1. The news of the day wasn’t positive for NC State with wide receiver Shamarius Peterkin of Winston-Salem (N.C.) Mount Tabor picking Virginia Tech over the Wolfpack.
It’s a tough loss and the coaches put their all into it over the last 20 months or so, dating back to Peterkin’s sophomore year. This isn’t spin because I try to keep this a non-spin zone, in some recruiting cycles, this would really sting, but NC State has done such a 180 in its ability to recruit receivers of late, that Peterkin would have felt like a cherry on top.
NC State landed two elite transfers at wide receiver in junior Wesley Grimes from Wake Forest and redshirt freshman Noah Rogers from Ohio State, to join current sophomore wide receiver Kevin Concepcion.
NCSU had added five freshmen receivers in Jonathan Paylor, Keenan Jackson, Terrell Anderson, Jimmar Boston and Christian Zachary.
The class of 2025 has Je’rel Bolder of Forest Hills, N.C., Arrion Concepcion of Charlotte, N.C., and Jamar Browder of Lantana, Fla.
If Bolder remains a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, that would give the Wolfpack seven four-star performers at wide receiver. Bolder is currently ranked No. 235 overall in the class of 2025.
Four of the recruits are Rivals.com three-star prospects — Boston and Zachary, and Arrion Concepcion and Browder are currently three-star recruits.
Grimes was ranked No. 223 in the class of 2022, and Rogers was ranked No. 134 overall in the class of 2023. Kevin Concepcion was a four-star prospect.
Paylor was ranked No. 65 in the class of 2024, and classmate Anderson was ranked 218. Additionally, Jackson was a four-star prospect.
NC State also is firmly in the hunt for Monroe (N.C.) High senior Jordan Young, who has the ability to play either wide receiver or defensive back in college — or both. NCSU is the lone college to offer Young the chance to play both positions in college.
In the big picture, NC State will be in good shape and maybe a class of 2025 receiver becomes too good to pass up. The original plan was to always take at least four receivers in the class of 2025, with Peterkin and Malik Clark in the mix. Clark ended up picking Florida State.
2. Where the drama began with Peterkin is that he simply doesn’t care about hyping himself. He lets his play do the talking.
Some players embrace the hoopla of recruiting and some don’t. NC State commit Gus Ritchey could have a job in the media one day when his playing career is open. He’s a great and enthusiastic communicator.
Peterkin is fine with in-person interviews, but he’s not going to go out of his way and he’s not eager about texting or calling with his phone. One source said he was good in getting up with college coaches, so that is good. That showed in that he didn’t contact the Virginia Tech coaches that he was coming until around 10 a.m. That’s right on brand.
The absolute about Peterkin’s commitment choice was that it was going to be nearby. Going into late July, it also started to materialize that it wouldn’t be North Carolina, which was his favorite school growing up. It proved telling when he said NC State and Virginia Tech would allow him to play football and basketball, but it never go to that stage with the Tar Heels, though he did mention Julius Peppers doing both sports.
Friday gave me flashbacks to another somewhat secretive recruitment — New Bern (N.C.) High defensive back Mike Hughes in the class of 2015. Hughes gave hints about picking NC State and hung out with the Wolfpack recruits at the Shrine Bowl in mid-December 2014. He was fine to interview in person, but reaching him on the phone, unlikely to happen. I dubbed him “The Ghost.”
That 262-mile round trip drive to New Bern on Dec. 23, 2014, brought a torrential downpour. NC State didn’t know what he’d do minutes leading up to the announcement, which was probably the red flag in the situation. He picked North Carolina.
NC State had a fun and productive class of 2015, but only Jarius Morehead worked out in the secondary. Safety Freddie Phillips tore his Achilles’ and transferred, and Vernon Grier logged some cornerback time in practice and also transferred.
It turns out that Hughes would live up to his considerable progress, but it took three schools and some brushes with the law to do it. He left UNC after one year for junior college, and ended up at Central Florida. The Minnesota Vikings drafted him No. 30 in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he’s on his fourth team now, the Atlanta Falcons. His defensive coordinator in 2023 — former NC State defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen, who was with the Wolfpack from 2013-16. He didn’t recruit Hughes, but probably saw Des Kitchings attempt at doing it then.
As a peek behind the curtain, nobody was probably quite certain what Peterkin would do Friday, but if they weren’t there in person, they also likely wouldn’t reach him on the phone to discuss his decision. How the job is sometimes.
It’s a tough loss and the coaches put their all into it over the last 20 months or so, dating back to Peterkin’s sophomore year. This isn’t spin because I try to keep this a non-spin zone, in some recruiting cycles, this would really sting, but NC State has done such a 180 in its ability to recruit receivers of late, that Peterkin would have felt like a cherry on top.
NC State landed two elite transfers at wide receiver in junior Wesley Grimes from Wake Forest and redshirt freshman Noah Rogers from Ohio State, to join current sophomore wide receiver Kevin Concepcion.
NCSU had added five freshmen receivers in Jonathan Paylor, Keenan Jackson, Terrell Anderson, Jimmar Boston and Christian Zachary.
The class of 2025 has Je’rel Bolder of Forest Hills, N.C., Arrion Concepcion of Charlotte, N.C., and Jamar Browder of Lantana, Fla.
If Bolder remains a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, that would give the Wolfpack seven four-star performers at wide receiver. Bolder is currently ranked No. 235 overall in the class of 2025.
Four of the recruits are Rivals.com three-star prospects — Boston and Zachary, and Arrion Concepcion and Browder are currently three-star recruits.
Grimes was ranked No. 223 in the class of 2022, and Rogers was ranked No. 134 overall in the class of 2023. Kevin Concepcion was a four-star prospect.
Paylor was ranked No. 65 in the class of 2024, and classmate Anderson was ranked 218. Additionally, Jackson was a four-star prospect.
NC State also is firmly in the hunt for Monroe (N.C.) High senior Jordan Young, who has the ability to play either wide receiver or defensive back in college — or both. NCSU is the lone college to offer Young the chance to play both positions in college.
In the big picture, NC State will be in good shape and maybe a class of 2025 receiver becomes too good to pass up. The original plan was to always take at least four receivers in the class of 2025, with Peterkin and Malik Clark in the mix. Clark ended up picking Florida State.
2. Where the drama began with Peterkin is that he simply doesn’t care about hyping himself. He lets his play do the talking.
Some players embrace the hoopla of recruiting and some don’t. NC State commit Gus Ritchey could have a job in the media one day when his playing career is open. He’s a great and enthusiastic communicator.
Peterkin is fine with in-person interviews, but he’s not going to go out of his way and he’s not eager about texting or calling with his phone. One source said he was good in getting up with college coaches, so that is good. That showed in that he didn’t contact the Virginia Tech coaches that he was coming until around 10 a.m. That’s right on brand.
The absolute about Peterkin’s commitment choice was that it was going to be nearby. Going into late July, it also started to materialize that it wouldn’t be North Carolina, which was his favorite school growing up. It proved telling when he said NC State and Virginia Tech would allow him to play football and basketball, but it never go to that stage with the Tar Heels, though he did mention Julius Peppers doing both sports.
Friday gave me flashbacks to another somewhat secretive recruitment — New Bern (N.C.) High defensive back Mike Hughes in the class of 2015. Hughes gave hints about picking NC State and hung out with the Wolfpack recruits at the Shrine Bowl in mid-December 2014. He was fine to interview in person, but reaching him on the phone, unlikely to happen. I dubbed him “The Ghost.”
That 262-mile round trip drive to New Bern on Dec. 23, 2014, brought a torrential downpour. NC State didn’t know what he’d do minutes leading up to the announcement, which was probably the red flag in the situation. He picked North Carolina.
NC State had a fun and productive class of 2015, but only Jarius Morehead worked out in the secondary. Safety Freddie Phillips tore his Achilles’ and transferred, and Vernon Grier logged some cornerback time in practice and also transferred.
It turns out that Hughes would live up to his considerable progress, but it took three schools and some brushes with the law to do it. He left UNC after one year for junior college, and ended up at Central Florida. The Minnesota Vikings drafted him No. 30 in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he’s on his fourth team now, the Atlanta Falcons. His defensive coordinator in 2023 — former NC State defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen, who was with the Wolfpack from 2013-16. He didn’t recruit Hughes, but probably saw Des Kitchings attempt at doing it then.
As a peek behind the curtain, nobody was probably quite certain what Peterkin would do Friday, but if they weren’t there in person, they also likely wouldn’t reach him on the phone to discuss his decision. How the job is sometimes.
