Recruiting blog: Latest news from North Carolina football and basketball 2018 recruiting classes

With the intersection of North Carolina football and basketball season coming soon, both Tar Heel programs are making moves to add talent to their 2018 recruiting classes.

Football

As of now, North Carolina has 10 commits in the 2018 class. Here is the latest news from two recruits in the 2018 class that UNC had its eyes set on at one point.

Tyler Shough

Shough, a 2018 four-star North Carolina commit from Chandler, Ariz., announced his de-commitment from UNC to Oregon on Saturday via Twitter. The announcement came less than an hour before the North Carolina game against Notre Dame.

In his statement, the 6-foot-5 pro-style quarterback said, “It was an extremely difficult decision, but does not reflect any negativity toward their fine program.” 

The flip is a big loss for head coach Larry Fedora’s 2018 recruiting class that had been the No. 46 overall class and ninth in the ACC. Shough committed to UNC on June 15. He's currently the No. 10 pro-style quarterback in the nation and the top football recruit coming out of Arizona. His flip to Oregon brings the Ducks the No. 5 recruiting class for 2018, just behind Miami, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State.

UNC still has a quarterback commitment for the 2018 class: Jace Ruder is a four-star dual-threat quarterback from Norton, Kan.

Payton Wilson 

Wilson has also been a commit other schools are pursuing. The four-star outside linebacker committed to UNC on May 1. Last Friday, both Fedora and N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren were spotted on the sidelines to see the local standout play in Hillsborough. Fedora made news when he flew to the game in Orange County by helicopter. 

N.C. State would like the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Orange High School product to choose Raleigh over Chapel Hill, even though NCSU did not make Wilson's final list over the summer. In the month prior to his decision, Wilson narrowed his top schools to UNC, Virginia Tech, Ohio State and Clemson.

If Wilson were to rethink his commitment, he would likely do it soon, since he intends to enroll early at UNC in the spring. 

Wilson has had 82 tackles, eight sacks and one interception in six games so far this season. He was also named to the 2017 NC Shrine Bowl team over the weekend, along with UNC commits Jordyn Adams, Dyami Brown, Avery Jones and Javon Terry.

Basketball

Since the commitment of Nassir Little last week, here are two of the nation’s top recruits still considering offers from the defending national champions.

Zion Williamson 

Williamson, the No. 2 recruit in next year’s class, still has UNC in his mix of favorite program destinations. 

However, with other top programs like Duke, Kentucky and Kansas ahead in the race, it’s unlikely that Williamson will choose to become a Tar Heel. If he does, it would be the highest player Roy Williams has gotten since No. 1 Harrison Barnes in the 2010 class.

Williamson is best known for his dunks that often go viral on the internet. He averaged 36.8 points, 13 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game last season, and he will likely make his college decision before the spring.

Simisola Shittu 

North Carolina has been moving toward the top of 6-foot-8 power forward Simisola Shittu's list as of late. The No. 7 ranked player visited Vanderbilt last weekend, but he will also make an official visit to Chapel Hill Nov. 10.  

The Vermont Academy power forward has narrowed his choices down to Vanderbilt and UNC, per 247Sports. The Commodores have the edge right now, but UNC is catching up on the recruiting trail. 

The addition of Shittu would be a huge addition to an already impressive 2018 class. Be on the lookout for his name after Nov. 10 to see if UNC still piques his interest.

@_JACKF54_

sports@dailytarheel.com