UNC coach Larry Fedora on flipping James Summers from N.C. State

ROBERT WILLETT - rwillett@newsobserver.com

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Larry Fedora, above, spoke with a sense of pride earlier today about the Tar Heels’ 23-man recruiting class. It’s a class that perhaps turned out about as well as could be expected, given Fedora and his staff had about a month to put it together – and given that the NCAA has yet to rule on the impermissible benefits and academic fraud scandals that rocked the UNC football program in 2010.

Still, despite the challenges, the Tar Heels closed strongly. Quinshad Davis, whom Rivals.com ranks as the No. 34 receiver in the country – and the second-best prospect overall in South Carolina – signed with UNC on Wednesday. So, too, did James Summers, the Greensboro Page High quarterback who last week switched his commitment from N.C. State.

Rivals.com ranks both Davis and Summers as four-star prospects. Fedora spoke earlier today about how he convinced Summers to flip his commitment from N.C. State to UNC. Here’s what Fedora said about it:

“You know, it really wasn’t as hard as I think what people think. Because when James finally came to campus with his mom and his stepdad and his nephew, he was – he fell in love. You could tell. Now there was one, you could look in his eyes – he wanted to be a Tar Heel. You know? He wanted to be a Tar Heel.

“But he had been committed somewhere else for so long it was hard for him to make that flip … because for a football player a lot of times … the whole time growing up in the sport they’re taught to it’s all about the team. The team. The team. There is no ‘I’ in team. And so then you get to recruiting, and for one time in their life, they have to be selfish. They’ve got to do what’s best for them.

“And then when they get there, it goes back to the team …You know, for him, he had been committed somewhere for so long, that you know, he didn’t feel comfortable with doing that. It was like going back on your word. And so, we obviously convinced him to do it.”

Fedora said he and Summers spent a lot of time talking about the kind of offense that Fedora plans to build at UNC. Fedora, of course, has developed a reputation the up-tempo spread offense he brought to Southern Miss during his four years there.

“I think that was huge,” Fedora said of the role his offense played in Summers’ decision. “For him, you know, when he saw what we were going to do offensively, his eyes lit up. And that was the first thing that generated the interest.”