UNC Football: Tar Heels hosting big five-star recruit for visit

With the month of June here, the NCAA has lifted recruiting restrictions allowing recruits to travel and take visits to programs. Right away hundreds of basketball and football recruits have made their way to campuses with plenty of visits still to happen down the line.

For Mack Brown and the UNC Football program, they have welcomed a big five-star recruiting target in the 2022 class for an unofficial visit.

Offensive tackle Zach Rice began his month of visits by unofficially visiting Chapel Hill and the Tar Heels program on Tuesday afternoon. The five-star recruit is on campus as his recruitment goes on and that’s great news for the Tar Heels:

The 6-foot-6, 282-pound offensive tackle is Lynchburg, Virginia native that is ranked No. 5 overall, No. 1 offensive tackle and the No. 1 player in the state of Virginia per the 247Sports composite rankings. He has a total 35 offers in his recruitment but is reportedly down to the Tar Heels, Ohio State, Virginia, Alabama and Notre Dame.

That’s some tough competition for the Tar Heels, going up against top programs like Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame as well as in-state Virginia.

In addition to UNC, Rice is set to visit Ohio State (June 4-6), Virginia (June 11-13), Alabama (18-20) and Notre Dame (June 25-27). He’s also expected to take an official visit to the Tar Heels sometime in the Summer.

The Tar Heels are a player in this recruitment and do have a shot at landing this top prospect but Brown and his staff have a lot of work ahead of them. Rice’s recruitment isn’t expected to end soon and we could be headed for a Fall decision from the five-star prospect which may work in UNC’s favor.

For more on Rice and other UNC Football recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.