Man, if he ends up at Virginia Tech….
The End Seems Near For Bill Belichick's First Prized Recruit
A celebrated recruit's UNC future dims as transfers loom. Quarterback Bryce Baker faces a swift departure, a stark contrast to his initial fanfare.roundtable.io
This guy does not even know Baker committed to mack brown in 2023 not to BB.
Eh, seems like a distinction without a difference, IMO. We (UNC) made a huge deal out of Baker “recommitting” or “remaining committed” to UNC and trotted him out to midcourt with Belichick at a basketball game at the Smith Center last December as the first prized recruiting win of Belichick’s tenure. If we lose a hometown kid because we yanked his chain, it’s going to get even harder to land good in-state quaterbacks moving forward. I was already worried about this when his dad refuted the message board rumor earlier this season that the family had asked for Bryce not to play this year. Felt like that was a sign.
Well he has not decommitted. But clearly we are not going to keep newkirk also a 4'star, Baker and Burgess, who many believe is the best of the three. So when one leaves it won't be end of the world IMO. Hope he stays.
I would wait to see our roster.
Sincere question...do you believe BB recognizes that he has to? I know Hubert did but im not ao sure BB recognizes the urgency.
How much of our class being ranked 12th is the size of the class?
I do. I know others disagree but I think he wants to get this done. CFord probably knows this but we almost flipped a 5:star from Michigan on Tuesday. Walker from SC. IC said BB worked him all day by phone. To me that is a guy engaged.
Yeah, I hear you. You’re probably right that it would not be the end of the world, but I do think it would be a pretty difficult look for an in-state prized quarterback recruit to have gotten so completely passed over that he was not deemed worthy of a single solitary snap in a season where the offense was horrific and the starting quarterback was really bad. I just think that the optics of Baker not getting a single snap and subsequently transferring out would make it unnecessarily harder on the staff the next time they want to land an in-state quarterback. It reminds me of back when Larry Fedora and his staff almost royally screwed themselves for how they treated Marquise Williams when they first got here. They essentially told him he wasn’t good enough to ever play for them. Quise almost transferred, and the only thing that kept him around was Bryn Renner’s season ending injury in 2013 at State forced the staff’s hand.
2nd?
No, 12, I posted by accident and deleted. The link is above.
It’s definitely anyone’s guess at this point anymore, I agree, but Don Callahan who is one of the foremost experts on recruiting in North Carolina said that this class has a lot of solid players but very few, if any, difference makers. He said that obviously if Julian Walker had committed that would have been a difference maker. Don knows his stuff.2026 recruiting class rankings: Updated top 75 in wake of early signing period
How the classes stack up in the aftermath of the coaching carousel.www.espn.com
Someone else, I think Cal, explained this I believe on this thread. Maybe he can chime in. I think the size matters (lol) but this class has a lot of difference makers at key positions. So I would venture it is still a top 20 or so class if cut by a third, but that is a guess.
I am too. Maybe cal will come along.
It definitely does influence the class ranking to a certain extent, no doubt about it, but in the aggregate I do think this is a pretty solid recruiting class, even by the typical UNC standards. I think by average star rating we are something in the mid 20s? Somebody can correct me if that’s wrong.