UNC recruiting: Vernon Carey Jr. discusses recruitment, Tar Heels at AAU games
By Zack Pearson
Vernon Carey Jr. dishes out the latest on his recruitment including what he thinks of UNC
Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels are one of the teams in pursuit of class of 2019 power forward Vernon Carey Jr.
He’s one of the best players in the 2019 class and is ranked as a consensus Top 3 player and five-star recruit. Carey Jr. has interest from several top programs including UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Miami and Michigan State.
In the past week alone, Carey Jr. has been visited by the Tar Heels, Spartans and Hurricanes in-home by coaches. Now several coaches are watching Carey Jr. play in the EYBL AAU session this weekend in Dallas and the top recruit is drawing a big crowd.
Coaches from UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State, Florida and Miami all watched Carey Jr. score 17 points to lead Nike Team Florida to a win on Friday night according to Rivals.
Following the game, Rivals’ recruiting analyst Corey Evans caught up with Carey Jr. to discuss the start of the AAU circuit as well as his recruitment. The power forward dished out some interesting thoughts on the teams currently recruiting him, including the Tar Heels.
Here’s what Carey Jr. said about Williams and the Tar Heels:
"“They develop their big guys and are talking about how they could use me, kind of like how they used Luke Maye this year and Tyler Hansbrough back in the day; they have just been trying to make those kind of comparisons with me.”"
UNC’s tactic of comparing how they would use Carey Jr. to players like Luke Maye and Tyler Hansbrough is interesting. Hansbrough dominated his four years at North Carolina and won the National Player of the Year as well as a National Championship.
Maye is also a National Champion and has emerged as one of the better players on UNC’s team over the past year after walking on as a freshman just a few seasons ago. The power forward can not only play in the post but he has the ability to hit shots from the perimeter.
If UNC landed Carey Jr. it would be a big boost to their 2019 class that currently has a verbal commitment from point guard Jeremiah Francis.
The Tar Heels have a big need for a dominant post player and it showed last season with freshmen Sterling Manley and Garrison Brooks playing key minutes. The two are expected to develop but having a player in the post that can create would fit more of Williams’ offensive style.
Next: Roy Williams watches recruits on AAU circui
Carey Jr. also stated that he wants to play out the AAU circuit this Summer and Spring before cutting his list down and then take official visits.