Mack Brown has become Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside, just as he said.

When Brown returned to Chapel Hill as football coach in December of 2018, he said his recruiting philosophy would be the same as when he first arrived here 30 years earlier.

Despite his 1988 and ’89 Tar Heel teams going 1-10, Brown’s goal was to lock up the state of North Carolina, close the borders to any star recruit thinking about going outside, so he could convince them that UNC would be a better place than Duke, NC State, Wake Forest or East Carolina. Over the years it worked.

By the time he went to Texas in 1997, he left a top-10 juggernaut behind. Most of the top in-state recruits came to Chapel Hill, and he complemented that with select out-of-staters. His last two Tar Heels teams were ranked in the top ten with numerous NFL players.

It helped that Brown was a mid-30s chatterbox who vowed, “It’s not a matter of IF the Tar Heels would win, but WHEN.” He was also catching Duke coming off the Steve Spurrier era, State’s Dick Sheridan slowing down and never losing to an in-state school after 1992.

His second stint began with Duke and Wake improved under David Cutcliffe and Dave Clawson and State rebuilding under Dave Doeren. But Brown had an even better story to tell his recruits this time – that the ACC’s two divisions provided a real chance to win the conference championship and get into the College Football Playoff.

After two highly ranked recruiting hauls, Carolina is loading up on the class of 2022 and so far has 12 commitments with 9 coming from outside North Carolina. That shows that Brown has succeeded in selling his Tar Heels as a true national program.

The latest commit came from 4-star linebacker Sebastian Cheeks of Evanston, Illinois, who picked UNC over Michigan, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin. Brown’s staff is zeroing in on other highly-rated recruits who are completing COVID-delayed visits before deciding.

And then there is Pilot Mountain, N.C., tight end Benji Gosnell, who just decommitted from Ohio State to reopen his recruitment. Hmmmm.

 

Photo via ACC Media.

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