Tar Heels Net Stellar Recruiting Class
June 23, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For the second time in the past three years, University of North Carolina men's tennis coach Sam Paul has landed one of the nation's Top 5-ranked recruiting classes in rankings recently released by TennisRecruiting.Net. Six new Tar Heels will be joining forces with a veteran returning Top 15 Carolina team this August in Chapel Hill. Considering the sheer volume of success compiled by the North Carolina men's tennis team this year, it would take quite an accomplishment to accentuate the season just completed. After taking a look at the recruiting class put together by Head Coach Sam Paul and Assistant Coach Tripp Phillips, though, it appears that the Tar Heels have put quite an exclamation point to their stellar 2008 campaign. The graduation of eight seniors usually precedes a rebuilding phase for a Top 15 college tennis program. That is, it precedes a rebuilding phase for Top 15 college tennis program unless you recruit like Paul and Phillips have this season. "We are in the phase of trying to reload rather than the process of constantly rebuilding," seems to encapsulate the coaches' recruiting mindset well, considering that UNC's recruiting class as of May 15, 2008 was ranked third in the nation, trailing only perennial college tennis powerhouses Stanford and USC in class quality. And whatever quality Paul and Phillips' class lacked in comparison to those of the Cardinal and the Trojans, it made up for in quantity, as the four five-star recruits that signed with UNC totaled one more five-star player than Stanford and the same amount of five-stars as USC. Additionally, North Carolina inked two four-star high school seniors, while the Cardinal and the Trojans stood pat at three and four incoming freshmen, respectively. While the Tennis Recruiting Network erroneously includes South African redshirt freshman Phil Gullan in their recruiting class, they are correct in a sense to include the younger brother of departing senior leader Lenny Gullan, as he will be entering his first year of eligibility next season.
Paul will have one blue chip five-star recruit, three five-star recruits, two four-star recruits, and a redshirt freshman armed with a year of experience all at his disposal for the 2009 season. Five-star blue chipper Brennan Boyajian heads up the class of 2012. With the departures of seniors Benjamin Carlotti and Will Plyler, expect the Floridian to make an immediate impact for the Tar Heels in 2009. Ranked as high as 10th nationwide by the Tennis Recruiting Network, Boyajian seems to be one of the favorites to fill one of the two vacancies in UNC's starting singles lineup. After Boyajian, the Tar Heels have a trio of five-star recruits who have all reached the Top 40 of the Tennis Recruiting Network's rankings. The first is Cameron Ahari, a prep star from Arizona who trained at the Barnes Tennis Center. Next is Luke Mojica, a product of Palmetto High School in Miami, Florida. Rounding out the bunch is Zach Hunter, who trained with Boyajian at the Bill Clark Tennis Academy in Weston, Fla. Those three will also throw their hats into the race to claim one of the vacant singles spots, a race that is already crowded with talent. Not to be overlooked are a pair of four-star recruits, Alex Rafiee and Taylor Meyer, who should push the other four and possibly even claim a spot in the lineup for themselves. Incoming Recruiting Class: |
