For the second time today, the Tar Heels have tapped the pipeline from Virginia to land a commitment.
Shortly after 7:00 PM EST this evening, 2023 3✮ LB Amare Campbell announced his commitment to the Tar Heels, the team that had been the favorite for him since the early portion of his recruitment. Carolina beats out fellow finalists Maryland and West Virginia, two teams who attempted to make pushes with official visits during the summer visit window before his trip to Chapel Hill. That official trip, though, seemed to reassure the Tar Heels position as the favorites over the final two months and helped them add their fifth commitment from the state in this class and their twelveth in the past two cycles.
Campbell is preparing for the start of his senior season at Unity Reed High School in Manassas, VA which is set to begin this Friday. In his first three years of high school football, he has been named an all-region member. He earned second team honors as a freshman before earning first team honors in both his sophomore and junior seasons.
Campbell’s film is an exciting one to watch because of just how physical his style of play is. He is the definition of a downhill linebacker, constantly pursuing running backs and making them pay by knocking them backward. He plays with a mean streak that is extremely noticeable on plays where he blitzes, especially when it is a running back's task to block him. He has some nice closing speed that could allow him to eventually play sideline-to-sideline, something that he doesn’t do a whole lot of on film. The challenge for him will be pass coverage, an element of his game that seems to be rarely on display and could keep him off the field on passing down unless he is converted to more of a pass rusher role. He may not be highly rated by the recruiting websites, but this is a guy that plays with a lot of energy and the physicality that this staff wants to start seeing in this team. It may take some time when he initially arrives, but if he can develop into someone who can play sideline-to-sideline, he has the chance to be a successful part of what the Tar Heels do at linebacker in the future.
With his commitment, the Tar Heels noew have two linebacker commits in the class and seventeen overall commitments. The commitment jumps the Tar Heels up from 22nd overall according to 247Sports Composite team rankings to 20th and into 4th in the ACC after passing over Florida State. The attention now turns to another linebacker in the 2023 class from the state of Virginia, Kaveion Keys, who will announce on Saturday afternoon.
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