One of the story lines this week is that Tennessee star defensive end James Pearce and NC State star wide receiver Kevin Concepcion and running back Daylan Smothers are playing each other in their hometown of Charlotte, N.C. The three were teammates at Charlotte Chambers High, winning a state title during the COVID spring of 2021, and finishing second during a thunderstorm loss against Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons in Dec. 2021.

I'll get to the elephant in the room. NC State didn't recruit Pearce, who was ranked No. 160 overall in the class of 2022 by Rivals.com. At the time he was tall and lanky at about 6-5 and maybe 215 pounds. He was a gifted pass-rusher, that wasn't in doubt. Maybe he fell into the same hole that others have like Tyler Thompson, Jaybron Harvey, Rodney Dunham, etc. where Pearce was a tweener for NC State's 3-3-5 scheme.

I was able to talk to him after the Cardinal Gibbons loss because Pearce at that time didn't do interviews. He liked Tennessee, Missouri, Louisville, South Carolina and a little of Georgia. No in-state colleges at all. He was going to wait and sign in February, and then just changed his mind a few days later and picked Tennessee. I'm not sure he had officially visited there at the time.

Now after a breakout sophomore year, he's in a lot of mock drafts for the first round. It's pretty remarkable how fast this has happened.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media