Tony Grimes reclassifies to 2020, UNC gets five-star cornerback right away

North Carolina football five-star commit Tony Grimes reclassifies for 2020.

Tony Grimes will make his trek to North Carolina football a year earlier than expected.

The five-star cornerback from Virginia Beach, Virginia committed to play for Mack Brown’s North Carolina Tar Heels less than two weeks ago. Grimes picked North Carolina over the Georgia Bulldogs, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas A&M Aggies in his final four he established back on May 31. Grimes committed to North Carolina a month later on June 30.

As part of the 2021 recruiting class, North Carolina had the No. 3 ranking in the country and the second in the ACC behind only the Clemson Tigers. Grimes was the one five-star Brown had in his 2021 class, as the 247Sports Composite had him as the No. 7 player in the country, the No. 1 player from Virginia and the No. 1 cornerback in his class. Now it looks like Grimes is reclassifying.

The father of the Princess Anne High School standout Deon Glover told 247Sports his son is indeed reclassifying to be part of the 2020 freshman class at UNC. Grimes has one more high school class he needs to finish (government) before he can enroll at Chapel Hill two semesters early. His decision hinges heavily on the uncertainty of high school sports in Virginia this fall.

“He’s going for sure,” said Glover on Friday. “Our backs are against the wall. He doesn’t want to wait around and blow a whole season waiting around to see what’s going to happen with high school sports. He’s going to go ahead and move forward.”

Tony Grimes reclassifies over uncertainty of Virginia high school sports.

“Whenever he has to report,” said Glover. “I think he’s going to have an immediate impact. He’s smart enough to catch the playbook and learn the schemes. I think he’s going to have an immediate impact…He has four games before he can redshirt. I hate to even bring it up but I don’t think he’s going to redshirt.”

From the looks of it, under a normal high school season, Grimes was going to early enroll at UNC anyway, as he only needs that government class to graduate. By taking it online in the latter half of the summer, he can enroll on the Chapel Hill campus in time to begin fall camp, assuming college football starts on time. This is a massive, massive pickup for Brown and the Tar Heels.

North Carolina will contend for an ACC Coastal Division title with the likes of the Miami Hurricanes and the Virginia Tech Hokies this season. Even if college football becomes a conference-only affair this fall, Grimes getting out ahead of this and reclassifying is a great way to help him get early playing time. As his father says, he can play in four games this season and still not burn a redshirt.

Brown can do a victory dance by himself, knowing Grimes will be joining him in a few weeks’ time.

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