UNC Football: Tar Heels in driver’s seat for 4-star defensive end?

Mack Brown and the UNC football program appear to be in the driver’s seat for one of the nation’s top defensive ends.

Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels already have the No. 3-ranked recruiting class for the 2021 cycle, and they’ve still got a number of highly touted prospects on their radar.

One of them is Jahvaree Ritzie, a 4-star defensive end from Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina. Ritzie recently named North Carolina to a list of five finalists that includes Georgia, Ohio State, South Carolina and Tennessee. Prior to trimming his list on Sunday, Ritzie was dealing with a list of better than 30 schools that included the likes of Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech, among others.

That’s quite a star-studded list of programs that Brown and the Tar Heels beat out to get on Ritzie’s top-5, but it looks like they’re not done yet. With an announcement date scheduled for less than a month away, it’s North Carolina that appears to be in the best shape to land Ritzie’s commitment.

There are currently eight Crystal Ball predictions for Ritzie from recruiting experts and contributors on 247Sports.com, and all are in favor of the Tar Heels. Four of those votes were cast as recently as the past week. Not only that, but Rivals’ Adam Friedman said as much in a piece that he wrote on Thursday morning, naming North Carolina as the prohibitive favorite to get Ritzie’s commitment next month.

"“The Tar Heels are the favorite to land Ritzie’s commitment come June 12 and something crazy would have to happen to change that,” Friedman writes. “He has built a good relationship with many of the coaches, but what seems to have had more of an impact is how close he has gotten with so many of the North Carolina commits. Current teammate Raneiria Dillworth, Keeshawn Silver and a number of other future Tar Heels have taken it upon themselves to recruit Ritzie to Chapel Hill.”"

An extremely athletic, physical defensive lineman, Ritzie is good at getting to the quarterback, and stopping the run. He can line up on the edge, or play inside and use his quickness to get an advantage. He ran a 5.13 40-yard dash last year, and measured a 31.5-inch vertical jump. He’s a player with the size and athleticism to come in and make a difference from year one at the college level.

Ritzie is ranked 165th in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite for 2021. He’s No. 14 among players at his position, and eighth in the state of North Carolina. With a commitment from Ritzie, the Tar Heels would hold 15 pledges from 2021 prospects, 14 of which would rank within the top 37 recruits in the state of North Carolina.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Jahvaree Ritzie recruitment, and everything UNC football.