Recruiting report: What we learned from the Charlotte Under Armour camp (2024)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Under Armour’s camp series made its way to the Carolinas on Sunday as dozens of the nation’s top prospects in the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes gathered in Charlotte for a full day of skills and drills.

The camp at Mallard Creek High School was headlined by Kendre Harrison, the nation’s top tight end in the Class of 2026, and Faizon Brandon, ranked by one service as the top overall prospect in 2026.

Here’s what we learned:

Brandon narrowing down his list

Brandon, the nation’s No. 4 quarterback and No. 53 prospect in the Class of 2026 in the 247Sports Composite, still has plenty of time to make a decision. But the Greensboro, N.C., native is in the process of narrowing down his list, which already includes offers from about 25 schools.

“Pretty much right now, I’m just still trying to build relationships before I drop my top five before the season,” he said. “When I drop my top five … (I’ll) start building better relationships for when I commit after the season.”

Heading into summer visits, Brandon plans to make trips to Tennessee, Ohio State, Alabama and potentially Oregon, as well as in-state programs North Carolina and NC State. Ohio State extended an offer April 30 after coaches traveled to North Carolina to see him throw in person. Oregon offered Wednesday, with Miami — his latest offer — coming through Thursday. Brandon said he had been talking to Buckeyes coaches before the recent visit and was aware they wanted to see him up close before they extended an offer as they do with all quarterbacks.

I had a great time competing today at the UA camp in Charlotte, NC! Thanks for the invitation and i'm also honored to have received the MVP award! #AGTG @AnnaH247 @TomLoy247 @TheUCReport @247Sports @ChadSimmons_ @SWiltfong_ @DemetricDWarren @RivalsFriedman @grimsleyfb pic.twitter.com/JB2tRhVQ76

— Faizon Brandon (@faizon_brandon) May 12, 2024

“It was awesome knowing that they were coming to watch me throw,” he said. “I never really thought it would be like this when I was younger … seeing all the coaches coming through.”

Brandon said Tennessee is the school recruiting him the hardest.

In late April, 247Sports named him its top overall prospect in the Class of 2026. Despite the recent attention, the recruiting process has been manageable so far.

“It’s not too hectic,” he said. “My coaches help me out really, so it’s really pretty smooth.”

A future package deal?

Three prospects to keep an eye on in the Class of 2026 are four-star linebacker Thomas Davis Jr., four-star defensive lineman Aiden Harris and unranked defensive lineman Drew Harris. The Harris brothers are twins. Davis, the son of Panthers legend Thomas Davis, is their cousin. They all live together and are interested in playing college football together, Aiden Harris said.

“Best trio in the nation,” he said, smiling.

Davis, at No. 74 overall, is the highest-ranked prospect of the group. Aiden Harris is ranked No. 97 nationally. They are the state of North Carolina’s Nos. 7 and 10 prospects.

This month, Davis and Aiden Harris picked up offers from Oregon, Michigan, Missouri and Vanderbilt. The Wolverines, Tigers and Commodores also offered Drew Harris. All three players have offers from Ohio State and Ole Miss, and the twin brothers picked up a Florida offer April 25. Davis has a Notre Dame offer and plans to visit the Fighting Irish this summer, in addition to potential trips to Virginia Tech, Michigan and Oregon. He has already been to Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson, Tennessee, North Carolina, NC State, Miami, UCLA and USC.

The Harris brothers are lining up summer plans, too.

“I’ve been to Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson (and) Georgia and I’m gonna get out to some more schools,” Aiden Harris said. “Will probably be back to Southern Cal (and) UCLA and some others.”

Harris said USC, NC State and Georgia — albeit the Bulldogs to a lesser extent — are the three schools recruiting him the hardest. He won MVP honors among defensive linemen Sunday and turned a backflip on two separate occasions to celebrate wrapping up the camp.

He broke the pinky on his right hand last week and almost didn’t attend the camp.

“I decided last-minute to come out and compete,” he said. “And it was worth it.”

Samari Matthews stands out

Matthews couldn’t wait to call his mother Sunday to let her know his big news.

As the camp came to a close and dozens of prospects gathered around for a quick awards ceremony, Under Armour officials had a surprise for Matthews — an invitation to Under Armour’s Future 50 event, a two-day camp in June at IMG Academy in Florida featuring 50 of the nation’s top underclassmen. Camp officials gave Matthews a T-shirt to celebrate the invite, which he couldn’t wait to show his mother on Mother’s Day.

“She’s definitely going to flip,” he said. “She doesn’t know yet. It’s a secret.”

Matthews is the nation’s No. 66 prospect and No. 7 cornerback in the Class of 2026. He plays at William Amos Hough High School just outside of Charlotte and, like his fellow top prospects, is seeing his recruitment heat up.

He plans to visit Virginia Tech, Clemson and Florida State this summer with his father.

Penn State coach James Franklin and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith as well as defensive backs coach Torrian Gray at South Carolina, defensive backs coach Mike Reed at Clemson and coach Mack Brown at North Carolina are making the biggest push. To Matthews’ surprise, Notre Dame recently entered the fold, too, with an offer last week.

“The offer is definitely surprising,” he said. “I have two of my friends up there. … They already told me what Notre Dame is like, going to a big school like that. It’s definitely surprising. I definitely was excited for that.”

As Matthews wraps up his sophom*ore year of high school and officially turns the page toward his junior season, he knows the phone calls are about to pick up. He used his spring break to determine which schools he was most interested in and which ones he would potentially eliminate.

ChaChi Sullivan, Matthews’ trainer, plans to focus on making him as versatile as possible. That means repping at both nickel and maybe even safety, in addition to corner.

“He’s gonna be (a No. 1 cornerback), and I think he has the ability to follow people,” Sullivan said. “So if we teach him the nickel, you can’t hide a good receiver by putting him in the slot. And I think that’s one of the reasons I want to be able to teach it to him so that he’s comfortable there because I think that wherever he goes, eventually he’ll be the cornerback that’s following a team’s No. 1 receiver.”

Top performers

Under Armour handed out MVP honors for each position group — starting with linemen in the morning, running backs and linebackers in the early afternoon and defensive backs, receivers and quarterbacks later in the afternoon.

In addition to Harris, 2025 prospect Makhi Williams-Lee earned defensive line MVP honors. He is an unranked 2025 prospect out of Atlanta.

Kiande Marsh, another unranked prospect, out of Hough (N.C.) High School won offensive line MVP honors, alongside three-star South Carolina native Kevin Peay. USF commit Shane Marshall won running back MVP honors, and Dominique Midgett — who plays at Mallard Creek, where the camp was held — took home linebacker honors.

Brandon and three-star Duke commit Dan Mahan in the Class of 2025 won the quarterback awards. The wide receiver MVP honors went to South Carolina commit Brian Rowe Jr. and four-star CJ Wiley out of Milton (Ga.) High School. Maryland native Amauri Polydor and South Carolina native Jordan Ravenell, both 2026 prospects, won the awards at defensive back.

(Photo of Aiden Harris: Grace Raynor / The Athletic)

Grace Raynor is a staff writer for The Athletic covering recruiting and southeastern college football. A native of western North Carolina, she graduated from the University of North Carolina. Follow Grace on Twitter @gmraynor