All the hard work that goes into recruiting football players pays off over time in stages.

Some might consider the first stage to be when a young man makes an oral commitment to attend a school, but there is no binding agreement attached so this is a precarious moment at best.

No, the real initial step arrives in February of each year when the football recruits sign letters-of-intent to attend a school.

The next step comes soon after, when those youngsters graduate from high school. They filter onto college campuses, work out with the veteran players and attend their first college classes at summer school.

We are nearing that stage for the latest group of young men to sign with coach Butch Davis and his staff at Carolina.

One of those kids is named Christian Wilson, a 6-foot-3, 233-pound versatile athlete from McKees, Pa.

Wilson will get his high school diploma June 5 and plans to arrive in Chapel Hill between June 16-18. He has already become close friends with his future roommate, freshman running back Jamal Womble of Arizona.

"We were just texting a minute ago," Wilson said recently. "We talk a couple of times a week." Wilson originally committed to play for Michigan, which speaks to his potential. But that was before Lloyd Carr retired in Ann Arbor and Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia to become the Wolverines' head coach.

Wilson, a probable tight end/H-back, did not see himself fitting into Rodriguez's spread offense, so he began to look at some of his other choices. He had liked Carolina all along, but just felt the allure of Michigan, until the coaching change.

"I liked Michigan when the old coaches were there but, with the new coaches, I didn't really know them," Wilson said. "I always knew the coaches at UNC."

So, on signing day, Wilson picked the Tar Heels.

His choice thrilled the Chapel Hill staff and the fans who follow football recruiting, because the big, strong young man has excellent feet to go with his big body, making him one of the better prizes available in the pool of talent.

"I know North Carolina is trying to make him into an H-Back, tight end," said Lou Cerro, who coached Wilson as a tailback at Montour High School for three of the four years Wilson started there. "I think they should give him a chance. He does some special things with the ball. Just one time, give him the ball at practice and see what he can do. He rushed for more than 2,600 yards this year."

Wilson will arrive in Chapel Hill with the usual things freshmen bring to school their first year, but he also will carry some rather large expectations on his shoulders.

"I obviously want to play," Wilson said. "They told me the day I get down there they are going to put me in, hoping I'll do well. They expect me and Womble to come in and play. I know that.

"Coach Davis told me he needs a tight end in his offense that can run with the ball, catch the ball, get something after the catch," Wilson said. "He said that is what they are missing: A tight end who can catch the ball, shake a couple of people and score. That is what they need me for." Cerro said that Wilson should be able to handle the pressure. He's been doing it throughout his high-school career.

"The kid has had a lot of pressure on his shoulders for four years," Cerro said. "He was touted as the savior for this football program for four years. When he was a freshman, he started; he got hurt and missed the last seven games. The first year I got here, he missed the first couple of games with an injury. He started to turn things around his junior year."

Wilson stayed healthy and matured in many ways his last two years of high school, Cerro said. "He was a men amongst boys his first couple of years," Cerro said. "Then he had to realize kids were starting to get bigger, faster and stronger, and he needed to improve his work ethic and improve his strength. He has great feet. He really doesn't have to work on his feet that much." Wilson concedes he is a little nervous. Most teenagers are as they ready to leave for college, but he said he is also eager to get to Chapel Hill.

"It's going to be a lot different from where I live now, but I think I'll get used to it," Wilson said.