UNC Eyes Dream School Advantage in Race for 5-Star

North Carolina is making sure they stay in the race for one of the top point guards in the country and they want to be the ones that get his services.

Deron Rippey Jr. is one of the top targets on the Tar Heels’ recruiting board for the 2026 recruiting cycle. The Blair Academy (N.J.) standout stated last summer that North Carolina was one of his dream schools last summer.

"UNC and UConn are my two dream schools," Rippey told Charlie Parent of ZagsBlog around this time last year. "It's pretty interesting to hear from them and really exciting as well."

However, UCONN is out of the picture as UNC joins 11 other schools in Rippey’s top 12: Alabama, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Syracuse, Tennessee, and Texas.

This summer, Rippey has been turning heads at the Adidas 3SSB Earn Your Stripes Invitational in California. On the opening night last Thursday, he finished with 15 points and eight assists in the first game. In the last game of the night, he followed it up by dropping 21 points and dished out five assists in a loss.

Since the month of July is just one of two months where college coaches are allowed to scout, there were many coaches in attendance to watch some of the top prospects dish it out. One of those coaches in attendance at the 3SSB Earn Your Stripes Invitational was UNC assistant coach Sean May, who flew from the East Coast to watch Rippey play.

“It’s a live period so I want to perform in front of the college coaches," Rippey said to Sean Moran of 247Sports. "I came in here with the same mindset and made sure my teammates look good in front of these college coaches.”

Rippey will get a chance to visit UNC this fall where he will get a chance to mingle with head coach Hubert Davis, his staff and the many players on North Carolina’s roster right now. His visit to Chapel Hill will last from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. That weekend will be very busy for the university as the football team will play a primetime game against TCU on Labor Day at Kenan Stadium.

Rippey, who is Rivals’ No. 3 ranked point guard in the 2026 class, has scheduled several official visits — Kentucky (August 1-3), Miami (August 27-29), Alabama (September 12-14), Texas (September 19-21), Syracuse (September 26-28), Indiana (October 17-19), Tennessee (October 25-26), and Kansas (November 2-4).

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