UNC Football: Four-star recruit favoring Tar Heels as decision looms

The UNC football program is trending for a four-star running back just days before his announcement is expected.

Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels have already earned commitments from seven four-star prospects and one five-star in the class of 2022; and they’re not done yet. They’re still knee-deep in a handful of important recruitments, including that of four-star running back and Suffolk, Virginia native George Pettaway.

Pettaway recently scheduled a decision date of September 22, and the Tar Heels should be feeling pretty good about hearing their name called that day. They’ve been one of the major players in Pettaway’s recruitment all along, and that momentum hasn’t died down one bit in the final days leading up to his decision. A number of college football analysts and insiders have picked North Carolina as his eventual landing spot, including some of the most respected and trusted names in the business.

Things are looking so good for the Tar Heels, in fact, that 100 percent of Crystal Ball and FutureCast predictions favor them, including that of 247Sports Director of Football Recruiting Steve Wiltfong. Rivals’ Zach Berry is also on board with Pettaway to the Tar Heels, as he submitted his pick for UNC in late August. There are currently nine total predictions across the two recruiting outlets.

If Brown and the Tar Heels do win Pettaway’s commitment next week, they’ll have beaten three respected football programs in the process — Florida, Oregon and Penn State. Those are the three teams, along with North Carolina, that made the cut when Pettaway whittled down his initial list of nearly three-dozen schools.

Somewhat oddly, Pettaway took just one official visit to the quartette of schools — that trip was to Penn State in late June — though he unofficially visited Chapel Hill twice over the past year. His most recent trip to North Carolina was on June 5. Pettaway’s pair of visits to the Tar Heels’ campus may end up being the difference in his recruitment, but we’ll know for sure in seven short days.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on UNC football target George Pettaway, who will announce his decision live on CBSSports HQ on September 22 at 6:30 p.m at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy.