UNC Football: 5-star target picks Clemson over Tar Heels, Fighting Irish

A top UNC Football target has picked Clemson over the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish on Tuesday afternoon. What’s next for the program?

The recruitment for five-star all-purpose back Will Shipley is over.

On Tuesday afternoon, Shipley ended his recruitment by taking to Twitter to announce where he will be attending college. Going into Shipley’s decision, it appeared to be a two-team race with Clemson and Notre Dame being the leaders. But North Carolina was holding out some hope.

Now the Tar Heels can move on.

Shipley officially pledged his verbal commitment to Clemson with a special video, picking the Tigers over the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish:

The Matthews, North Carolina native becomes the latest to join the Tigers’ 2021 class that is ranked No. 4 overall and No. 2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference behind only North Carolina. 

Leading up to the commitment, it sure felt like it was going to take a miracle for Shipley not to pick Clemson. The Tigers had all the momentum despite UNC feeling good about their chances months ago. UNC has now lost out on three big running back targets in Evan Pryor, TreVeyon Henderson and Shipley. Both Pryor and Henderson committed to Ohio State as the Buckeyes have the No. 1 overall class.

Despite this loss on Shipley, Mack Brown and his staff have to feel good with where UNC’s class is right now. They are ranked No. 3 overall in the 247 Sports recruiting rankings behind the Buckeyes and Tennessee. UNC still has some big targets left on their board and will look to add to that class in the future.

For more on the UNC football program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.