As an exclusive offer, JFQ Lending will cover any appraisal costs AND add an additional $500 credit for all members of TheWolfpacker.com!
Please email hclaussen@jfqlending.com or shoot NC State alum Hunter Claussen a private message (@WolfPackMortgageGuy). You can check out their website JFQLending.com as well.
•••
Signing day 2020 has come and gone, and here is a position-by-position highlights of the recruiting cycle:
Quarterback: In the summer of 2019, NC State was fairly convinced it was going to get Aaron McLaughlin. It was a late-summer push by Auburn that temporarily changed the trajectory of the recruitment, but McLaughlin never stopped talking to NC State, and the key was a smooth recruiting transition from Kurt Roper to Tim Beck that probably clinched the deal as much as anything for the Wolfpack.
It was a good thing, too, because NC State did not have a lot of luck with plan B types in the class, being bluntly honest.
It will be interesting to see how the 2022 quarterback class unfolds. Ideally you would sign a signal caller in every class, and we doubt 2022 would be an exception. However, if there was ever a year for such an exception, this could be it. Whomever emerges from Devin Leary/Bailey Hockman has at least two years as a starter ahead of them, probably, and with Ben Finley and McLaughlin waiting for their turn to compete for the job, landing a QB may not be as urgent in 2022.
Thus far, the Pack has aimed high. The offers Beck has sent out are now all rated four stars (or better). A couple (Walker Howard and Cade Klubnik) were sent out before they became full-time starters. Howard is now committed to LSU, and Klubnik is an Austin native who just picked up an offer from Texas.
Running back: NC State wanted more than one in this class, and the player committed elsewhere we referenced that was proactively reaching out to NC State (and from one source it was “all the time”) was Knightdale (N.C.) High’s Trevion Cooley, but Cooley ended up signing with Louisville when all said and done.
The problem NC State probably faced was when a lot of the players they were familiar with went elsewhere, the pandemic robbed them of good opportunities to scout others to the point where they are comfortable offering.
In the 2022 class, we know that the Pack is really high on speedy Michael Allen, a two-sport star at Greenville (N.C.) Rose High who also shines on the baseball diamond. Four-star Nicholas Singleton from Shillington (Pa.) Governor Mifflin Senior High has visited but is a national-level recruitment, and the same can be said for four-star Omarion Hampton from Clayton (N.C.) Cleveland.
There is going to be a very, very tight scholarship crunch (more on that in a minute) potentially facing the Wolfpack next fall, but our opinion is running back should be at the top of the wish list.
Wide receiver: Receivers coach George McDonald has traditionally set up a board of around 10 receivers and aims to meet his allotment among those on that list. It’s safe to say NC State is very happy where it ended up in 2021, landing three guys it was very familiar with and on McDonald’s initial board of desired wideouts.
That comes after getting five in the 2020 class, with Porter Rooks already showing his value. Anthony Smith and Chris Scott did not get a ton of snaps, but one source noted to us that there is nobody currently on the team in the receiving corps that can run like those two, a pair of legit sub-4.5 second in the 40-yard dash players. It was generally known that the expectations and hopes are high for those two, but we have also heard to watch for a local sleeper who was a late add to the 2020 class: Joshua Crabtree from Heritage High in Wake Forest. Crabtree did not get any action this year but there is some excitement about him as well.
Thus we do not expect more than a couple of receivers in 2022.
Tight end: We’d be surprised if NC State was too aggressive in targeting tight ends in the 2022 class after landing the Seabrough twins. Of the misses in the 2021 class, one that NC State would have loved is Miles Campbell from Douglasville (Ga.) South Paulding High, who signed with a Tennessee program that is in a troubled state now. NC State did a lot of good work with Campbell and at one point appeared to be on the verge of nabbing him. If Campbell would have anticipated the two programs having the fall they went through, we wonder what his decision may have been.
One thing to know with NC State’s tight end room is it has a walk-on freshman named Andrew Jayne. Sources tell us that Jayne will be in the mix at the position going forward. He was a very good prep receiver at Terry Sanford High in Fayetteville, but he chose professional baseball instead.
The beauty of Jayne’s situation is baseball is paying for his college.
Offenisve line: There was a lot of groaning when Diego Pounds from Raleigh Millbrook High picked UNC, but we can safely say that around NC State they actually had Jaleel Davisfrom Richmond Senior rated higher on its board. Pounds just blew up nationally while Davis continued to fly under the radar. Note that NC State had both Pounds and Davis at camp and worked both out.
The in-state recruit that NC State really liked and missed on was Yousef Mugharbil from Murphy (N.C.) High, who signed with Florida. In an ideal, non-pandemic world, there was a feeling it might have been able to work on Duke signee Andrew Jones from Reagan High in Pfafftown, N.C., as well.
Interestingly, where it was once thought that there would be a wave of decommits in this class, it did not happen because players were not able to get on the road during the dead period.
One interesting name that did not sign in the fall: Colby Smith from Rockingham County High in Wentworth, N.C. He’s committed to Tennessee. There was a point where NC State led for Smith, but after the fall of 2019 UNC overtook NC State. Then the Heels filled up on the offensive line, but Tennessee made a big push and grabbed him from the Wolfpack late in the spring, well before NC State proved the 2019 was an aberration.
However, our sources indicate NC State is not going to pursue Smith. Interestingly, it appears that Tennessee is moving on from Smith as well.
The other in-state lineman that we know NC State really liked was Jared Wilson from West Forsyth High in Clemmons, but he always appeared to be a long shot.
NC State is definitely going to look at bringing in an older offensive tackle for next fall, but as we have noted before easier said than done. It loves Arkansas State’s Jarrett Horst, a grad transfer who could have multiple seasons left, but Horst will be a national recruitment.
Please email hclaussen@jfqlending.com or shoot NC State alum Hunter Claussen a private message (@WolfPackMortgageGuy). You can check out their website JFQLending.com as well.
•••
Signing day 2020 has come and gone, and here is a position-by-position highlights of the recruiting cycle:
Quarterback: In the summer of 2019, NC State was fairly convinced it was going to get Aaron McLaughlin. It was a late-summer push by Auburn that temporarily changed the trajectory of the recruitment, but McLaughlin never stopped talking to NC State, and the key was a smooth recruiting transition from Kurt Roper to Tim Beck that probably clinched the deal as much as anything for the Wolfpack.
It was a good thing, too, because NC State did not have a lot of luck with plan B types in the class, being bluntly honest.
It will be interesting to see how the 2022 quarterback class unfolds. Ideally you would sign a signal caller in every class, and we doubt 2022 would be an exception. However, if there was ever a year for such an exception, this could be it. Whomever emerges from Devin Leary/Bailey Hockman has at least two years as a starter ahead of them, probably, and with Ben Finley and McLaughlin waiting for their turn to compete for the job, landing a QB may not be as urgent in 2022.
Thus far, the Pack has aimed high. The offers Beck has sent out are now all rated four stars (or better). A couple (Walker Howard and Cade Klubnik) were sent out before they became full-time starters. Howard is now committed to LSU, and Klubnik is an Austin native who just picked up an offer from Texas.
Running back: NC State wanted more than one in this class, and the player committed elsewhere we referenced that was proactively reaching out to NC State (and from one source it was “all the time”) was Knightdale (N.C.) High’s Trevion Cooley, but Cooley ended up signing with Louisville when all said and done.
The problem NC State probably faced was when a lot of the players they were familiar with went elsewhere, the pandemic robbed them of good opportunities to scout others to the point where they are comfortable offering.
In the 2022 class, we know that the Pack is really high on speedy Michael Allen, a two-sport star at Greenville (N.C.) Rose High who also shines on the baseball diamond. Four-star Nicholas Singleton from Shillington (Pa.) Governor Mifflin Senior High has visited but is a national-level recruitment, and the same can be said for four-star Omarion Hampton from Clayton (N.C.) Cleveland.
There is going to be a very, very tight scholarship crunch (more on that in a minute) potentially facing the Wolfpack next fall, but our opinion is running back should be at the top of the wish list.
Wide receiver: Receivers coach George McDonald has traditionally set up a board of around 10 receivers and aims to meet his allotment among those on that list. It’s safe to say NC State is very happy where it ended up in 2021, landing three guys it was very familiar with and on McDonald’s initial board of desired wideouts.
That comes after getting five in the 2020 class, with Porter Rooks already showing his value. Anthony Smith and Chris Scott did not get a ton of snaps, but one source noted to us that there is nobody currently on the team in the receiving corps that can run like those two, a pair of legit sub-4.5 second in the 40-yard dash players. It was generally known that the expectations and hopes are high for those two, but we have also heard to watch for a local sleeper who was a late add to the 2020 class: Joshua Crabtree from Heritage High in Wake Forest. Crabtree did not get any action this year but there is some excitement about him as well.
Thus we do not expect more than a couple of receivers in 2022.
Tight end: We’d be surprised if NC State was too aggressive in targeting tight ends in the 2022 class after landing the Seabrough twins. Of the misses in the 2021 class, one that NC State would have loved is Miles Campbell from Douglasville (Ga.) South Paulding High, who signed with a Tennessee program that is in a troubled state now. NC State did a lot of good work with Campbell and at one point appeared to be on the verge of nabbing him. If Campbell would have anticipated the two programs having the fall they went through, we wonder what his decision may have been.
One thing to know with NC State’s tight end room is it has a walk-on freshman named Andrew Jayne. Sources tell us that Jayne will be in the mix at the position going forward. He was a very good prep receiver at Terry Sanford High in Fayetteville, but he chose professional baseball instead.
The beauty of Jayne’s situation is baseball is paying for his college.
Offenisve line: There was a lot of groaning when Diego Pounds from Raleigh Millbrook High picked UNC, but we can safely say that around NC State they actually had Jaleel Davisfrom Richmond Senior rated higher on its board. Pounds just blew up nationally while Davis continued to fly under the radar. Note that NC State had both Pounds and Davis at camp and worked both out.
The in-state recruit that NC State really liked and missed on was Yousef Mugharbil from Murphy (N.C.) High, who signed with Florida. In an ideal, non-pandemic world, there was a feeling it might have been able to work on Duke signee Andrew Jones from Reagan High in Pfafftown, N.C., as well.
Interestingly, where it was once thought that there would be a wave of decommits in this class, it did not happen because players were not able to get on the road during the dead period.
One interesting name that did not sign in the fall: Colby Smith from Rockingham County High in Wentworth, N.C. He’s committed to Tennessee. There was a point where NC State led for Smith, but after the fall of 2019 UNC overtook NC State. Then the Heels filled up on the offensive line, but Tennessee made a big push and grabbed him from the Wolfpack late in the spring, well before NC State proved the 2019 was an aberration.
However, our sources indicate NC State is not going to pursue Smith. Interestingly, it appears that Tennessee is moving on from Smith as well.
The other in-state lineman that we know NC State really liked was Jared Wilson from West Forsyth High in Clemmons, but he always appeared to be a long shot.
NC State is definitely going to look at bringing in an older offensive tackle for next fall, but as we have noted before easier said than done. It loves Arkansas State’s Jarrett Horst, a grad transfer who could have multiple seasons left, but Horst will be a national recruitment.
