By R.L. Bynum

Carolina football welcomed 27 newcomers, including 20 early enrollees, on National Signing Day on Wednesday to give the program five consecutive top-25 recruiting classes.

Rivals ranks the Tar Heels’ class No. 22 in the country, and the 247Sports Composite puts the group at No. 25. UNC welcomes 12 four-star recruits and 15 three-star players.

Coach Mack Brown’s class includes 14 players on defense, 12 on offense and one specialist: eight from Georgia and North Carolina, five from Florida, three from Tennessee and one each from Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia.

Defensive backs Zion Ferguson, Jaiden Patterson and Ty White; offensive lineman Andrew Rosinski; and linebacker Ashton Woods headline the Georgia signees.

Defensive backs Khalil Conley and Malcolm Ziglar; and wide receivers Jordan Shipp and Alex Taylor are the top North Carolina players.

Three-star recruits include offensive linemen Aidan  Banfield, Desmond Jackson, Luke Masterson and Jani Norwood; linebackers  Evan Bennett and Crews Law; Jack position players Daniel Anderson and Curtis Simpson; quarterback Michael Merdinger, wide receiver Javarius Green, tight end Ryan Ward, defensive end  Jalon Thompson, defensive lineman Leroy Jackson and kicker Lucas Osada.

UNC also signed defensive back Tyrane Stewart from East Mississippi Community College.

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UNC signing class

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UNC schedule

Month/ date	Opponent/event	2023 record	UNC record in series
April
20	Spring game, 3 p.m.	—	—
August
29 (Thurs.)	at Minnesota	6–7	1–0
September
7	Charlotte	3–9	0–0
14	N.C. Central	9–3	0–0
21	James Madison	11–2	3–0
28	at Duke	8–5	65–40–4
October
5	Pittsburgh	3–9	12–5
12	Georgia Tech	7–6	22–33–3
26	at Virginia	3–9	66–58–4
November
2	at Florida State	13–1	3–17–1
16	Wake Forest	4–8	72–36–2
23	at Boston College	7–6	6–2
30	N.C. State	9–4	68–39–6