1. NC State has a pair of transfers visiting officially this weekend, with one starting today, and another transfer slated for next week.
Colorado fifth-year junior guard Casey Roddick will be one of the top targets in the transfer portal, and has arrived in Raleigh to start his official visit today. Considering there was no previous recruiting connection and that he’s from Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure, it’s an impressive coup for offensive line coach John Garrison to get him on campus.
The 6-foot-4, 310-pounder started all 12 games for a 1-11 Colorado team and was a team captain at one point this past season. He started 10 games at left guard and two at right tackle and won Eddie Crowder team leadership award.
He started 10 of 12 games in 2021, and was honorable mention All-Pac-12 by the coaches in 2020. Roddick has played in 40 games so far in his college career.
Roddick was in the class of 2017 and a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He was ranked No. 82 overall in California and the No. 33 guard in the country. He actually has lost 20 pounds since high school.
Roddick became a grayshirt in January 2018, but then hurt his knee and redshirted his first year.
Two wide receivers from the Atlanta area will be making official visits to NC State. Clemson transfer Dacari Collins will have his official this Saturday and Sunday. NC State is gambling on the 6-4, 210-pounder’s upside. He caught 16 passes for 221 yards in 2021, but then this past year it didn’t go his way, with one catch for eight yards against Furman, in three games played.
Now, the high school version of Collins coming out of Atlanta Westlake High was talented enough to be ranked No. 207 in the country by Rivals.com in the class of 2021. He was the No. 18 overall player in Georgia and the No. 36 wide receiver nationally. NC State didn’t recruit him out of high school, and he picked Clemson very early in the process over Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and LSU.
The third transfer to set up a visit is former Georgia Tech wide receiver Ryan King. Another big target at 6-4 and 205 pounds, he was a Rivals.com three-star prospect in the class of 2020 at Grayson (Ga.) High. He was ranked No. 63 in Georgia and the No. 71 wide receiver nationally.
The adjustment to college proved challenging for King the last three years, with five catches for 45 yards. He had three catches for 29 yards in the upset win over Duke on Oct. 8.
2. NC State will hosts senior commits Javonte Vereen of Havelock (N.C.) High and Darion Rivers of West Charlotte (N.C.) High this weekend, and they’ll have company.
Florida State commit Keith Sampson, a defensive lineman from New Bern (N.C.) High, and Wake Forest wide receiver commit Micah Mays of North Palm Beach (Fla.) Benjamin School, will both officially visit. The fifth prep official visitor is Kamal Bonner of Colquitt County in Moultrie, Ga., a former Georgia Tech outside linebacker commit.
Add in junior college defensive end Jykeveous Hibbler of Northwest Mississippi C.C., and it’s a super busy weekend.
Mays has already arrived, but Sampson is a little busy today — New Bern plays Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley at 7 p.m. tonight at UNC in the NCHSAA 4A state title game.
MaxPreps.com had Mays catching 27 passes for 503 yards and eight touchdowns this season. The name of his game is speed, and he did the 400-meter dash, 200, triple jump and high jump for the Benjamin School. That is the same high school as suspended nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis of NC State.
Mays’ dad was a quarterback at Grambling State, and his mother was a track and field performer at Morehouse College in Atlanta. His older sister lives in Charlotte, N.C.
Mays was offered in Jan. 2022, but never made it to campus, so it wasn’t a surprise when he picked Wake Forest on Aug. 7 over the Wolfpack, Pittsburgh and Penn State among others.
Sampson will go from NC State straight to the Shrine Bowl at Wofford on Sunday night, and then the game is Dec. 17. So, his next stretch of days leading up to signing day Dec. 21 will be busy.
Many sources believe Sampson will ultimately end up at Florida State, but NC State has a strong case. He’s close friends with Vereen, defensive line coach Charley Wiles is an effective recruiter and the Wolfpack can sell the proximity angle.
When Sampson committed to the Seminoles, the program was coming off a 5-7 season in 2021. FSU now has momentum after going 9-3 and is ranked No. 13 in the country.
Bonner just visited Wake Forest and it should be a Wolfpack and Demon Deacons battle going into this weekend. NC State had been the leader going into the WFU trip, and he could be on commitment watch Sunday or Monday.
Hibbler should also be on commitment watch this weekend due to his schedule also being tight. Hibbler just got done playing last Sunday, leaving him little time to take official visits. The Wolfpack offered him Oct. 9 and are his lone high major offer.
Appalachian State, UConn, Charlotte (previous staff), Toledo, Texas State, USF (previous staff), San Jose State, Hawaii, Sam Houston State, UAB (previous staff), Alcorn State, Arkansas State, San Diego State, Jacksonville State, Troy, Coastal Carolina (previous staff), Old Dominion and New Mexico State, all offered since Sept.
3. NC State is making a final push on Rock Hill (S.C.) Northwestern senior wide receiver Elijah Caldwell, meeting him for two hours this week, and offering him.
Caldwell committed to West Virginia on July 1, 2022, with his other high major offers from Duke and Utah. It’s no secret that WVU coach Neal Brown will be on the hot seat next year after going 5-7 and a new athletic director hired.
Production is the name of the game for Caldwell, who will play for the South Carolina squad in the Shrine Bowl. He has great body control, hands and has some toughness to him at 6-1 and 191 pounds. He might not have blazing speed, which probably is what held back his recruitment. The key is whether he can be that outlier similar to Emeke Emezie, who had a 4.7-second 40-yard dash time.
Emezie also had great production at Waxhaw (N.C.) Marvin Ridge High, and Caldwell has done the same the two years.
Caldwell caught 77 passes in 2021 and 2022. Caldwell had 1,365 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns this season, and he had 1,247 yards and 15 scores as a junior. He also was turned loose on kickoff returns this past fall, averaging 26.1 yards on 23 returns with a long of 82.
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