1. Anderson (S.C.) Westside senior wide receiver Jimmar Boston texted me this week that he thought he would verbally commit Sept. 5, and won’t be taking any visits prior to the announcement.
The 6-foot, 175-pound Boston unofficially visited NC State for Alpha Wolf on July 28 and Virginia Tech is the other Power Four Conference offer he has.
Boston had a quality junior year, catching 38 passes for 800 yards and nine touchdowns last year. He benefits from junior quarterback Cutter Woods, who has offers from Georgia Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Woods had 3,014 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions last year, so Boston is in a prime position to excel this season.
Boston grew up a Clemson fan, but the Tigers filled up at wide receiver. In some ways, his recruitment and film is similar to 2023 wide receiver Elijah Caldwell of Rock Hill (S.C.) Northwestern. Caldwell committed to West Virginia relatively early on July 1, 2022, but NC State jumped in hoping to sway him late, just like they jumped in with Boston this summer.
Caldwell did flip, but to childhood favorite South Carolina and signed with the Gamecocks. He had a few more Power Four Conference honors than Boston when it was all said and done — South Carolina, West Virginia, NC State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Purdue and Utah.
It almost feels if solid prospects like Boston or Caldwell or even 2023 quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who new NCSU offensive coordinator Robert Anae had coming to Syracuse at one (he also flipped to South Carolina), if they don’t get prioritized by either Clemson or South Carolina, they get overlooked in our neighbor state to the south. It’s an interesting dynamic.
Now, getting a commit and then hanging on has been a concern as Caldwell and Sellers showed, or Clemson poaching Irmo (S.C.) Dutch Fork running back Jarvis Green late from James Madison last year.
Boston combined with Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley wide receiver Terrell Anderson and Burlington (N.C.) Cummings senior wide receiver Jonathan Paylor, would give the Wolfpack a quality trio of potential weapons for quarterback of the future MJ Morris.
2. The Wolfpack Central took in the Zane Williams experience Friday night in low 90s heat.
For one half, it was pretty darn exciting. Like fellow NC State safety commit Brody Barnhardt of Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day last week, Williams had a much worse case of leg cramps that put him in street clothes for the second half. Wake Forest (N.C.) improved to 1-1 with a nice 31-21 win over South Garner (N.C.) High.
Williams was lined up at outside linebacker and played downhill from the jump. I had him unofficially for nine tackles, two tackles for loss and one pass knocked down at the line of scrimmage in his half of action. After the first quarter, it was easy to think Williams was going to be in line to get 15-18 tackles, he was that productive.
Williams was dominant, plays physical and took pretty good angles to the ballcarrier. He also should be fun to watch on special teams, and nearly blocked a punt.
The three players he’s often compared to that have come through the state are former NC State linebacker Drake Thomas, former Virginia Tech linebacker Dax Hollifield and current North Carolina linebacker Power Echols. Some guys are just born to make tackles and plays in college football and Williams is similar to that trio, who were all prep stars. Thomas went to Wake Forest Heritage, Hollifield to Shelby (N.C.) High and Echols to what is now Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers. The 5-foot-11 Williams is also similar-sized to those three at the same stage, with Hollifield the tallest at a listed 6-1. I was able to see all three multiple times in high school, including Echols and Hollifield state title games, and knew they’d be good in college, and I walked out of the stadium Friday night feeling the same about Williams if he has a healthy four years at NC State.
What is crazy to think about after seeing Williams play was that before NC State offered, he had Harvard, Wingate, Colgate and North-Pembroke offers. I’ve mentioned in the past that it’s hard due to NCAA rules for college coaches to watch players play live with their prep teams, and maybe that is what happened with Williams. He should have had more good offers.
The other part is that due to his older brothers, Williams had built-in connections to NC State and Wake Forest. It’s surprising that WFU never made a run at him. Maybe Wake Forest linebacker senior commits Whittman Whaley of Gatlinburg, Tenn., Darius Jones of Baltimore, Md., and Andrew Hines of College Park, Ga., are just that good.
2b. NC State will still love to add another linebacker to the 2024 class.
Jonesboro (Ga.) Mundy’s Mill High senior Joshua Ofor and Kansas commit JaCorey Stewart of Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton are two prime candidates who attended Alpha Wolf and will officially visit this fall. Georgia has been the hot ground for NC State in pursuing linebackers.
One of the unknown questions is if the Wolfpack had a do-over, would they have gone after Marietta (Ga.) Kell linebacker Justin Logan or Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake outside linebacker Antwan Smith even harder. Logan eventually picked Arkansas and Smith selected Kentucky
NC State also did a song and dance with Ja’Qualin Birdsong of LaGrange (Ga.) Troup Counnty High, who flipped from Cincinnati to Central Florida on July 2.
If Ona (W.Va.) Cabell Midland High linebacker commit Cannon Lewis is anything like Zane Williams, it is further proof that as long as Tony Gibson is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, it should remain as the strength of the defense.
The 6-foot, 175-pound Boston unofficially visited NC State for Alpha Wolf on July 28 and Virginia Tech is the other Power Four Conference offer he has.
Boston had a quality junior year, catching 38 passes for 800 yards and nine touchdowns last year. He benefits from junior quarterback Cutter Woods, who has offers from Georgia Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Woods had 3,014 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and five interceptions last year, so Boston is in a prime position to excel this season.
Boston grew up a Clemson fan, but the Tigers filled up at wide receiver. In some ways, his recruitment and film is similar to 2023 wide receiver Elijah Caldwell of Rock Hill (S.C.) Northwestern. Caldwell committed to West Virginia relatively early on July 1, 2022, but NC State jumped in hoping to sway him late, just like they jumped in with Boston this summer.
Caldwell did flip, but to childhood favorite South Carolina and signed with the Gamecocks. He had a few more Power Four Conference honors than Boston when it was all said and done — South Carolina, West Virginia, NC State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Purdue and Utah.
It almost feels if solid prospects like Boston or Caldwell or even 2023 quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who new NCSU offensive coordinator Robert Anae had coming to Syracuse at one (he also flipped to South Carolina), if they don’t get prioritized by either Clemson or South Carolina, they get overlooked in our neighbor state to the south. It’s an interesting dynamic.
Now, getting a commit and then hanging on has been a concern as Caldwell and Sellers showed, or Clemson poaching Irmo (S.C.) Dutch Fork running back Jarvis Green late from James Madison last year.
Boston combined with Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley wide receiver Terrell Anderson and Burlington (N.C.) Cummings senior wide receiver Jonathan Paylor, would give the Wolfpack a quality trio of potential weapons for quarterback of the future MJ Morris.
2. The Wolfpack Central took in the Zane Williams experience Friday night in low 90s heat.
For one half, it was pretty darn exciting. Like fellow NC State safety commit Brody Barnhardt of Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day last week, Williams had a much worse case of leg cramps that put him in street clothes for the second half. Wake Forest (N.C.) improved to 1-1 with a nice 31-21 win over South Garner (N.C.) High.
Williams was lined up at outside linebacker and played downhill from the jump. I had him unofficially for nine tackles, two tackles for loss and one pass knocked down at the line of scrimmage in his half of action. After the first quarter, it was easy to think Williams was going to be in line to get 15-18 tackles, he was that productive.
Williams was dominant, plays physical and took pretty good angles to the ballcarrier. He also should be fun to watch on special teams, and nearly blocked a punt.
The three players he’s often compared to that have come through the state are former NC State linebacker Drake Thomas, former Virginia Tech linebacker Dax Hollifield and current North Carolina linebacker Power Echols. Some guys are just born to make tackles and plays in college football and Williams is similar to that trio, who were all prep stars. Thomas went to Wake Forest Heritage, Hollifield to Shelby (N.C.) High and Echols to what is now Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers. The 5-foot-11 Williams is also similar-sized to those three at the same stage, with Hollifield the tallest at a listed 6-1. I was able to see all three multiple times in high school, including Echols and Hollifield state title games, and knew they’d be good in college, and I walked out of the stadium Friday night feeling the same about Williams if he has a healthy four years at NC State.
What is crazy to think about after seeing Williams play was that before NC State offered, he had Harvard, Wingate, Colgate and North-Pembroke offers. I’ve mentioned in the past that it’s hard due to NCAA rules for college coaches to watch players play live with their prep teams, and maybe that is what happened with Williams. He should have had more good offers.
The other part is that due to his older brothers, Williams had built-in connections to NC State and Wake Forest. It’s surprising that WFU never made a run at him. Maybe Wake Forest linebacker senior commits Whittman Whaley of Gatlinburg, Tenn., Darius Jones of Baltimore, Md., and Andrew Hines of College Park, Ga., are just that good.
2b. NC State will still love to add another linebacker to the 2024 class.
Jonesboro (Ga.) Mundy’s Mill High senior Joshua Ofor and Kansas commit JaCorey Stewart of Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton are two prime candidates who attended Alpha Wolf and will officially visit this fall. Georgia has been the hot ground for NC State in pursuing linebackers.
One of the unknown questions is if the Wolfpack had a do-over, would they have gone after Marietta (Ga.) Kell linebacker Justin Logan or Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake outside linebacker Antwan Smith even harder. Logan eventually picked Arkansas and Smith selected Kentucky
NC State also did a song and dance with Ja’Qualin Birdsong of LaGrange (Ga.) Troup Counnty High, who flipped from Cincinnati to Central Florida on July 2.
If Ona (W.Va.) Cabell Midland High linebacker commit Cannon Lewis is anything like Zane Williams, it is further proof that as long as Tony Gibson is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, it should remain as the strength of the defense.
