1. Things have been relatively quiet on the Kaden Magwood front.

The Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy senior point guard or combo guard will be announcing his college among NC State, Auburn and Ole Miss, next Tuesday.

The winds could be blowing toward Auburn, but again, Magwood has been tight lipped. His family and agent Christian Dawkins have made it clear what he’s looking for.

There has been some chatter of late on whether Auburn has been low on NIL funds, but Auburn was NIL before NIL and quite proud of that.

Basketball-wise, Auburn and NC State make the most sense. It’s been fun seeing coach Kevin Keatts do a couple of victory laps in press conferences about how he won with senior Michael O’Connell in the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, despite O’Connell not playing like any of his past point guards. Magwood is the epitome of a Keatts point guard type, and the closest player to Anthony Barber that the Wolfpack have had the chance to sign. Former coach Mark Gottfried signed Barber in the class of 2013.

Magwood can create his own shot, pull up from three-point land and plays fast. Can he sometimes take a wild shot or have some careless turnovers? Sure, but that’s the bargain sometimes for a unique gifted talent. He’s ranked at No. 60 overall in the class of 2025 by Rivals.com, but could easily end up in the top 30-40.

Magwood and Combine hosted UNC senior commit Isaiah Denis and Davidson (N.C.) Day, and naturally sophomore guard Lincoln Vinson of Combine stole the show with 23 points and five three-pointers. He played at Concord (N.C.) Cannon School last year.

Combine Academy has Burlington (N.C.) Christian and sophomore center Charles Pur at Matthews (N.C.) Carmel Christian tonight, and face Winston-Salem Christian at 6 p.m. Saturday. NC State is playing Presbyterian tonight, but we’ll see if they attend Saturday, which would also give them the chance to see juniors Bradley Floyd and Tyson Thompson of Winston-Salem (N.C.) Christian and junior guard Yohance Connor of Combine Academy, with Connor having a NC State offer.

If NC State sticks around for the 7:30 p.m. game, they’ll get to see The Burlington (N.C.) School and star sophomore guard King Gibson. Duke and North Carolina have slowly started the process with Gibson this fall.

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2. Normally losing a wide receiver such as senior Jamar Browder would be some cause of consternation.

It’s not so much a knock on Browder, who is a lanky 6-4 vertical threat and NC State can always find room for such a thing. However, with Browder off to Michigan, the vibe is more like this — NC State got so many wide receivers in the class of 2024, that it’s OK.

NC State is already playing freshman Terrell Anderson and Keenan Jackson, and redshirting Jonathan Paylor, Christian Zachary and Jimmar Boston. Then add in redshirt freshman receiver Noah Rogers, and it’s a lot of youth already in the program.

The Wolfpack also have class of 2025 commitments from Je’rel Bolder of Marshville (N.C.) Forest Hills and Arrion Concepcion of Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers.

Where the loss of Browder hurts is the recruiting team rankings, but that is a momentary pain. NC State fell from No. 42 overall in the country to No. 51 by Rivals.com.

Browder is also a good example of the good and bad of speed dating recruiting in the spring. NC State had offered him in January, but needed to see him practice in May at Lantana (Fla.) Santaluces High. He had never been to NC State, but he told me point blank before his visit to Raleigh that if all goes well, he’d commit on the spot. He proved to be a man of his word and he did. It also meant, right or wrong, that he truly didn’t go through the recruiting process.

Michigan and some other schools like Kentucky and Missouri came along and he naturally got curious. Browder unofficially visited NC State for two days in mid-October, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Michigan in the end.

It also shows another aspect of recruiting — Michigan has Jadyn Davis as its “quarterback of the future” at the moment and the former Charlotte Providence Day standout might get recruited over. NC State has freshman quarterback Cedrick “C.J.” Bailey, who would be fun for any receiver to want to play with.

NC State will come up with some options, whether through the portal or the prep ranks to replace Browder’s spot, but it simply might not be a pressing need.

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3. NC State has its last home game, and many of the in-state visitors are repeat customers.

However, some key out of state unofficial visitors and official visitors will be going to NC State for the first time.

Here is the thread that has the key recruits for the weekend, and it will keep getting updated as confirmations occur from the players.

Some other important NC State targets will be making the rounds elsewhere this weekend.

NC State, Virginia Tech and Tennessee are the main regional options this weekend.

Mount Olive (N.C.) North Duplin junior nose tackle Trashawn Ruffin, who I talked to this past week for an upcoming story, will be going to Clemson at Virginia Tech on Saturday.

Rolesville (N.C.) High talented sophomores Marquis Bryant, a safety, and running back Amir Brown will be going to see Washington at Penn State.

Charlotte (N.C.) West Mecklenburg junior outside linebacker Elijah Littlejohn will be at Kentucky at Tennessee, and he has a Wolfpack offer.

Rolesville (N.C.) High junior defensive end Zavion Griffin-Haynes, who is a North Carolina commit, could be staying local at NC State on Saturday, but did not confirm his plans. Griffin-Haynes feels like he’s UNC commit in name only, but only time will tell, and who ends up being the Tar Heels coach by Signing Day 2025.

4. One of my often repeated mantra’s about flipping a recruit is essentially seeing a player you really want who you can punch downward on his recruiting situation to get.

Is NC State a much superior program than South Alabama? Absolutely, and NC State believes in senior outside linebacker recruit Tristan Jackson.

The Rivals.com two-star prospect, who attends Fort Walton Beach (Fla.) Choctawhatchee High, was offered by NC State and Houston recently.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Jackson probably would have been a strong safety 5-to-10 years ago, but NC State has found success taking guys similar to Jackson such as redshirt freshmen Kamal Bonner or Kelvin McBride. Both were safeties at one point in high school and both were committed to other colleges before NC State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tony Gibson swooped in. Bonner had been committed to Georgia Tech and McBride to Vanderbilt in the class of 2023.

Jackson committed to South Alabama on July 4, 2024, over offers from Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Liberty, Louisiana, Troy and Western Kentucky. He also has offers from Alabama A&M, Jacksonville State, Mercer, North Alabama, Tennessee-Martin and Wofford. He had officially visited USA, Liberty and Louisiana.

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Another new flip target is safety Cairo Skanes of Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day, who first committed to Richmond last spring, and then about a month later flipped to Miami (Ohio) on June 23. The physical Skanes is a sure tackler and likely getting looked at by the Wolfpack at the nickel position. NC State already has safety Brody Barnhardt from the Chargers program, so knowing what Skanes brings to the table was easy for the coaches.

NC State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Virginia, Duke and James Madison are his new wave of offers. Could NC State take Skanes and Jakarrion Kenan a Clinton, N.C., native who attends Bennettesville (S.C.) Marlboro County? Maybe not, and Kenan will be on commit watch this weekend after unofficially visiting NC State last week, and officially visiting the Wolfpack this weekend.

Providence Day can be a little generous with its tackles numbers, but Skanes is listed with 64 tackles, two tackles for loss and an impressive eight interceptions this season in 10 games played. Providence Day plays rival Charlotte Christian tonight.

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