Texas Football: 5-Star CB target Tony Grimes picks UNC over Horns

A prospect that the 2021 Texas football recruiting class was out of the running for a while to get, 5-Star CB Tony Grimes, gave his pledge to UNC.

Former Longhorns head coach Mack Brown is absolutely on fire during this recruiting cycle at his new stop in his college football coaching journey. Mack helped to start turnaround the North Carolina Tar Heels football program after he was brought in to replace former head coach (and ex-Longhorns offensive analyst) Larry Fedora. UNC was bowl eligible last season, and Brown is hoping to continue those fortunes. And on June 30, Brown took a big-time target away from the 2021 Texas football recruiting class.

One of the biggest commits in the last couple of months was announced on Tuesday afternoon, with five-star Princess Anne cornerback Tony Grimes giving his commitment to the Tar Heels. This 6-foot and 180 pound Virginia Beach, VA, native was a huge get for UNC and held offers from more than 40 schools prior to announcing this commitment.

The other schools that Grimes picked the Tar Heels over includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Baylor Bears, Clemson Tigers, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and USC Trojans. Grimes held offers from about every big time college football blue blood in the entire country.

Grimes had originally received his Texas offer back in April 2019. He had a few visits with head coach Tom Herman and the Longhorns, but Texas wasn’t at the forefront of his recruitment for very long.

More regional programs like Alabama, Georgia, and UNC, stayed at the forefront of his recruitment most of the way. And that really paid off in the end for a program that could be a rising power in the ACC like the Tar Heels.

Grimes ranks as the nation’s No. 7 2021 high school prospect, and the top overall cornerback and prospect out of Virginia (247Sports Composite). He even ranks among the top 175 prospects in the modern era of 247Sports recruiting rankings.

With this commitment, Brown and the Tar Heels seal their spot at the moment in the top three of the national class rankings, per 247Sports Team Composite Rankings. UNC ranks second behind Clemson in the ACC too. Ohio State still commands the top spot in the national class rankings.

Texas still ranks in the top 10 in the national class rankings and holds steady in the top spot in the Big 12. They have 13 commitments in the 2021 class, with one of them being a cornerback (four-star Kimball product Ishmael Ibraheem).