Shocker. Mack Brown, the big flipper, just became the flippee.

I first paid attention to recruiting after becoming a Carolina fan and studying Dean Smith’s methods and policies. One of them was when a kid Carolina wanted verbally committed to another school, Smith wrote him a “good luck” letter and backed off.

I can remember Smith beating a lot of other coaches in the main recruiting battle, but never after he missed one of his targets. In the many years since then, recruiting has changed dramatically.

Mainly because it is such an open book now, starting sometimes in the ninth grade and continuing on social media throughout high school. Kids get so much more publicity these days that some of them make an early decision and are still not really sure.

When Mack Brown took over the Tar Heels program for the second time in late 2018, he immediately targeted several players from North Carolina who had committed to schools in other states, most notably flipping FSU-bound quarterback Sam Howell.

We may never know the entire story, but Georgia gave Brown a little of his own medicine when the Bulldogs, for now, won back the commitment of 6-4, 325-pound offensive lineman Jared Wilson of Clemmons, outside of Winston-Salem. After Wilson had originally announced for Georgia, Brown and his staff stayed on him and flipped his commitment to UNC back on February 6.

In this case, the pandemic might have hurt the Tar Heels, who could not take advantage of the 90-minute drive between Clemmons and Chapel Hill. Everything was by phone and Zoom, and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his new O-line coach Matt Luke refused to give up. After his switcheroo to the Bulldogs, Wilson said how relentless the Georgia coaches were in winning his commitment back.

Of course, there is still time for Brown to play the home-state card again before the early signing date in December. Will he give up? Maybe, but only if there is something about this story we don’t know.

 

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