1. This weekend is about four-year transfers and junior college target Terrente Hinton of Hutchinson (N.C.) C.C.
I’ll start with Hinton, who is a freshman cornerback and should be on commit watch due to the time crunch that is coming up. NC State just offered him Dec. 9, so this is basically speed dating at this point. Indiana, and Arizona State are his other Power Five Conference offers, and he’s popular with numerous Group of Five programs.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Hinton is from Saraland (Ala.) High and had 18 tackles and an interception in helping Hutchinson C.C. reach the title game. The Blue Dragons fell 31-0 to Iowa Western C.C. on Wednesday, with Hinton getting two tackles.
Of the transfers, tight end AJ Barner of Indiana has an ambitious schedule of seeing NC State, Pittsburgh and Michigan this weekend. Getting a “Y” tight end has always been on the recruiting board and at 6-foot-6 and 252 pounds, Barner fits that role nicely. He caught 28 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns and was a captain for the Hoosiers in his junior year. He wasn’t redshirted or used his COVID year, so he could be a third-year sophomore, but IU listed him as a junior.
Oregon offensive lineman Dawson Jaramillo was a late addition to visiting NC State. Jaramillo arrived in 2018 and redshirted, and then didn’t see much time in 2019 and 2020, but got 329 snaps at multiple line spots in 2021. He played 115 snaps at left tackle, 100 at left guard, 86 at right guard and 28 at right tackle. Jaramillo’s snaps got reduced this season.
Defensive end Noah Potter is on to school No. 3. He started off at Ohio State and then transferred and graduated from Cincinnati. The Bearcats have gone through a coaching change, but he played in all 12 games this season. He had 17 tackles, three tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries and 1.5 sacks this season.
Cornerback Miles Battle, who is 6-4 and 205 pounds, played five years at Ole Miss. The Houston, Texas, native played wide receiver until the middle of the 2019 season, and then switched to cornerback for the Rebels. He had 33 tackles, one interception and five passes broken up in 12 games played this season.
Defensive back Robert Kennedy started off at Lackawanna C.C. in Scranton, Pa., and then played a year at East Carolina. The 5-10, 185-pounder from Jeannette, Pa., redshirted at Old Dominion in 2021, and then he started 11 games at safety this past season. He had 52 tackles and an interception. He was involved in the big failed field-goal attempt where he returned the ball 25 yards for a touchdown in the win over Virginia Tech. The snap went from the 28-yard line of ODU all the way to VT’s 26-yard line.
If there is one prep player who could possibly visit, but just for a short while, it would be Rock Hill (S.C.) Northwestern senior wide receiver Elijah Caldwell, who is committed to West Virginia. He’ll be playing in the Shrine Bowl on Saturday in Spartanburg, S.C., and then in theory could make it to Raleigh by around 8 p.m. The dead period starts Dec. 19.
There has been discussion that linebacker Rohan Davy of Washington (D.C.) St. John’s High might be visiting, but the Cincinnati commit shot it down Thursday night. He had considered NC State and there were rumors of him visiting last spring, and then he quickly picked UC. If he does visit, it shows how valued Davy is after NC State took Kamal Bonner and Kelvin McBride.
2. NC State has been relatively lucky in losing players to the transferring.
Most of the transfers went to smaller colleges. A few would have helped at some point at NC State but not as many as many would think.
Class of 2021:
Aaron McLaughlin: Jacksonville State/TBD — He went 11-of-22 passing for 149 yards and two interceptions, and he rushed 25 times for 74 yards in his lone year at Jacksonville State.
Mario Love: North Carolina A&T — He redshirted this past season.
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Class of 2020:
Nick Booker-Brown — Texas-San Antonio: He had 28 tackles, three sacks and one forced fumble this season.
Ian Williams: Furman — He went 10 of 12 on field goals with a long of 49, and he had 50 touchbacks on 84 kickoffs. He didn’t kick extra points.
Nehki Meredith: James Madison — He had two tackles and three games this season.
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Class of 2019:
Joshua Harris
Ty Evans: Texas State — He didn’t appear in a game this season.
Terrell Dawkins: South Carolina — He had two tackles in three games before getting hurt.
Khalid Martin: Fayetteville State — He had 41 tackles, one tackle for loss one sack and two passes broken up in 11 games.
Zovon Lindsay: Coastal Carolina — He appeared in 13 games and was the backup right tackle. The five starters only missed one game to injury.
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Class of 2018:
Devon Carter
Devin Leary
Jasiah Provillon
Joe Babros: Montana — He had 16 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in 2021.
Josepth Boletepeli: Maryland — He had eight tackles for UMD in 2020. He recently got arrested.
Malik Dunlap: Texas Tech — He had 29 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and one interception this season.
De’Von Graves, Northern Arizona — He never played for Northern Arizona.
Calvin Hart: Illinois — He had 21 tackles and half a sack this season.
Val Martin: Minnesota — He had six tackles for Minnesota in 2021.
Davontae McCrae: East Mississippi C.C./North Texas/Alabama A&M — He had 14 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 2020 at North Texas. He’s been arrested at least twice in the last year.
Taiyon Palmer: Troy — He had two tackles and an interception in two games this season.
Mackenzie Morgan: Weber State/Temple — He punted 140 times for an average of 40.2 yards and long of 65. He also rushed 10 yards for a touchdown vs. Houston this season on a fake FG.
Kahric Belle — Unknown if he played again.
Jalynn Strickland — Unknown if he played again.
Gabriel Gonzalez — Unknown if he played again.
3. The four NCHSAA state title games last weekend put a wrap on the high school football season.
New Bern (N.C.) High, Denver (N.C.) East Lincoln, East Duplin (N.C.) High and Mount Airy (N.C.) High won state titles.
New Bern senior defensive tackle Keith Sampson was impressive in the run game with 10 tackles in the win. He then quickly visited NC State, and now he’s on campus at Florida State this weekend. The vibe continues to be in the Seminoles favor, but the longer it goes, the better it is for NC State. So, it bears watching if he signs this Wednesday or waits until February.
Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley’s trio of NC State targets had mixed performances against New Bern. Junior wide receivers Terrell Anderson and Alex Taylor showed why they are coveted recruits, but there weren’t a lot of opportunities in the passing game. Anderson though had a 98-yard kickoff return and a 85-yard touchdown reception, showing he is indeed fast enough. They were his only touches. Taylor played part-time at free safety and he had just three catches for 17 yards. He had numerous jump ball opportunities. Taylor played for the state title on Friday, and then played basketball for Grimsley this past Saturday.
East Lincoln sophomore running back Christopher Daley showed promise, and he was recently offered by Appalachian State. He definitely looks like a player to monitor and see how well he tests at camp in June. He has the nifty ability to do a jump cut in the hole, and East Lincoln does the slow mesh with him.
The answer to the first junior running back to receive a high major offer was answered this weekend. Tyler Mason had a monster junior year in rushing 173 times for 2,309 yards and 49 touchdowns, and Virginia Tech offered him after the game. He had 23 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown in the 20-7 win over Tarboro High. He isn’t the biggest back around, but plays field fast. He also had 42 tackles this season.
Mount Airy junior outside linebacker Deric Dandy really pops on film at 6-4 and 215 pounds. Dandy is explosive off the edge and closes fast. He had 95 tackles, 33 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks this season.
The Reidsville freshmen duo of Kendre’ Harrison and Dionte Neal will likely be household recruiting names in football and basketball at this time next year. Harrison, the nephew of former NC State wing C.C. Harrison, is legit in both sports at 6-6 and 230 pounds, but he might have a higher upside in football. He has Wake Forest and Louisville offers, and he could easily project at defensive end or tight end. He’s a fluid athlete with a major wingspan. The game against East Duplin was definitely ground and pound, so he was often engaged at the line of scrimmage. At tight end, he could show his ability to run in space.
Neal is going to be trickier unless he grows. He’s 5-9 and 140 pounds as a freshman, but is flat out productive. On the basketball court, he’s a pass-first point guard who is a superb passer but needs to improve his shooting.
Neal played cornerback, wide receiver, kick returner and was the holder. He had an amazing 12 interceptions this season. He caught a touchdown and had a kick return for a score against East Duplin, but also had a major goof as the holder. He’s a gamer and has that “it” factor.
Very much a total sleeper, but Rocky Mount (N.C.) Northern Nash junior wide receiver/cornerback Randall King will get some looks this spring and summer. He’s a lanky 6-2 and 175 pounds and had 48 catches for 1,1144 yards and 18 touchdowns this season, plus 10 tackles and two interceptions on defense.
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