Heel Tough Blog: Tar Heels One of the Final Five for In-State Safety

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For the first time in what feels like a long time, the Tar Heels have landed on a top schools list for one of the top in-state prospects.

2026 3✮ S Nick Reddish announced his final five schools via his social media on Sunday evening. The Tar Heels are joined by Indiana, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin, the five schools that he will officially visit. Indiana (May 2nd), Wisconsin (May 30th), Virginia Tech (June 6th) and Notre Dame (June 12th) will all get their shots before the Tar Heels, who are scheduled to close down his official visit schedule the weekend of June 20th.

Reddish, the No. 604 overall player and No. 29 prospect in the state of North Carolina in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite Player Rankings, hails from Independence High School in Charlotte, NC. This past season, Reddish finished the year with seven total tackles and a pass defensed while playing in just two games due to injury. The year prior, as a sophomore, Reddish collected 95 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, four interceptions, 10 passes defensed, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 15 games.

When it comes to where we think his recruitment stands right now, it feels like this weekend the Tar Heels established themselves as serious contenders for his recruitment. They still have work to do to catch the heavily-favored Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who received another forecast in their favor this weekend following his unofficial visit, but if there is a team that still has any chance, it’s them.

This is one of the few in-state targets that the Tar Heel staff is actually in good standing with after they exited the race for a few big names earlier in the week. The Harris twins, two of the top defensive linemen in the entire class, eliminated the team from contention on Wednesday and fellow 4✮ defensive lineman Keshawn Stancil did the same on Saturday afternoon despite having an official visit already set with the team. To this point, the Tar Heels have just one commitment from the home state and with the focus more on expanding on the footprint to states like Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and others, I wouldn’t expect many more this cycle. This is a bold strategy by the staff that will hopefully pay off with some big out of state commitments.