UNC Basketball: Tar Heels in good position for 5-star wing

The UNC basketball program has been pushing hard for an elite wing in the class of 2021, and they’re in good shape with 5-star small forward Caleb Houstan.

It’s no secret that Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels have missed on every elite wing they’ve recruited since getting a commitment from 5-star small forward Nassir Little in October of 2017. Despite that, the Hall-of-Fame head coach and his staff continue their tireless work on the recruiting trail in search of their next high-scoring, hot-shooting, game-changing slasher.

Caleb Houstan would certainly fit that bill, what with his tremendous ability to knock down shots from beyond the three-point line, hit mid-range jumpers with consistency and finish above the rim. The 6-foot-8, 205-pound small forward may never be his team’s most effective ball-handler, but he continues to improve on his ability to hit open teammates with a pass, and runs the floor well in transition. He’s also capable of finishing in traffic, and throwing down an athletic dunk when the opportunity presents itself.

Ranked eighth in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite for 2021, Houstan has been on the Tar Heels’ radar for some time now. A former high school teammate of incoming UNC freshman center Day’Ron Sharpe, Houstan received his North Carolina scholarship offer in January before the Covid-19 pandemic effectively shut all sporting events down for the better part of six months.

The Tar Heels were one of the first programs to show interest and subsequently offer Houstan, but he’s received a number of high-major offers in the months since. Now, with a dozen offers from the likes of Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech and Virginia, Houstan’s recruitment has become one of the hottest in the nation. His growing list of potential schools will likely continue to grow until which time he announces a list of finalists or sets an announcement date.

We have no indication of when that might be, but Rivals national recruiting analyst Corey Evans does have a pretty good feel for the current state of Houstan’s recruitment. In his recent Wednesday Mailbag, Evans discusses the programs most heavily involved with the rising senior, and how the Tar Heels may have a leg up on the competition.

"“. . . Caleb Houstan is someone that the Heels have heavily recruited in recent months,” Evans writes. “Houstan is a former high school teammate of incoming freshman Day’Ron Sharpe, and North Carolina is a school to watch for in the Canadian’s recruitment. A handful of other national powers are involved, too, including Alabama, Arizona, Gonzaga, Michigan and Oregon. And while Houstan is one of the few players on Duke’s recruiting board, UNC is in a better spot for the premier shot-maker.”"

There are currently no Crystal Ball predictions or Rivals FutureCast picks for where Houstan will end up next year. But as sports begin to (hopefully) get underway again in the coming months, look for some of the questions surrounding Houstan’s recruitment to become more clear. And look for Roy Williams and the UNC coaching staff to keep the pressure on the competition as they aim to reel in one of the nation’s top perimeter players in the 2021 class.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Caleb Houstan recruitment, and everything UNC basketball.