1. All eyes will be on Monroe (N.C.) High senior athlete
Jordan Young social media feed at 5 p.m. (or so) on Saturday.
Young will decide among NC State, Clemson, Florida State, Michigan and Alabama, but it seems most likely between the Tigers and Wolfpack.
Young has been thorough about his recruitment. He didn’t feel like he needed to be rushed into securing a slot last June when he visited all of his finalists but Alabama. Clemson had the early momentum, and then NC State started to surge after he attended Alpha Wolf on July 26, and then a stretch of games whether in Raleigh, Charlotte for the Tennessee game and then at Clemson when NC State was in town. He last attended for the Syracuse contest Oct. 12.
Young has seen NC State play well, play average and get blown out, but he always has returned. If he was 60 minutes from Raleigh, that’s be one thing, but he has a good four-hour-plus roundtrip ride each time he comes to NC State. So that is dedication.
It also tells me he has been looking for reasons to want to come to NC State. He could watch the games at home or DVR them, but he’s put in the time.
The Clemson argument is likely simple — unique culture, always seemingly in the mix for an ACC title and they have its fair share of pros. The travel distance from Monroe is about the same. He would know more
of the players already at NC State, especially senior wide receiver commit Je’rel Bolder. How burning is the desire to play both sides of the ball. He likely won’t pull that off for three-four full years, but at least he’ll get to try, which other schools won’t give him the chance to do.
Spending a lot of NIL money over players currently producing on the team or in the transfer portal might not make a lot of sense. For instance, it’s a given that NC State freshman quarterback
Cedrick Bailey will get taken care of this offseason because he’ll be the face of the program and he has the leverage. Essentially, what happened with sophomore wide receiver
Kevin Concepcion.
No inside info if NC State is doing this, but if there is money slotted for a prep recruit, at this stage, it has to be for Young. It’s a simple philosophy where a school might not have enough to do it for an entire class, but if a prospect that you believe in and can create buzz and change perceptions for a recruiting class, it just makes sense. A case could be made that NC State did that with freshman wide receiver
Jonathan Paylor of Burlington (N.C.) Cummings. Duke might have done just that with Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley defensive end commit
Bryce Davis. On a larger scale, Missouri and coach
Eli Drinkwitz have created a way to reward key in-state recruits.
Reading the room, it has the vibe that the national guys think it’s 55-45 in favor of Clemson, but then historically, most bet on the Tigers. However, it’s Tennessee that has become the bigger threat of late in the NIL/transfer portal world and no one is overly confident what Young will do.
Maybe it’s also a sign that he’s doing it after NC State’s game against Stanford is done, rather than during it. But it will be done with and NC State can plan the rest of the class accordingly this month.
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2a. One of the moving parts of Young’s decision will probably be Clinton, N.C., native
Jakarrion Kenan, who can fill some of the secondary component of what Young brings to the table.
The Wolfpack Central was able to see Kenan play twice last year during Clinton High’s run to the NCHSAA 2A state title game. One game was against Elizabeth City (N.C.) Northeastern in the eastern semifinals and the other was against Reidsville (N.C.) High at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Kenan showed good instincts, solid speed and he didn’t back down physically at cornerback. He also played wide receiver for the Dark Horses and while still relatively unknown at the time, I knew that would change.
The Clinton High staff then went to Bennettsville (S.C.) Marlboro County High and brought Kenan and some of the players with them. The school found out last week that it wasn’t going to be allowed to play in the South Carolina public school playoffs, and the team forfeited some games.
Well, that turn of events has meant that Kenan is free to travel with his season over, and the former Rutgers commit will unofficially visiting NC State on Saturday, and then officially visit for the Duke game next week.
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Members of the Rivals.com network watched senior defensive tackle
Josiah Victor of Loganville (Ga.) Grayson High on Thursday. The 6-2, 280-pound Boston College commit is officially visiting NC State this weekend.
Georgia Tech is also tracking him and has one of his prep teammates, senior defensive end Andre Fuller Jr., and South Carolina could be in the mix too.
Victor fits the prototype of what we’ve been saying for weeks — regional recruit who picked a school with just a few visits (July 4, 2024) and is going out of the region. If he wants to stay closer to home, NC State becomes a viable option. If he wants to be super close to home, then Georgia Tech.
NC State, Boston College, Arizona State, Colorado, Duke, Georgia and Georgia Tech, have offered him. If the Bulldogs step things up, that also changes the complexion of the recruitment.
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2b. NC State is down to two home weekends left to bring in recruits. Virginia Tech, Duke and North Carolina are playing on the road, and Virginia and Wake Forest have a bye week.
That leaves NC State, Clemson and South Carolina as having home games in the region. Clemson is hosting Louisville at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and Texas A&M at South Carolina will be at 7:30 p.m.
NC State linebacker target
Josh Smith of Irmo (S.C.) Dutch Forks will be taking his official visit. He’s down to NC State, South Carolina and Ole Miss (unless Clemson offers).
Some other players of note at South Carolina include junior tackle
Jabian Shabazz of Kernersville (N.C.) East Forsyth, Fayetteville (N.C.) Seventy-First junior running back
Jayson Franklin, and Charlotte Myers Park junior defensive end
Rodney Dunham. NC State has offered Shabazz, and Franklin has unofficially visited the Woflpack.
The Harris twins, junior defensive lineman
Aiden Harris and
Andrew Harris of Matthews (N.C.) Weddington High, will be going to see Vanderbilt at Auburn. They were also considering the South Carolina game.
One recruit who won’t be at TAMU at South Carolina — Aggies junior nose tackle commit
Trashawn Ruffin of Mount Olive (N.C.) North Duplin. He’ll be at the Stanford at NC State game instead Saturday, even though he just recently picked Texas A&M. Ruffin and Rolesville (N.C.) High junior defensive end
Zavion Griffin-Haynes, who committed to North Carolina, are easily “soft verbals” at this point.
Two offensive line recruits will also be at the Stanford game — 6-3, 325-pound junior offensive lineman
Donovan Johnson of Fayetteville Pine Forest and Clinton (S.C.) High junior offensive lineman
Tre Aiken. The latter has been offered by NC State.
