If God is a Tar Heel, he will let us play football in the fall.

The news about Mack Brown won’t go away, or even subside. His current recruiting class has climbed to 14 in number and No. 3 in the country, and there are almost a dozen uncommitted prospects who are among the best in the state in a talent-rich rich year.

Go to any recruiting site and you will get the names and rankings of these kids coming in, hopefully this summer and next. Brown is doing exactly what he did the first time here, and he’s understandably having an easier time doing it.

After all, he had to overcome back-to-back 1-10 seasons as a young coach to start his Tar Heel tenure. But his early recruiting always gave him confidence. This time, Brown came as a Hall of Fame coach with a national championship at Texas under his belt.

Brown also believes he truly has a chance to win a natty here when he never thought that on his first stint. That’s because Florida State was on its unprecedented dynasty run, and there was no way around having to beat the Seminoles in the regular season.

Clemson has become the new FSU, and now there is a way to beat the Tigers if you can win the Coastal Division and make it to Charlotte for the ACC championship game. And Brown is filling his stable with thoroughbred to do just that.

Brown recalls that maybe 90 percent of his roster was from the Tar Heel state when he departed for Austin in 1997. He has always had the same philosophy at both state schools. Close the borders and keep all the best players home, and fill-in with great out-of-staters.

Mack, so far, has landed 70 percent of his players from North Carolina, while his predecessor Larry Fedora could not ink more than 40 percent while losing the overall recruiting battle to Dave Doeren at NC State and other ACC coaches who raided North Carolina.

But Brown is making the new line about him prove true. “If you are a parent and don’t want your kid to go to North Carolina, DO NOT let Mack Brown in your house.” For any of those parents, it’s too late.

 

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