Carolina football made a bad weekend turn very good.

Many Tar Heel fans, including me, expected the basketball team to give Duke a better game Saturday night in Durham. But, in the end, the Blue Devils overwhelmed their arch-rival with talent and good fortune.

When walk-on Justin Robinson banked in a 3-pointer to start the game, you knew it might be that kind of night. And while it was still a game with eight minutes left, Duke’s defense on Cole Anthony kept the Heels from hanging around as the deficit grew to double figures.

The weekend began on a much better note that kept getting better. Word spread early Friday that Mack Brown had worked his magic again, although this one seemed like destiny.

Luke Maye’s younger brother Drake — a star quarterback from Charlotte — decommitted from Alabama and flipped to UNC, a product of Brown recruiting this true-blue Carolina family into staying home. The Crimson Tide had signed another quarterback since Maye committed there last summer, and Brown laid out a timeline that was far more advantageous for the son of former Tar Heel All-ACC QB Mark Maye.

It gave even more mileage to the line floating around in college football recruiting circles. If you are a parent who doesn’t want your kid to go to Carolina, DO NOT let Mack Brown in your house. That certainly wasn’t the case with the Maye’s, whose third son will either be redshirted or play behind Sam Howell in 2021 and then run the offense when Howell departs.

On Saturday, wide receiver Kobe Paysour committed to the Tar Heels, obviously after hearing that the No. 6 pro passing prospect in the country had flipped from Alabama the day before. Paysour is the No. 18 rated player in North Carolina at any position and will fit nicely with the bevy of wide-outs Brown is still reeling in.

And literally the biggest news came Sunday when 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive tackle Eli Sutton became the eighth 4-star recruit in the class of 2021 to announce he will play for Tar Heels. Sutton is the No. 4 prep player overall in Tennessee. With 9 commits, UNC has the fourth-best 2021 class so far.

So, it turned out to be one Heel of a weekend, after all.

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