North Carolina has one 5-star recruit this year and ten 4-star recruits. That’s right, 10 big ones. They also have 14 three-star recruits that have committed so far. Their top recruit this year is defensive end Desmond Evans, who had 19 offers, including Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, and Michigan. Evans is from Sanford, North Carolina, so he chose to stay in his home state. He ranks as the 76th best player in the nation and the 4th best at his position.

North Carolina also added two more defensive ends of quality in 4-star recruits Myles Murphy and Kedrick Bingley-Jones. Murphy is from Greensboro and he ranks 16th in the nation at his position and 11th within the state overall. Bingley-Jones is from Charlotte and he ranks as the 3rd best player in the state overall while ranking 5th at his position in the nation. Brown has been known for some good defenses and after ranking 108th in points allowed in 2018 at 34.5, the Heels gave up just 24.6 ppg (51st) a year ago. The defense will be even better this year.

The offense ranked 14th in total yards last year and 49th in scoring, putting up 31.3 ppg. They have Sam Howell at QB and he had a strong season last year, throwing for 3347 yards with 35 TDs and just seven INTs. This year, the heels have two four-star receivers coming, in Josh Downs and Cedric Gray. Downs (Suwanee, Ga) ranks 9th in the nation at his position and 9th within the state of Georgia overall. Gray (Charlotte, NC) ranks 37th at his position in the nation and 29th within the state of North Carolina. Howell will have some nice offensive weapons added and they also have 4-star OL Cayden Baker coming in. The offense will be even better this year than they were a season ago.

Now, if you think this year is going to be good, just wait until 2021. Brown has been using the coronavirus downtime to do some bigtime recruiting and as a result, North Carolina has the top-rated recruiting class in the SEC next year and the 3rd rated recruiting class in the nation. The highest-ranking class in the nation that they had was 10th, back in 2007, under Butch Jones. North Carolina does not have a five-star recruit in 2021 but they have 11 four-star recruits, which ties Ohio State in that category. 13 of their 14 overall commitments for 2021 all played high-school football within the state of North Carolina.

Brown is building a monster team at North Carolina and as I said, he is no slouch when it comes to recruiting. The Longhorns finished within the top 10 in recruiting in 10 of his 16 seasons at the school. The Clemson Tigers need to be worried about the Heels for the next few years, at the very least.

All player rankings have been taken from Rivals.com