Heel Tough Blog: 2026 WR Commits to UNC After Visit Gets Canceled

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The Tar Heels came into Friday expecting to host 2026 WR Darrion Kirksey for a visit this weekend, but because of weather, he was unable to make it. Instead, Kirksey gave the team something bigger.

As first reported by Chad Simmons of On3 Sports, Kirksey has committed to Bill Belichick and his staff as of Friday afternoon. The commitment comes in place of what was supposed to be his first visit to campus, which he is working to reschedule. Kirksey will also visit campus officially the weekend of June 20th.

Kirksey, who is currently unranked according to 247Sports Composite Player Rankings, hails from Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, MS. This past season, as a junior, he caught 35 passes for 569 yards and two touchdowns as part of a passing game that completed just 45.6% of its passes for 1,394 yards and four touchdowns in ten games. In 2023, as a sophomore, he hauled in 12 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns while playing in just seven games.

Kirksey, who stands at 6’2, 195 lbs., is an under the radar pick up for the Tar Heels in this class. He is a very strong and fierce route runner, who does a great job of creating separation between him and the corner off the line of scrimmage. He has good, not great speed that does allow him to win dowfield at the high school level but might have to be taken to the next level if he’s going to be a home run threat for the team. He has extremely reliable hands and makes a lot of the difficult catches on film, including some of the 50/50 balls that are thrown his way. He creates problems for defenses after the catch with his ability to stop and start and duck out of tackles, but at the high school level, we unfortunately weren’t able to see it that much because of the offense that he played in. While Kirksey might not be ranked, don’t let it fool you into thinking that this is not a young man with plenty of upside that could develop into a steal for the team during his time in Chapel Hill.

With his commitment, the Tar Heels have their first wide receiver commit in the class and now sit at nine commitments total. The team remains No. 27 overall and No. 7 in the ACC in the 247 Sports Composite Team Rankings.