Beatty headed to Tar Heels
When A.J. Beatty took an official visit to the University of North Carolina over the weekend, he said he loved the campus, facilities and coaches.
But the best part of the trip, according to the 6-foot5, 245-pound teenager, was a meal.
Cowboy rib-eye. Twentytwo ounces.
“We went to Ruth’s Chris and we ate well,” said Beatty, a rising senior at Central Catholic.
He ordered his steak medium-well, but by the end of the trip, his recruitment was, well, done.
Beatty, one of the WPIAL’s top football recruits, made a verbal commitment to North Carolina, one of 44 Division I schools to extend him an offer. He ultimately chose the Tar Heels over West Virginia, South Carolina and Purdue. Rivals ranks Beatty the No. 4 player in Pennsylvania and No. 26 strongside defensive end in the country.
“It just felt like home,” Beatty said. “I just felt like that was the place for me. It really came down to the academics and the people there. The facilities are brand new. There were really no cons about it. We were trying to find something we didn’t like, but we couldn’t.”
Beatty, who lives in Bethel Park, was high on North Carolina going into his visit, which turned out to be his first and only official visit. He made an unofficial visit to the campus late in April with his dad, but he wasn’t about to commit to a school without his mom’s approval.
“My mom still hadn’t seen it and I wanted her to see it,” Beatty said. “She’s like my education adviser and my dad is like my sports adviser. We toured the school and she really liked it.”
North Carolina had only been recruiting Beatty for a few months. In fact, 32 schools offered him before the Tar Heels did March 26. Beatty began following a North Carolina assistant on Twitter and the assistant followed back. Beatty messaged the coach his junior highlight video. He didn’t hear anything for two months, and then an offer suddenly came his way.
The Tar Heels are coached by Mack Brown, who is in the first year of his second stint as head coach. Brown guided Texas to a national championship in 2005.
Brooklyn’s in the house
It only makes sense that a Brooklyn has chosen to play college basketball in New York. Allderdice standout Brooklyn Jones committed to Niagara. Jones, a 5-foot-7 guard who will be a senior this fall, was an all-City League pick her sophomore and junior seasons.
She averaged 10 points per game as a junior when she helped the Dragons win their second consecutive City League championship. Niagara has two current players who hail from WPIAL schools — sophomore Jordan Edwards (Gateway) and freshman Adia Brisker (Penn Hills).