Things have been rather positive for the Tar Heels on the 2025 recruiting trail the last few weeks after a string of decommitents, but now they are in danger of losing one of their biggest pieces to this already small and lowly-ranked class.
Steve Wiltfong, the vice president of On3 Sports, put in a prediction earlier this afternoon that 2025 4✮ OT commit Alex Payne will flip his commitment from Carolina to USC, a prediction that was backed up by 247Sports national recruiting analyst Tom Loy. This prediction comes after Payne, who has been committed to the Tar Heels’ 2025 class since January, took a visit to Los Angeles this past weekend for the Trojans game with the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
While the Tar Heels lost some significant pieces in the class a few weeks ago, this would easily be the biggest and would be a devastating blow that would be hard to overcome. Payne is the second-highest-ranked prospect in this already small class and was set to be one of the anchors of the Tar Heels offensive line in the years to come. If the staff can’t hold on to him, this class would have just ten commitments and could be in danger of dropping outside of the top 80 in this cycle and challenging for the lowest-ranked class in Power 4.
With no other offers at the offensive tackle spot in this class, it feels like they simply must hold onto him. The hope is that Mack Brown saying he will return and additional NIL money could be enough to keep him. The question is, can the team compete with the NIL proposal from USC?