Saturday was a relatively successful day for the Tar Heels on the field, but it was even more successful off the field.
Earlier this afternoon, the Tar Heel secured a huge addition to their 2026 class in the form of 4✮ EDGE Zavion Griffin-Haynes. Griffin-Haynes, the No. 114 overall player in the class, was on campus along with his brother on Saturday for the Tar Heels home opener and while the plan going into the weekend wasn’t to commit, he told On3 Sports’ Chad Simmons that he “just had that feeling”.
Griffin-Haynes, the No. 9 player in the state of North Carolina in the 2026 cycle, is a few weeks into the start of his junior season at Rolesville High School. Through the first two games of the season, Griffin-Haynes is credited with 4 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback hurry. Last year, he was one of the state's best edge defenders, racking up 50 total tackles, 27.0 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 20 QB hurries and six pass breakups.
Griffin-Haynes looks the part of a highly-rated edge rusher on tape. His 6’6, 230 lbs. frame is evident, especially when it comes to how he affects passing lanes. He does a great job of shedding blocks with a combination of power and technical moves and sets the edge incredibly well in the run game. His release off the line of scrimmage is solid and he has some nice burst that allows him to fly in and drop ball carriers. You would like to see him finish a few more of those quarterback pressures with sacks, but the fact that he is creating that type of pressure to begin with is encouraging. Just like so many of the defensive linemen that Mack Brown and company have landed since his return, he has a chance to be really special with the right coaching and development.
With his commitment, he joins 3✮ QB Zaid Lott as the two prospects that have committed to this point. The class currently sits No. 21 overall and No. 4 on the ACC rankings for this cycle. Griffin-Haynes told multiple recruiting that this is only the start of what is going to be a special 2026 class for the Tar Heels. Let’s hope he’s right.
Opmerkingen