Heels have calendar marked for key visits
Top priority: Sept. 15 versus Virginia at Kenan Stadium. Why, you ask, would Williams invest valuable time worrying about the football version of the Cavaliers when the basketball version of his Tar Heels need to start gearing up for a potential Final Four run? The answer is simple: Davis' ability to inject excitement back into a flatlining football program may just be the X-factor in determining whether Williams and the UNC basketball program can score landmark commitments from their top two remaining targets in the Class of 2008. With the summer recruiting binge now over, the Carolina basketball staff is turning its recruiting attention to official visits, expecting on-campus stopovers this fall from Class of 2008 center Tyler Zeller (ranked 22nd overall by Rivals.com) and guard Iman Shumpert (No. 26). In Chapel Hill on Sept. 15 Both players have scheduled visits for the weekend of Sept. 15 and will take in the UNC-Virginia football game as part of the festivities. You can almost hear Williams in the football office now. This, Williams understands, may be his golden opportunity to sell Zeller and Shumpert on the excitement that Carolina athletics can produce. Looking to add to class With commitments already from point guard Larry Drew and forward Ed Davis, UNC would have another loaded recruiting bounty if it is able to convince either Zeller or Shumpert to join the party. Snagging both prospects would be a windfall that would practically guarantee that the Tar Heels would not slip much after this season. An incoming class of Drew, Davis, Zeller and Shumpert would stabilize, then strengthen, the program in much the same way the 2005 class of Tyler Hansbrough, Bobby Frasor, Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green did. As of now, Shumpert's final list is down to three schools with UNC joining Marquette and Georgia Tech. Zeller has four schools left on his radar: Carolina, Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame. The Tar Heels would seem to have a marked advantage in the Zeller sweepstakes going head-to-head with programs that have combined for three NCAA tournament wins in the past five seasons. But Zeller is from Washington, Ind. He has developed a bond with Purdue coach Matt Painter over the past few years, sees a golden opportunity to play right away for Kelvin Sampson at Indiana and knows everything there is to know about Mike Brey and the Fighting Irish program, with his brother Luke about to enter his junior season in South Bend. So now it is up to Williams to play his hand, to roll out the red carpet in mid-September and campaign for a move to the Tar Heel state. By most accounts, Zeller is exactly the kind of big guy Williams loves. Yeah, his size is nice - Zeller stands 6-foot-11. But he also has a motor that doesn't quit and a desire to run the floor. Zeller is tall, mobile The knock on Zeller is that with his wiry 210-pound frame, he might have some trouble absorbing the pounding in the paint over a full college season. But Williams has always had a prescription to offset that pounding. It's his run-at-all-costs philosophy, one which Zeller has the talent for. Recruiting analyst Brick Oettinger is among those awed by the big man's mobility. "This guy runs as fast up and down the court as anybody 7-feet tall since Wilt Chamberlain was running track at Kansas," Oettinger said. "He out-sprints the guards. He'll get a rebound, throw the outlet pass and end up filling a lane on the break. He is tremendously fast and he has these long strides. He gets a lot of easy goals just by beating people down the court." Now it's up to Williams to beat people down the recruiting trail. With both Shumpert and Zeller, Carolina will bat first. Shumpert's visit to Georgia Tech is scheduled for Sept. 29 with no Marquette stop yet scheduled. Zeller's other visits - Indiana (Sept. 22), Notre Dame (Oct. 12) and Purdue (Oct. 19) - all come after his stay in Chapel Hill and that trip into Kenan Stadium. What the Tar Heels football team can do to enhance the Carolina experience remains to be seen.
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