Carolina has some kind of three-sport athlete coming this summer.

When I looked up Jefferson Boaz among UNC’s incoming football recruits, he was listed not by position but with the three letters ATH, which signifies ATHLETE. And there are plenty of reasons for that.

At 6-8 and 230 pounds, Boaz led East Surry High School to the state 1A football title as a quarterback after also playing wide receiver and defensive end during his football career. And he also averaged just under 24 points in basketball and was a starting pitcher for the baseball team before the season was halted by coronavirus.

Is there any doubt, then, why Boaz was named the North Carolina offensive player of the year in football and the state’s Male Athlete of the Year? I guess not; listen to these stats.

In leading East Surry to its first-ever state championship, Boaz quarterbacked his team to a 56-28 win over Tarboro, completing 33 of 42 passes for 478 yards and seven touchdowns. For the season, he threw for 4,615 yards and 65 touchdowns on his way to the Shrine Bowl and various offensive player of the year awards.

In basketball, Boaz led his East Surry to an 18-7 record by averaging 23.9 points and 11 rebounds per game, including 40 points in a big conference win over Bishop McGinnis. On the mound, he was 2-0 with 13 strikeouts before the baseball season was cut short.

So, whether Mack Brown chooses to redshirt him this fall, Boaz has a bright future all over Carolina athletics. He may wind up at wide receiver or tight end or on defense, and surely Roy Williams and Mike Fox will welcome him on their teams as a walk-on.

There are two other reasons why Boaz will be happy to just see where his athletic and college career in Chapel Hill takes him.

One is Chazz Surratt, the two-time North Carolina high school athlete of the year; Surratt has one more football season to play and is likely headed to the NFL as an All-ACC linebacker. The other is 1987 3A player of year Chuckie Burnett, a smallish QB from Burlington who played sparingly at UNC but is still close to Brown’s program 30-plus years later.

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