The Tar Heels staff has been digging deep to find guys to add to their 2025 recruiting class and the team has just made a significant splash.
As first reported by Inside Carolina, the Tar Heels have just completed a flip of 2025 3✮ EDGE Chinedu Onyeagoro from SMU as of Friday afternoon. His trainer, Traison Lewis told Inside Carolina’s Don Callahan that the two spoke with the Tar Heels staff on Sunday and committed to them “sight unseen”. He said that Onyeagoro is on campus currently and has already enrolled in classes, meaning that he will be an early enrollee with the team.
Onyeagoro, who signed with SMU in December and recently parted ways with the program, is coming off of an extremely productive career at King Drew Magnet High School in Los Angeles, California. This past season, he put together a career year while helping lead the Golden Eagles to the regional finals of the 6-AA CIF Playoffs. He collected 107 total tackles, 35.0 tackles for loss, 20.0 sacks, 20 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and six passes defensed. The prior season as a junior, he finished with 95 total tackles, 30.0 tackles for loss, 21.0 sacks, 15 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, two interceptions and two passes defensed. He broke onto the scene back in 2022 as a sophomore when he tallied 61 total tackles, 31.0 tackles for loss, 17.0 sacks, 12 quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two passes defensed.
Onyeagoro, the No. 39 edge rusher in the 2025 class according to 247Sports Composite Player Rankings, might be a but slight at 6’4, 235 lbs. but has a ton of upside and versatility. He is utilized as both an edge rusher and off-ball linebacker, which means he can move around to find the best position for him. When he does line up on the edge, though, there is a lot to like about him as a speed rusher. He has tremendous burst off the line of scrimmage which makes him a problem for many tackles. He has the speed needed to chase plays down from behind and he does a great job of wrapping up and making a strong tackle on whoever the ball carrier is more times than not. He has the ability to win with technical pass rush moves and does a good job of shedding blocks overall when he doesn’t win right off the line of scrimmage. The thing that stands out about how he rushes the passer is the fact that he uses his length by getting his hands up to bat down passes, something a lot of guys as aggressive as he is rushing downhill don’t do. His ability to drop into coverage and look pretty fluid in the hips for a guy that plays on the edge will be very attractive to defensive play callers who like to get creative. The biggest area he’ll need to prove himself in at the college level will be the physicality aspect at the point of attack simply because he didn’t have to win that way at the high school level. He will also have to prove that he can contain the edge on run downs more consistently because of how aggressive his is getting downhill. There could also be a decent learning with the jump from one of the lower divisions in California, albeit still a decent level of competition. Regardless, this is a very nice addition for this staff and gives the Tar Heels another promising young edge rusher who could be the future of this room sooner rather than later.
With his commitment, the Tar Heels recruiting class now has 12 commits and has jumped to No. 76 in the class rankings on 247Sports. The team still sits at the bottom of the ACC rankings at this time, though.
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