1. The state of North Carolina is known for producing running backs — Nyheim Hines, Todd Gurley and Bryce Love immediately come to mind — but a new trend is about to emerge.
The sheer amount of wide receivers in the class of 2023 and 2024 is stunning. Now some might end up at cornerback or free safety because they have that kind of versatility.
Juniors that have emerged included Noah Rogers of Rolesville (N.C.) High, Christian Hamilton of Harrisburg (N.C.) Hickory Ridge, Christopher Culliver of Maiden (N.C.) High, Kevin Concepcion of Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers High and Nathan Leacock of Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook.
The sophomore class is perhaps even more loaded, headlined by Jonathan Paylor of Burlington (N.C.) Cummings. A pair of teammates have also proven to be dynamic in Jordan Shipp and Channing Goodwin of Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day, and Alex Taylor and Terrell Anderson of Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley. Keenan Jackson of Waxhaw (N.C.) Cuthbertson could be on the cusp of joining that group.
Former Greensboro Northern Guilford High wide receiver Keenan Allen of the Los Angeles Chargers is the best of the current NFL receivers from the state. Others of note include Braxton Berrios of the New York Jets, Cornell Powell of Kansas City Chiefs, Dyami Brown of Washington Football Team and Jamison Crowder of Jets, plus converted quarterback Kendall Hinton of Denver Broncos.
Berrios went to Raleigh Leesville Road and Miami, Powell is from Greenville Rose and Clemson, Brown is from Charlotte South Mecklenburg and North Carolina, Crowder is from Monroe High and Duke and Hinton attended Southern Durham High and Wake Forest.
2. Speaking of Rogers, he’s the top target for NC State and tight ends/special teams coach Todd Goebbel, plus wide receivers coach Joker Phillips. He’s the Nyheim Hines or Dexter Lawrence of this class where it’s a must-get for NC State to land Rogers.
The sense is that a few more heavyweight programs are poised to jump in, but NC State has positioned itself great. What makes this even more remarkable is that UNC taking his brother Cyrus Rogers as a walk-on hasn’t seemed to make a dent. Noah Rogers has been over to UNC just three times since June.
Rogers is ranked No. 180 overall and the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of North Carolina in the class of 2023 by Rivals.com. He’s expected to get a nice bump in the national rankings after a superb junior year. What makes Rogers unique is that he isn’t just a vertical deep threat or a possession receiver, but has a fastball and a changeup. Plus, he has star power. It’s hard to not watch him because whether it’s receiving or a punt return or a kick return, you wonder when he’ll break one. All of that will be obvious in our scouring videos package of Rogers for next week.
NC State, Tennessee, South Carolina, Penn State, West Virginia and North Carolina, are expected to remain on Rogers’ list, but the question comes if Notre Dame or Clemson start to prioritize him, and will Alabama or Georgia enter the mix.
3. We mentioned the wide receivers in the younger classes, but NC State has also been in front of the curve with Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic sophomore tight end Jack Larsen, who is 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds. He unofficially visited Notre Dame for the UNC game last Saturday, and picked up an offer from Florida this week. NC State, North Carolina and South Carolina were his first three offers.
He’s not the big hulking tight end type such as former NC State player Cary Angeline. What he does do is run savvy routes, seems to have big hands that can easily snatch the ball and he runs well enough. He could fill the role that current NC State tight end Chris Toudle is filling.
Phillips is handling Larsen’s recruitment, and he could become a priority recruit over the next year. We’ll have a story on Larsen in the near future.
4. Switching gears to junior shooting guard Robert Dillingham and basketball recruiting. It’s important to know the landscape in recruiting these days between attending college, G-League Ignite and Overtime.
Overtime played six games over two games in Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy, and it was quite an experience. To put this in perspective, Overtime started with a couple of guys shooting traveling team tournament with cell phones on the baseline of games several years ago. Now, they have money invested in them and their own league. There have been numerous rumors that Dillingham could be considering playing in Overtime. Everything we gathered Monday at Combine Academy, which was his old school before going to Simi Valley (Calif.) Donda Academy is that Dillingham is not interested.
The money that was thrown around would be seriously tempting for many prep players. They had over 100 employees come to Combine Academy. Out of the 24 players on the roster, maybe five have a really good chance of getting drafted by the NBA one day, and a few could be “maybe’s.” Wing Amen Thompson, power forward Matt Bewley, point guard Jazian Gortman, point guard Jean Montero and power forward Dominick Barlow were the most promising. NC State tried with Gortman of Columbia (S.C.) Keenan High.
What Dillingham would experience is playing in front of perhaps a few hundred people at times against various prep teams. It has the feel of traveling teams loading up and playing in Las Vegas in July.
The kids act like kids, the parents are dancing in the stands for the cameras and it is just a different scene than G-League Ignite. The Ignite players are around an “NBA atmosphere” and coaches, and play in nicer arenas. If a player has the choice between Ignite and Overtime, I’d think most would go Ignite if the money is similar.
What Overtime could have done is form their own version of Donda Academy, and funnel money to the players through Name, Image and Likeness. Then the players still have the option of going to college. Several players in a year or two will wonder what just happened to their basketball path after turning pro.
Dillingham narrowed his list to Kansas, Memphis, LSU, NC State and Kentucky. As we mentioned in last week’s The Run Down, it would be a surprise if it comes down to NC State and LSU. It would help the Wolfpack if he made an earlier announcement since he just did his official visit. If it drags to the summer, so many different variables could pop up.
5. The Wolfpack Central had a story this morning on junior wing Dennis Parker of Richmond (Va.) John Marshall.
He hasn’t gotten as much attention as most four-star prospects because he’s been injured for while, but now he’s back healthy.
If John Marshall High sounds familiar, that’s the school that Ty White coaches and had center Roosevelt Wheeler, who ultimately picked Louisville over NC State, which is still somewhat surprising to this day. Current NBA player Isaiah Todd also played his first two years.
White runs Team Loaded, which has a North Carolina squad and a Virginia squad. It’s been very NC State friendly ever since Tyler Lewis, Cody Martin, Caleb Martin, Torin Dorn, Shaun Kirk and Dennis Smith came through. Manny Bates played for Team Loaded before finishing up with Team Felton, but the current roster doesn’t have that Team Loaded influence.
History has shown if NC State wants to fight for Parker, they’ll likely be there in the end of his recruitment. The Wolfpack, who have tried valiantly to recruit Virginia since coach Kevin Keatts’ first took over, offered Parker on July 19, 2020. He’s a long, athletic wing and oozes potential, he just needs to showcase that he’s healthy and play on some big stages again for the buzz to grow.
6. After watching NC State roll to a 92-36 victory over North Carolina-Pembroke, I came away with three predictions for the season.
Senior center Elissa Cunane led the team in scoring last year with 16.3 points per game, and wing Jakia Brown-Turner is a smooth performer at 13.5 points a contest. Fearless prediction No. 1 is that Rutgers transfer Diamond Johnson will lead the squad in scoring this season.
The reason why — she’s fearless and has a hunger to score the ball. Johnson averaged 17.6 points per game at Rutgers, and she won’t have to score that much for a balanced Wolfpack offense. Maybe taller defenders will give her trouble, since she’s listed at 5-foot-5, but she understands angles and is crafty.
Sophomore guard Genesis Bryant will carve out an off the bench role. She averaged 10.8 minutes per game in 14 games last year, and averaged 2.7 points per game. Bryant went 4 of 5 on three-pointers for 12 points against UNCP, and added two assists. That kind of shooting is always welcomed.
Freshman center Sophie Hart and freshman forward Jessica Timmons might have more college-ready frames, but the third classmate could be the surprise of roster at some point in the season. Shooting guard Aziaha James of Virginia Beach (Va.) Princess Anne is a slender 5-9, but you can see a day where she’ll join Brown-Tuner on the wing and both shoot pretty jumpers.
James has had to overcome tragedy in her young life, with the killing of her older brother, Ashley “A.J.” James, who was slated to attend Missouri State. Her brother was killed March 3, 2020. She’ll be an easy player to root for.
The sheer amount of wide receivers in the class of 2023 and 2024 is stunning. Now some might end up at cornerback or free safety because they have that kind of versatility.
Juniors that have emerged included Noah Rogers of Rolesville (N.C.) High, Christian Hamilton of Harrisburg (N.C.) Hickory Ridge, Christopher Culliver of Maiden (N.C.) High, Kevin Concepcion of Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers High and Nathan Leacock of Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook.
The sophomore class is perhaps even more loaded, headlined by Jonathan Paylor of Burlington (N.C.) Cummings. A pair of teammates have also proven to be dynamic in Jordan Shipp and Channing Goodwin of Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day, and Alex Taylor and Terrell Anderson of Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley. Keenan Jackson of Waxhaw (N.C.) Cuthbertson could be on the cusp of joining that group.
Former Greensboro Northern Guilford High wide receiver Keenan Allen of the Los Angeles Chargers is the best of the current NFL receivers from the state. Others of note include Braxton Berrios of the New York Jets, Cornell Powell of Kansas City Chiefs, Dyami Brown of Washington Football Team and Jamison Crowder of Jets, plus converted quarterback Kendall Hinton of Denver Broncos.
Berrios went to Raleigh Leesville Road and Miami, Powell is from Greenville Rose and Clemson, Brown is from Charlotte South Mecklenburg and North Carolina, Crowder is from Monroe High and Duke and Hinton attended Southern Durham High and Wake Forest.
2. Speaking of Rogers, he’s the top target for NC State and tight ends/special teams coach Todd Goebbel, plus wide receivers coach Joker Phillips. He’s the Nyheim Hines or Dexter Lawrence of this class where it’s a must-get for NC State to land Rogers.
The sense is that a few more heavyweight programs are poised to jump in, but NC State has positioned itself great. What makes this even more remarkable is that UNC taking his brother Cyrus Rogers as a walk-on hasn’t seemed to make a dent. Noah Rogers has been over to UNC just three times since June.
Rogers is ranked No. 180 overall and the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of North Carolina in the class of 2023 by Rivals.com. He’s expected to get a nice bump in the national rankings after a superb junior year. What makes Rogers unique is that he isn’t just a vertical deep threat or a possession receiver, but has a fastball and a changeup. Plus, he has star power. It’s hard to not watch him because whether it’s receiving or a punt return or a kick return, you wonder when he’ll break one. All of that will be obvious in our scouring videos package of Rogers for next week.
NC State, Tennessee, South Carolina, Penn State, West Virginia and North Carolina, are expected to remain on Rogers’ list, but the question comes if Notre Dame or Clemson start to prioritize him, and will Alabama or Georgia enter the mix.
3. We mentioned the wide receivers in the younger classes, but NC State has also been in front of the curve with Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic sophomore tight end Jack Larsen, who is 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds. He unofficially visited Notre Dame for the UNC game last Saturday, and picked up an offer from Florida this week. NC State, North Carolina and South Carolina were his first three offers.
He’s not the big hulking tight end type such as former NC State player Cary Angeline. What he does do is run savvy routes, seems to have big hands that can easily snatch the ball and he runs well enough. He could fill the role that current NC State tight end Chris Toudle is filling.
Phillips is handling Larsen’s recruitment, and he could become a priority recruit over the next year. We’ll have a story on Larsen in the near future.
4. Switching gears to junior shooting guard Robert Dillingham and basketball recruiting. It’s important to know the landscape in recruiting these days between attending college, G-League Ignite and Overtime.
Overtime played six games over two games in Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy, and it was quite an experience. To put this in perspective, Overtime started with a couple of guys shooting traveling team tournament with cell phones on the baseline of games several years ago. Now, they have money invested in them and their own league. There have been numerous rumors that Dillingham could be considering playing in Overtime. Everything we gathered Monday at Combine Academy, which was his old school before going to Simi Valley (Calif.) Donda Academy is that Dillingham is not interested.
The money that was thrown around would be seriously tempting for many prep players. They had over 100 employees come to Combine Academy. Out of the 24 players on the roster, maybe five have a really good chance of getting drafted by the NBA one day, and a few could be “maybe’s.” Wing Amen Thompson, power forward Matt Bewley, point guard Jazian Gortman, point guard Jean Montero and power forward Dominick Barlow were the most promising. NC State tried with Gortman of Columbia (S.C.) Keenan High.
What Dillingham would experience is playing in front of perhaps a few hundred people at times against various prep teams. It has the feel of traveling teams loading up and playing in Las Vegas in July.
The kids act like kids, the parents are dancing in the stands for the cameras and it is just a different scene than G-League Ignite. The Ignite players are around an “NBA atmosphere” and coaches, and play in nicer arenas. If a player has the choice between Ignite and Overtime, I’d think most would go Ignite if the money is similar.
What Overtime could have done is form their own version of Donda Academy, and funnel money to the players through Name, Image and Likeness. Then the players still have the option of going to college. Several players in a year or two will wonder what just happened to their basketball path after turning pro.
Dillingham narrowed his list to Kansas, Memphis, LSU, NC State and Kentucky. As we mentioned in last week’s The Run Down, it would be a surprise if it comes down to NC State and LSU. It would help the Wolfpack if he made an earlier announcement since he just did his official visit. If it drags to the summer, so many different variables could pop up.
5. The Wolfpack Central had a story this morning on junior wing Dennis Parker of Richmond (Va.) John Marshall.
He hasn’t gotten as much attention as most four-star prospects because he’s been injured for while, but now he’s back healthy.
If John Marshall High sounds familiar, that’s the school that Ty White coaches and had center Roosevelt Wheeler, who ultimately picked Louisville over NC State, which is still somewhat surprising to this day. Current NBA player Isaiah Todd also played his first two years.
White runs Team Loaded, which has a North Carolina squad and a Virginia squad. It’s been very NC State friendly ever since Tyler Lewis, Cody Martin, Caleb Martin, Torin Dorn, Shaun Kirk and Dennis Smith came through. Manny Bates played for Team Loaded before finishing up with Team Felton, but the current roster doesn’t have that Team Loaded influence.
History has shown if NC State wants to fight for Parker, they’ll likely be there in the end of his recruitment. The Wolfpack, who have tried valiantly to recruit Virginia since coach Kevin Keatts’ first took over, offered Parker on July 19, 2020. He’s a long, athletic wing and oozes potential, he just needs to showcase that he’s healthy and play on some big stages again for the buzz to grow.
6. After watching NC State roll to a 92-36 victory over North Carolina-Pembroke, I came away with three predictions for the season.
Senior center Elissa Cunane led the team in scoring last year with 16.3 points per game, and wing Jakia Brown-Turner is a smooth performer at 13.5 points a contest. Fearless prediction No. 1 is that Rutgers transfer Diamond Johnson will lead the squad in scoring this season.
The reason why — she’s fearless and has a hunger to score the ball. Johnson averaged 17.6 points per game at Rutgers, and she won’t have to score that much for a balanced Wolfpack offense. Maybe taller defenders will give her trouble, since she’s listed at 5-foot-5, but she understands angles and is crafty.
Sophomore guard Genesis Bryant will carve out an off the bench role. She averaged 10.8 minutes per game in 14 games last year, and averaged 2.7 points per game. Bryant went 4 of 5 on three-pointers for 12 points against UNCP, and added two assists. That kind of shooting is always welcomed.
Freshman center Sophie Hart and freshman forward Jessica Timmons might have more college-ready frames, but the third classmate could be the surprise of roster at some point in the season. Shooting guard Aziaha James of Virginia Beach (Va.) Princess Anne is a slender 5-9, but you can see a day where she’ll join Brown-Tuner on the wing and both shoot pretty jumpers.
James has had to overcome tragedy in her young life, with the killing of her older brother, Ashley “A.J.” James, who was slated to attend Missouri State. Her brother was killed March 3, 2020. She’ll be an easy player to root for.
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