Bill Belichick and Deion Sanders facing off for highly-touted Cali d-lineman

Joseph Peko, a 6-foot-2, 310-pound defensive lineman, is close to making a decision between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Colorado. The projected interior lineman from Westlake Village, Calif. took his official visit to Chapel Hill two weeks ago.

With an official visit not long before his expected announcement, things should be trending toward North Carolina. However, Peko's situation isn't a normal one and the Buffaloes have a major internal advantage that the Tar Heels staff might not be able to overcome.

If you take a look at the coaching staff page on the Colorado football home page, you'll see an assistant defensive line coach named Domata Peko. That's Joseph Peko's father. Also, if you glance at the Buffaloes' commitments in the 2026 class, there's a junior college prospect named Domata Peko Jr; that's Joseph Peko's brother.

Before you get up in arms about the elder Peko getting a spot on Colorado's staff because he's got two talented prospects, know that he had a 10-year career as an NFL defensive lineman with the Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals. He spent time last season as an assistant defensive line coach with the Dallas Cowboys and has long-time ties with new Colorado DC Robert Livingston from their time with the Bengals.

So, it's safe to say that the Peko recruitment feels like a long shot for UNC. If the Tar Heels can somehow pull this off, it would be an amazing recruiting job and the fact that they've gotten this far is commendable. Unfortunately, in CFB recruiting there's no prize for the horse that comes in second.

Tar Heels still looking for one more big body in the trenches

The highest-rated player in the Tar Heels recruiting class is in-state defensive line prospect Trashawn Ruffin. UNC has a few other defensive line commitments, but could use another 300-pounder to provide additional depth on the interior.

In a perfect world, that could be Dereon Albert, but it appears like the Mississippi prospect is a hard lean to Tennessee. After that, the board is still active. Another California prospect, Manoah Faupasa, is making a decision between Arizona, Colorado and UNC on Saturday, but UNC has been trending down in the weeks since Faupasa visited the campus in April.

One player to keep an eye out for is Carter Gooden, a prospect from Massachusetts who visited Chapel Hill earlier in the month - but UNC has some ground to make up in that recruitment.