1. The march to
Jordan Young’s commitment Oct. 12 is on.
For some reason, some thought it was news this week that Young was coming to the NC State vs. Tennessee game in his home area of Charlotte, N.C. He had already declared that back at Alpha Wolf on July 26.
The bigger news is that there isn’t confirmation that he attended the Georgia vs. Clemson game in Atlanta, Ga., last Saturday. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if Alabama ends up being NC State biggest challenger for Young. He has the Georgia at Alabama game Sept. 28 on the docket, and Monroe High doesn’t have a game that weekend.
NC State coach
Dave Doeren isn’t allowed to publicly address Young directly, but The Wolfpack Central did ask him about giving players the option of playing different positions or both sides of the ball. NC State is the only college that is giving Young the option to play both offense and defense, and the other colleges want him strictly as a defensive back.
The move isn’t completely unprecedented for Doeren, who has played redshirt freshman
Isaiah Shirley at both defensive end and tight end. That is more due to past recruiting mistakes at tight end, hence also moving offensive lineman
Matt McCabe to the position.
However, Doeren has a longer history of seeing it work, back during his stint at Kansas from 2002-05. Kansas had some gifted athletes who could play both wide receiver and cornerback. One made the NFL — cornerback
Aqib Talib — and the other was a quality college player in
Charles Gordon. Talib and Doeren were at KU in 2005, with Doeren then leaving for Wisconsin. Talib in 2007 caught eight passes for 182 yards and four touchdowns, and had 66 tackles and five interceptions on defense.
Gordon overlapped Doeren all three years of his career (2003-05), and was a freak of a college player. He caught 57 passes for 769 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman in 2003, and then the next year, had seven interception on defense and added 15 catches for 150 yards and two scores on offense. He finished his KU career with 106 catches for 1,232 yards and nine touchdowns, plus nine interceptions. Gordon also handled punt returns with 96 returns for 999 yards in his three years, plus five kick returns.
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2. Last week, we mentioned how many of the young defensive lineman are starting to pick up offers in the class of 2026.
That continued with junior nose tackle
Trashawn Ruffin of Mount Olive (N.C.) North Duplin getting offered by Texas and Wisconsin. The 6-4, 315-pound Ruffin had his first P4 offer come from NC State on Feb. 6, 2024.
Texas has also offered Durham (N.C.) Jordan High junior nose tackle
Noah Clark. Central Florida, Louisville, Georgia Tech and West Virginia are his latest wave of offers. The 6-3, 320-pound Clark went to West Virginia last weekend and will be in Charlotte to see Tennessee and NC State.
NC State is a trendsetter with players in state of North Carolina. When the Wolfpack offer a in-state player, it’s like a bat signal goes up for everyone to see. It also is the difference between football and basketball recruiting. The Wolfpack Central can watch Fayetteville (N.C.) Seventy-First sophomore nose tackle
John Archer and think he’s going to be a good prospect, but when a period of time occurs with no offers, doubt sets in.
In basketball, I can watch
Jordan Page as a freshman at Raleigh Broughton High and just know. NC State went to see Page this week, and maybe an offer occurred — Page doesn’t do social media or promote himself — but It’s a matter of when, not if Page get an offer from the Wolfpack and many others.
The downside a little bit of being the early trendsetter, is that at some point the recruits go through a stage where it’s fun to hear from schools across the country and unofficially visit them.
NC State offered the Matthews (N.C.) Weddington trio of
Thomas Davis Jr.,
Andrew Harris and
Aidan Harris in June 2023. That feels like a lifetime ago. They’ve established themselves individually, helped
Weddington win a NCHSAA 4A state title and have amassed massive offers lists over the last year.
Davis played linebacker and the Harris twins, who are Davis’ cousin, on the defensive line. They’ve been to NC State multiple times. They are happy that former teammate
Keenan Jackson is playing wide receiver for the Wolfpack. However, they will see all kinds of other programs this fall too. They don't have NC State on "the tips of their tongues" is the saying, but they have all the new schools distracting them. What NC State has to hope for is that slow and steady over a 3-year period wins the race, which is essentially what happened with recruitments like
Je’rel Bolder and a little bit of
Jordan Young in the class of 2025.
The other elephant in the room with the Weddington trio, South Garner (N.C.) High junior tackle
Ekene Ogboko and Clemmons (N.C.) West Forsyth junior offensive lineman
Pierre Dean — they are all Georgia legacies. Dean and Ogboko will regularly attended UGA games to see their older brothers plays, and both have offers. The Weddington trio has not been offered, and one theory is that the Bulldogs won’t offer them unless they are ready to take them that instant.
The clock is a lot faster with the class of 2026. It’s why quarterbacks
Faizon Brandon (Tennessee) and Jacob Smith (NC State) have already picked schools. It’s why star tight end
Kendre’ Harrison and cornerback
Samari Matthews have cut their school lists down.
