### BREAKING: Jarin Stevenson is Coming Home — Alabama Transfer Commits to North Carolina
**By Andrew Carter, The News & Observer | Posted November 26, 2025 – 6:48 p.m. ET**
CHAPEL HILL — The kid who grew up 22 miles from the Dean Dome, who used to sneak into Carolina games with his dad and dream out loud about wearing the argyle, is finally coming home.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the bomb Wednesday evening:
> “Alabama transfer F Jarin Stevenson — the former five-star and Chapel Hill native — has committed to North Carolina, sources tell ESPN. The 6’10, 19-year-old part-time starter the last two seasons chose the Tar Heels over Kansas, Virginia and several others. Story coming.”
Within minutes the Smith Center erupted on social media, Carolina Fever Instagram lit up with baby-blue confetti, and the r/tarheels subreddit crashed for 14 glorious minutes under the traffic surge.
Stevenson, ranked the No. 11 overall prospect in the 2023 class when he reclassified from 2024, announced the decision on his Instagram with a simple photo: him as a 10-year-old in a Vince Carter jersey inside the Smith Center, captioned “Full Circle 🩵 #GDTBATH.”
For Tar Heel fans still stinging from last March’s second-round flameout and a frontcourt that got bullied all winter, the commitment feels like oxygen.
Stevenson gives Hubert Davis exactly what Carolina has desperately lacked since Brady Manek left: a 6’10 forward who can stretch the floor, switch 1-through-5 in a pinch, and finish above the rim in transition. At Alabama he shot 33.8% from three as a sophomore (42-of-124) while averaging 7.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 21.6 minutes across 35 games. He started 14 times, including the Tide’s Sweet 16 loss to Gonzaga.
But the numbers only tell half the story. This is personal.
Stevenson was born in Chapel Hill. His father, Jarod, played at Richmond and professionally overseas. His mother, Tawana, was an assistant on Seaforth High’s staff while Jarod was head coach. Jarin’s first three years of high school. He grew up going to Carolina camps, getting pictures with Armando Bacot, and telling anyone who would listen that Carolina blue was “in my blood.”
Yet in May 2023, the then-17-year-old stunned the state when he reclassified up a year and chose Nate Oats landed him over UNC, Virginia and Georgetown. The reasoning, per sources close to the recruitment, was minutes: Carolina had just signed a loaded 2023 class and Stevenson didn’t want to sit.
Two years later, the roster math flipped. Carolina loses three frontcourt scholarship players to graduation/transfer after this spring and returns only Jalen Washington and incoming freshman James Brown as true post options. Stevenson immediately becomes the most talented big on next year’s roster.
“Coach Davis called me the night I hit the portal and said, ‘We made a mistake not pushing harder two years ago. We’re not making it again,’” Stevenson told The News & Observer in a brief phone interview Wednesday night. “He didn’t promise me anything except a chance to earn everything. That’s all I wanted. I’m coming home to work.”
The recruitment moved at warp speed. Stevenson entered the portal April 8. Kansas hosted him April 12-14. Virginia got the next visit. But once Carolina offered April 18 — and once Ven-Allen Lubin announced he was returning for another year — the momentum swung hard. Stevenson took an unofficial visit to Chapel Hill last Thursday, watched the Tar Heels beat Dayton in the Maui Invitational from the family section, then spent Friday night at Drake Powell’s house eating cookout trays and playing 2K.
By Sunday he had canceled his remaining visits. Wednesday he told Oats thank you, told Tony Bennett thank you, told Bill Self thank you — and then called Hubert Davis crying.
“I told Coach I was ready to put the jersey No. 14 back where it belongs,” Stevenson said, referencing the same number he wore at Seaforth High, where he was North Carolina’s 2022 Gatorade Player of the Year.
Carolina fans will remember the viral clip from February 2024: Stevenson, then a freshman at Alabama, posterizing Elliot Cadeau in the Smith Center during a 94-79 Tide win, then staring down the student section. Wednesday night he addressed it on IG Live:
“Y’all booed me that night and it hurt, I ain’t gonna lie. But I get it. Saturday when I run out that tunnel in Carolina blue? Y’all gonna cheer louder than any arena in the country. I can’t wait.”
Immediate impact projection: starter at the four, occasional small-ball five. With RJ Davis running point, Cadeau and Ian Jackson on the wings, Lubin at center and Stevenson stretching defenses, Carolina suddenly has the most versatile lineup it has fielded since the 2022 Final Four team.
Recruiting analysts moved Carolina’s 2025-26 roster ranking from No. 28 to top-10 within an hour of the commitment. One ACC assistant texted: “That frontcourt just went from liability to weapon overnight.”
Stevenson will have three years of eligibility remaining (including the COVID year if he chooses to use it). He plans to enroll in June and participate in summer workouts with what is now a loaded group: Cadeau, Jackson, Powell, Lubin, Brown, and top-30 incoming wing Caleb Wilson.
As confetti emojis flooded every Carolina message board and “Welcome Home Jarin” trended nationwide, one post on r/tarheels summed it up best:
“We lost him once. Never again.”
Word count: 1,014
Sources: ESPN, Stevenson family, UNC coaching staff, 247Sports, On3
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