Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ 2020 recruiting class could look a lot like this

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 16: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches his team play against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles during the first half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on November 16, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 16: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches his team play against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles during the first half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on November 16, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 27: Armando Bacot #1 of IMG Academy in Florida boxes out against Oscar Tshiebwe #34 of Kennedy Catholic High School in Pennsylvania during the 2019 McDonald’s High School Boys All-American Game on March 27, 2019 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

Jaden Springer

Jaden Springer had a tremendous junior season at IMG Academy, racking up plenty of individual accolades en route to winning the Geico National High School Championship alongside 5-star UNC commit Armando Bacot.

In doing so, he gained the attention of numerous Division I basketball programs, including some of the sport’s most prestigious. Auburn, Florida, Kansas, Kansas State, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, UCLA, Villanova and Virginia Tech have all extended scholarship offers to Springer, and he’s also being recruiting by Kentucky and Louisville.

Ranked a 5-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite since November 2017, Springer has been rated as high as tenth, and currently sits at No. 11 in the class of 2020. He’s the third-ranked player in the class at his position, and No. 3 in the state of Florida.

With his 6-foot-4-inch, 195-pound frame, Springer has great size and strength for a combo guard. He’s a gifted scorer with the ability to hit shots from all over the court. He’s got a knack for scoring in transition, and does very well driving to the basket. He’s comfortable playing through contact, and has no problem finishing in traffic.

He’ll share the ball with teammates, too, but isn’t likely to be a team’s primary distributor. He’s got good length, and rebounds really well for his position. He should be able to play both guard positions on either end of the floor, and could turn out to be a really solid defender.

Springer took some time to talk about his recruitment with Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans a few months back, and this is what he had to say about the Tar Heels:

"“One of the best programs in college basketball,” Springer said. “Whenever you get an offer like that, it is big time. To receive that, I was blessed to get that and I talked to Roy Williams, it was pretty good. He talked to me and said that he has been watching me for a while and that he wants to come out and have a face-to-face conversation and stuff like that.”"

It’s Evans’ belief that Springer won’t make a decision until early next year, as he’s likely to take his time and play out his recruitment through the winter months. He’s visited Maryland, NC State, Tennessee and Wake Forest to this point, but will probably look to take additional trips and compile a list of finalists in the coming months.

There are no clear-cut favorites in his recruitment at this time — it’s still too early — though North Carolina does lead his Crystal Ball with 100 percent of the vote.

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