Haul In: UNC Makes Waves with Stacked 2027 Recruiting Class

On Sept. 1, the first day that college coaches can contact high school juniors, a large contingent of 2027s stood on the sideline for North Carolina’s football game against TCU.

The game didn’t go the Tar Heels’ way, but otherwise the visits were incredibly fruitful for the men’s lacrosse program.

UNC garnered arguably the top 2027 class in the country with six of Inside Lacrosse’s top 20 players verbally committing to North Carolina over the next three weeks.

“I’m super pumped about this class,” said No. 1 recruit James Holbrough, who announced Sept. 16 he’d join program. “And then the three classes above us, even the guys that we’ll only get to play with for one year, I’m super excited about all of it. … I believe in what we can do, and I believe we’re going to win a national championship.”

The wave began after the football game when Luke St. Pierre committed on Sept. 2. The Lawrenceville (N.J.) junior, ranked 13th in the class, became the first five-star defenseman to commit.

“The visit, it really changed my view,” St. Pierre said. “I was talking to my dad on the 1st when we were at the game, and I was like, ‘It feels like home here, like I could see myself here for the next four.’”

St. Pierre feels good about the way he improved in his first season at Lawrenceville as an off-ball defender under defensive coordinator Tucker Mizhir. He will be tasked with more on-ball assignments this year, and he thinks he will be ready to contribute to UNC’s defense under Dave Pietramala.

“It’s very similar to how I play,” St. Pierre said. “I think that’s going to make the transition a lot easier and also make me a better player. But I also feel like whatever defense or defensive schemes are put in front of me, I can handle.”

Tripp King, an attackman out of Loyola (Calif.) ranked 20th in the class, committed Sept. 12. King’s commitment came after he stayed on the East Coast for college visits through the entire week so he could reduce flying back and forth from the West Coast. UNC was his first stop.

“Starting with that was amazing,” he said. “I was so happy. It set a very high bar for every other school.”

King spent the day with former Loyola teammate Henry Casani, who is now a freshman defenseman for the Tar Heels. At every turn, he found even more than he expected.

“Going to the football game, getting to see what the team was like and touring everything was awesome,” King said. “The community felt great. The coaches were so fired up, which I loved. Their energy was something I fell in love with. They had that sense of urgency that I hadn’t felt anywhere ever before, which was really cool.”

The West Coast continues to expand its college player pool. King doesn’t feel like he has anything extra to prove, not with others already having paved the way for players like him to reach top programs.

King is figuring out where he could fit into the Tar Heels’ plans. He can play on attack or midfield, and his size and versatility are big assets.

“The team plays with such a flow in such a positionless way where it’s like anywhere I’m put on the field, I can contribute, which is very cool,” he said. “I don’t think there’s specifically a couple guys who do one thing, whereas many other teams run a set offense and have certain people do certain things. I think everyone does a piece of something, does a little piece of the game where everyone can make a difference just by one play.”

Nineteenth-ranked Chris Colsey of Ridgefield (Conn.) gave UNC its second attackman in as many days. He committed on Sept. 13, and he’ll be the third Colsey son of Hall of Fame Syracuse product and Carolina Chaos coach Roy Colsey to play Division I lacrosse.

“Seeing my brothers go through it the first time, you kind of know what’s going to happen and how it’s going to fall and how it’s going to work out,” Colsey said. “But I think with the House Settlement, the biggest change was probably just schools being able to offer more money.”

The Colsey house will be divided after Chris decided on the Tar Heels. He won’t be following Ryan to Virginia or Kyle to Duke.

He made sure to show UNC that he was interested by attending their prospect camp over the summer, and that only strengthened his desire to be a Tar Heel versus playing alongside one of his brothers.

“I told them right away,” Colsey said. “Ryan was happy for me the whole time. He thinks UNC’s a great school. Kyle was a little bit bummed at first, but then after he came around to it, realizing we’re so close to each other.”

Colsey is a player who has been on the rise over the past few years. Consider going into last spring he was ranked 30th by the National Lacrosse Federation, but after a first-team All-FCIAC season and good club summer for the Eclipse, he jumped to No. 18 ahead of the Sept. 1 recruiting start.

The lefty attributes his rise to rounding out his game.

“Just really using my right hand and being deceptive with that from X, making sure that they’ll respect my right hand so I can go lefty or righty and kind of just being a two-dimensional player,” Colsey said.

A pair of Sweetlax club teammates were next. Cole Stankavage, an attack from Ardrey Kell (N.C.), gave the Tar Heels the 16th-ranked 2027, and then the lynchpin of UNC’s haul came when Holbrough, an attackman for Sweetlax, followed on Sept. 16.

“Me and [Stankavage] have been playing club together for like four years, so we have super good chemistry,” Holbrough said. “It’s pretty sweet that we’ll both be there playing together.”

Stankavage had always imagined being able to stay home to help the Tar Heels, and Holbrough quickly fell in love with the school when he began his search.

Holbrough is the top-ranked recruit by Inside Lacrosse. NLF has him third. Holbrough is the first No. 1 ranked recruit from Berkshire School (Mass.), where he grew up with his father as the varsity boys’ coach.

When midnight Sept. 1 hit, his phone didn’t stop ringing. He tried to take it all in and begin to filter his top choices.

“It was pretty crazy, but at the same time, looking back at it, it was one of the most fun nights of my life,” Holbrough said. “Even though it was 1 o’clock and I’m tired, just being able to talk to these coaches that I’ve seen on TV, it’s just a great time when you look back at it.”

Holbrough took three visits, but it was at UNC that he felt the best connection with the coaches and saw everything from academics to lacrosse that fit what he wanted. Those that have played with him rave about his vision, anticipation and playmaking.

“I love playing with him,” Colsey said. “That was always someone I wanted to play in college with because he’s a great player and he’s the most unselfish player you can play with.”

The final piece out of the top 20 was Anthony Asaro, the No. 6 player, a versatile midfielder from Garden City (N.Y.). He intentionally made sure to take enough time and measured the attributes of each place he visited before ultimately committing to UNC.

“I didn’t want to rush into making a decision that I didn’t think it through and look at other schools,” he said. “So, we just decided to take time with it. There was no rushing either way.”

Asaro made three college visits and weighed where he saw himself fitting best. In the end, it was North Carolina, where he visited first. He cited academics, the team and the facilities for his decision.

Asaro, who plays running back for Garden City, is also considering playing football for Bill Belichick’s UNC football team. He’ll be in more serious conversations about that prospect after the football season ends, and he brings athleticism and speed that could help him serve as a midfielder and downhill dodger with the ability to start an offense.

“He’s righty, he’s lefty, he can shoot and feed with both hands,” said Shore 2 Shore club coach Brian Jacovina. “He’s always hitting the wall near Garden City. He’s shooting on his off days. He’s definitely put in the work to get where he is.”

He’s working to make sure he can find his spot when he starts in 2027. He is determined to be an even more imposing figure when he starts college.

The highly touted haul doesn’t even count St. Pierre’s Lawrenceville teammate Jett Stake, who the NLF ranked 14th overall as one of its five-star goalies. Stake, who’s from Long Island like Asaro, committed the same day as St. Pierre, and his commitment is as notable as any in the class.

“Our chemistry already is through the roof,” St. Pierre said. “As we progress in these years, he’s become like a brother to me. And it’s going to help UNC a lot by us being able to come in, knowing each other, knowing how we work together, and knowing that we can stop the ball and push it up in transition.”

Then there’s NLF four-stars Dillon Gulotta, a long-stick midfielder out of Iona Prep (N.Y.), faceoff specialist James Hedley of Charlotte Catholic (N.C.), short-stick defensive midfielder Grant Van Wyke from Cherry Creek (Colo.) along with long-stick midfielder Griffin Hamner of Highland Park (Texas).

North Carolina’s Class of 2027 commits have already started a group chat. It’s helped them start to know each other a bit more after they talked on their college visit.

“Starting it now, it’s just creating a brotherhood between us all,” St. Pierre said. “I’ve only been able to play with Jett, but I’m excited to start playing with the other dudes. I’ve only played against them. I’m excited for them to be on my team instead of going against me.”

The class hopes to be part of North Carolina’s resurgence. They have five national titles, the last coming in 2016. They last reached the final four in 2021, and last year’s NCAA tournament appearance was the program’s first since 2021. That’s also its last ACC regular-season championship.

“It’s definitely going to be tough watching them in-season and knowing I have another couple of years to wait, but I think it’s going to build up a lot of anticipation for when I get there,” Holbrough said.

OTHER NOTABLE RECRUITING CLASSES

While North Carolina stood out for its Class of 2027 haul, Princeton and Notre Dame also picked up impressive classes. Princeton nabbed five of Inside Lacrosse’s top 21 prospects. Notre Dame had commitments from four of the top 18.

The Tigers’ class is headlined by third-ranked Riley Woods, an attackman for Culver Academy (Ind.). They also scored commitments to the admissions process from 10th-ranked Belmont Hill (Mass.) midfielder John Lynch, 14th-ranked IMG Academy (Fla.) attackman George Caldroney, Tabor (Mass.) 15th-ranked defenseman Jack Czepiel and 21st-ranked Fin Kilbourne, a midfielder at St. Paul’s (Md.).

JT Cross was the top pickup for Notre Dame. The attackman from Valor Christian (Colo.) is ranked second by Inside Lacrosse but is considered the No. 1 recruit by Prep Lacrosse. Inside Lacrosse’s 9th-ranked Conor Morsell, an attackman from Haverford School (Pa.), is also highly regarded. Deerfield (Mass.) defenseman Leif Anderson is ranked No. 12, and Chatham (N.J.) attackman Nick Lagunowich is the No. 18 recruit.

Duke has a pair of top-20 recruits in Culver goalie Bodhi Harmon (No. 11) and Haverford midfielder Finn French (No. 17). Seton Hall (N.J.) defenseman Jagger Zemachson, the No. 5 recruit according to NLF, also committed to the Blue Devils, as did NLF’s 11th-ranked Ben Waechter, an LSM out of Brother Rice (Mich.).

NLF’s top-ranked recruit, goalie Moe Sobel, committed to Syracuse. Harvard grabbed another top-20 goalie, Teddy Oh of Taft (Conn.), who IL ranked eighth. Johns Hopkins got a commitment from fourth-ranked Delbarton (N.J.) midfielder Brandon Fodor along with 22nd-ranked Matt Souter, a Lawrenceville midfielder. Penn State received a commitment from IL’s No. 5 recruit, midfielder Ayden Matthews of Lawrenceville.