UNC Welcomes Four Signees As Part of 2017 Men’s Basketball Recruiting Class

Late Monday night, it was officially announced that head coach Roy Williams will welcome four new members to the UNC men’s basketball team next season.

Included in the group is: Jalek Felton, a 6-foot-4 guard from Columbia, SC; Brandon Huffman, a 6-foot-9 forward from Anchorage, AK; Sterling Manley, a 6-foot-10 forward from Reynoldsburg, OH; and Andrew Platek, a 6-foot-4 guard from Schenectady, NY.

All four members of the class signed their letters of intent on Monday.

Felton, the nephew of former UNC point guard Raymond Felton, is the only five-star recruit among the group–checking in at No. 24 on ESPN’s top 100 prospects list.

Head coach Roy Williams and the Tar Heels will benefit greatly from having five-star point guard Jalek Felton arrive on campus next season. (Todd Melet)

“Jalek is a young man we have known forever it seems like,” Williams said. “He is Raymond Felton’s nephew. He has good genes to say the least. He’s an offensive player who can do just about everything – he can pass, he can shoot, he can penetrate. He’ll help us as a point guard.

“He’s a great young man, comes from a great family,” the coach continued. “He’s the kind of young man who can come in and really help us do some things because he’s a complete offensive player. We think he’s going to be a big-time addition to our program.”

Neither of the other three members of the class are ranked among the top 100–with Huffman, Manley and Platek each receiving three stars from noted recruiting website Scout.com.

“There’s not a top 10, top 15 type player [in this class], but we think Jalek [Felton] can get to that level as a player,” Williams said. “You need big guys, and in Brandon and Sterling we’ve got two guys who are going to get better and better, with Andrew you have the toughness and shooting ability, and with Jalek you have a big-time athlete with a lot of offensive capabilities who will get better defensively.”

With three seniors who receive significant playing time–guard Nate Britt and forwards Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks–set to graduate after the season, the Tar Heels will need to see quick development out of their 2017 class in order to stay at the top of the ACC moving forward.

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