UNC Basketball Lands 7-Footer, Luka Bogavac Progress, Cole Cloer Visit, Football Begins
Plus: Seyon Keita official visit, multi-sport recruiting updates, Patterson Medal winners, and national championship rings arrive
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Basketball
Montenegrin UNC shooting guard commit Luka Bogavac finally had the interview for his student visa with the U.S. Consulate, and now it’s just wait to see when he arrives in Chapel Hill, per Inside Carolina’s Sherrell McMillan via Locked On Tar Heels host Isaac Schade. Bogavac also still needs NCAA clearance to play.
And the Tar Heels’ front court got even bigger with the late addition of 7-foot High Point transfer Ivan Matlekovic. While he’s not projected to be a major contributor for UNC, he does add valuable depth and a great practice partner for fellow UNC 7-footer Henri Veesaar. There’s definitely a growing international presence in college basketball (and on UNC’s roster) in the age of NIL.
Schade discusses both stories in this recent video:
This is a quiet time for UNC Basketball following the second summer session, and players are taking a final break before fall semester begins. Seth Trimble spent some of his down time in Amsterdam and posted the collection of Instagram photos below. I always love traveling vicariously through Carolina athletes. Tar Heels are everywhere!
Basketball Recruiting
In addition to the Ivan Matlekovic news, international 7-footer Seyon Keita made an official visit to UNC on Friday and wrapped up his whirlwind recruiting tour with a visit to UConn on Saturday.
Hillsborough, N.C. four-star wing Cole Cloer has scheduled an official visit to UNC for the weekend of Oct. 10 (no football game) to go along with visits to N.C. State (Aug. 29), Florida (Sept. 6), Kentucky (Sept. 17), and Alabama (Oct 17).
Five-star shooting guard Cameron Holmes plans to start taking more visits. He’s scheduled to see Oregon on Sept. 20 and spoke about several other schools, including UNC.
Five-star point guard Deron Rippey, Jr. has added a few more visit dates, including NC State (11/7) and Kansas (11/2), to go along with his 8/31-9/2 official visit to UNC (the weekend of the Tar Heels’ season-opening football game).
And here are some Ivan Matlekovic highlights from his time at High Point.
Football
Football season officially kicked off with the beginning of UNC preseason practice on Saturday.
It was great to see quarterback Max Johnson back on the field after breaking his leg in the season opener last year. He’s now fully cleared medically after overcoming 5(!) offseason surgeries, intense rehabilitation, and a real possibility that he might lose his right leg. He spoke about it following Saturday’s practice:
There were no UNC players on this year’s All-ACC Preseason Football Team, which Bill Belichick is probably fine with, given the high expectations fans and media have of him as a coach.
North Carolina also released some action photos following Saturday’s opening practice:
As for Tar Heels in the NFL, Omarion Hampton made his NFL debut Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game with just 2 carries for 9 yards (6 plays) as his Los Angeles Chargers’ won 34-7 over the Detroit Lions.
Finally, here’s a cool behind-the-scenes video of the lockers and practice gear for UNC football players. It’s a far cry from the wooden stall with a tiny nameplate that I had for a locker in the old “Alamo” field house decades ago:
Football Recruiting
There were two huge football commitments on Friday and one more on Sunday. Former Oregon and USC Defensive Line Pledge Viliami Moala committed to UNC on Friday. He’s listed at 6-foot-2, 340 pounds!
Just hours later, four-star tight end Carson Sneed flipped from Tennessee to UNC. There are now 36 commits on the 2026 UNC Football recruiting board.
On Sunday, class of 2027 four-star Rolesville, N.C. running back Amir Brown committed to the Tar Heels over offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Florida State, and others.
Women’s Basketball Recruiting
There’s been a lot of Women’s Basketball recruiting news over the past week. Four-star point guard Morghan Reckley took an unofficial visit to UNC:
Five-star forward Jayda Porter included UNC in her top 8 and will make a UNC official visit at an unspecified date, per Dushawn London of 247Sports.
Chamiah Francis, the No. 25 overall recruit in the 2026 class, has set six official visits and will be at UNC on Oct. 25.
Five-star point guard Autumn Fleary included the Tar Heels in her top 4, along with LSU, UCLA, and Duke.
5-star shooting guard Olivia Jones is hoping to take an official visit to UNC, and the Tar Heels are in the top 10 for 4-star point guard Aaliah Spaight, per On3’s Talia Goodman.
Olympic Sports
Congratulations to David Ford, Aranza Vázquez Montaño, Ethan Strand, and Parker Wolfe, who were named recipients of the 2024-25 Patterson Medal, UNC Athletics’ most prestigious award. Strand also just earned a spot in the 1,500m World Championships in Tokyo:
Defending national champion UNC Women’s Soccer begins the season where they left off, ranked No. 1 in the nation.
And they received their humongous national championship rings. Click on the photo below for their Instagram gallery.
Lastly, England won back-to-back UEFA Women’s Euro Championships behind 4 Tar Heels: Coach Sarina Wiegman, Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo, and Lotte Wubben-Moy.
This Week’s Tar Heel Birthdays
Happy 30th birthday to Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher and 2023 MLB All-Star Zac “The Milk Man” Gallen. Two athletic dunkers also celebrate birthdays this week, with Seth Trimble turning 21 and Seventh Woods turning 27. It’s a shame Woods never reached his ceiling at UNC, but his legendary 16-million-view high school mix tape is always fun to re-visit.
Zac Gallen, 2023 MLB All-Star pitcher: August 3, 1995 (30)
Jack Cobb, 3x basketball consensus All-American; Retired UNC jersey: August 4 (1904-1966)
B.J. Surhoff, 19-Year MLB Career: August 4, 1964 (61)
Tim Federowicz, MLB Catcher, 2020 Olympic Baseball Silver Medalist: August 5, 1987 (38)
Seventh Woods, Basketball 2016-19: August 7, 1998 (27)
Seth Trimble, Basketball 2022-26: August 9, 2004 (21)
Final Thoughts
As a reminder, this newsletter will remain free through the end of August, giving you a chance to see what it’s all about while giving me time to dial in the content that’s most valuable to you. Starting Labor Day, it will switch to a paid model: $5/month or $50/year, with a 1-week free trial you can cancel anytime.
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Go Heels, and a sincere thank you to the many of our over 1,200 subscribers who have already become paid supporters.
James
PS - And thanks to Scott for his ringing endorsement from Ecuador.
“James. We have messaged back and forth for many years and you have always been responsive. Your site I visit first thing every morning and often a couple of times a day. It is THE go-to place for news about my Heels (class of '77) and so easy to reach from here in Ecuador. And, now, I click over to that subscribe thing! WELL worth the investment. Thanks.”
—Dr. Scott Simmerman