1. The Charlotte Rivals Camp Series is this Sunday, so the plan is simple — two The Run Down’s in three days.
The list of players expected to attend is impressive, but until you are on location and see the prospects, it remains to be seen if they show up.
The majority of the top players in the state I’ve seen play with their high school team or met them in person, or both. A handful of players are sure to emerge though.
Two players who were injured when I watched Charlotte Providence Day at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian on Oct. 15, were freshman lineman David Sanders of Providence Day and sophomore wide receiver Micah Gilbert of Charlotte Christian.
The phrase “on the hoof” was created for prospects like Sanders. The 6-foot-6, 245-pounder played in just a couple of games last year, but is healthy now and been doing some camps. It hasn’t slowed down his recruitment.
NC State, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia have offered already.
Gilbert, the younger brother of former Duke and Detroit Lions cornerback Mark Gilbert, has eight offers and is ranked No. 207 overall in the class of 2024. ECU, Louisville, Maryland, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have offered. He only missed one game due to his injury.
2. It has been nearly two weeks since New Bern (N.C.) High junior defensive lineman Keith Sampson Jr. took a visit and committed to Florida State.
Some observers are still shocked by the move. Maybe he got an NIL offer he couldn’t refuse or FSU hit it out of the park on his visit.
Sampson might not have been a NC State lock, but the timing of the commit still seems odd. He always had a fluctuating list, but FSU wasn’t always solid on his list of colleges.
He came out with a top five Jan. 15 with NC State, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia and South Carolina. Georgia quickly was replaced by Florida State not long after that. From Jan. 15 until March 5, the Seminoles made up that much ground.
Sampson has a few critics on his long-range potential, but his value was always the same thing — he’s the lone high major defensive lineman over 280 pounds in the state of North Carolina in the class of 2023. He might be a Rivals.com three-star prospect, but he’s a five-star when it comes to supply and demand.
NC State also made up a lot of ground on Sampson since August. He really didn’t have much to say about the Wolfpack and didn’t feel prioritized in August. By Nov. 26, he was on the field celebrating NC State’s comeback win over North Carolina.
Could NC State just move on? Sure, but that’s not much fun. What is the art of flipping a recruit? What are some of the signs? In this particular case, we’ll guess one of his parents does a lot of the tweeting (that is pretty common with parents of recruits). Sampson’s account is pretty polished by Twitter standards, but that is where some of the clues will pop up.
• The committed prospect seeks out attention by broadcasting any new offers that happen.
• He tweets out if a college is coming to New Bern. It won’t be due to a teammate in all likelihood.
• He gets spotted at a football game or event, and bonus points if he really tries to hide it.
• Sampson just gets more brazen and talks about taking other visits.
NC State flipped running back Johnny Frasier of Princeton (N.C.) High from Florida State in the class of 2015. Frasier was kind of blunt about looking at the Wolfpack, and he might have had some family things going on that meant staying close to home. Frasier committed to FSU in August, and then was taking official visits by October, and eventually picked the Wolfpack on Jan. 25, 2015.
3. There is a nose tackle that is definitely interested in NC State.
Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett four-star defensive tackle Kayden McDonald remains bullish on the Wolfpack. The No. 166-ranked junior had come last June, and then returned to watch NC State top Clemson in double overtime. He said Thursday his interest in NC State is legit because of his relationship with defensive line coach Charley Wiles. He also likes coach Dave Doeren.
McDonald plans to make a third trip to NC State this summer. We’ll have a upcoming story with him, but he’s got some legit heavy hitters in the mix. He’ll be visiting Auburn this weekend if everything comes together, and he also plans to see Oklahoma. He just visited Arkansas, where he celebrated his birthday.
McDonald has 28 scholarship offers already, with 11 from the SEC, including one from Georgia. He was credited with 95 tackles, 58 tackles for loss and 19 sacks in 12 games, which are some freaky statistics. McDonald had 11 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks per MaxPreps.com in a 29-15 win over Cumming (Ga.) South Forsyth on Nov. 12.
4. I have to give credit to Notre Dame for a creative, smart and fun tradition that they started last year.
Thursday was Notre Dame’s “Pot of God” day, where the offered class of 2024 prospects or offered luck to previous players offered. The one-two punch of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and recruiting has made it special.
Notre Dame offered at least 68 sophomores in one day. NC State has offered 37 total in the class of 2024. Now that there is context, NC State had three of its targets offered by Notre Dame on Thursday, and that doesn’t included junior target Sam Pendleton of Pfafftown (N.C.) Reagan getting offered Wednesday.
The crossover with NC State includes Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic tight end Jack Larsen, Arden (N.C.) Christ School outside linebacker Cayden Jones and Dillon (S.C.) High tackle Josiah Thompson. Of those three, Larsen would be the one that Notre Dame has a strong chance.
Larsen went to South Bend, Ind., to watch North Carolina play at Notre Dame on Oct. 30. What was amazing is he was back doing media interviews by 1 p.m. the next day Oct. 31.
NC State has been on all three a good amount of time, though Jones would like to see the Wolfpack step up a little bit more. He’s close friends with Christ School teammate Zack Myers, a junior defensive back. Jones also could move to the class to 2023, down the road. The key for NC State is to land Myers and then work on Jones.
The list of players expected to attend is impressive, but until you are on location and see the prospects, it remains to be seen if they show up.
The majority of the top players in the state I’ve seen play with their high school team or met them in person, or both. A handful of players are sure to emerge though.
Two players who were injured when I watched Charlotte Providence Day at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian on Oct. 15, were freshman lineman David Sanders of Providence Day and sophomore wide receiver Micah Gilbert of Charlotte Christian.
The phrase “on the hoof” was created for prospects like Sanders. The 6-foot-6, 245-pounder played in just a couple of games last year, but is healthy now and been doing some camps. It hasn’t slowed down his recruitment.
NC State, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia have offered already.
Gilbert, the younger brother of former Duke and Detroit Lions cornerback Mark Gilbert, has eight offers and is ranked No. 207 overall in the class of 2024. ECU, Louisville, Maryland, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have offered. He only missed one game due to his injury.
2. It has been nearly two weeks since New Bern (N.C.) High junior defensive lineman Keith Sampson Jr. took a visit and committed to Florida State.
Some observers are still shocked by the move. Maybe he got an NIL offer he couldn’t refuse or FSU hit it out of the park on his visit.
Sampson might not have been a NC State lock, but the timing of the commit still seems odd. He always had a fluctuating list, but FSU wasn’t always solid on his list of colleges.
He came out with a top five Jan. 15 with NC State, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia and South Carolina. Georgia quickly was replaced by Florida State not long after that. From Jan. 15 until March 5, the Seminoles made up that much ground.
Sampson has a few critics on his long-range potential, but his value was always the same thing — he’s the lone high major defensive lineman over 280 pounds in the state of North Carolina in the class of 2023. He might be a Rivals.com three-star prospect, but he’s a five-star when it comes to supply and demand.
NC State also made up a lot of ground on Sampson since August. He really didn’t have much to say about the Wolfpack and didn’t feel prioritized in August. By Nov. 26, he was on the field celebrating NC State’s comeback win over North Carolina.
Could NC State just move on? Sure, but that’s not much fun. What is the art of flipping a recruit? What are some of the signs? In this particular case, we’ll guess one of his parents does a lot of the tweeting (that is pretty common with parents of recruits). Sampson’s account is pretty polished by Twitter standards, but that is where some of the clues will pop up.
• The committed prospect seeks out attention by broadcasting any new offers that happen.
• He tweets out if a college is coming to New Bern. It won’t be due to a teammate in all likelihood.
• He gets spotted at a football game or event, and bonus points if he really tries to hide it.
• Sampson just gets more brazen and talks about taking other visits.
NC State flipped running back Johnny Frasier of Princeton (N.C.) High from Florida State in the class of 2015. Frasier was kind of blunt about looking at the Wolfpack, and he might have had some family things going on that meant staying close to home. Frasier committed to FSU in August, and then was taking official visits by October, and eventually picked the Wolfpack on Jan. 25, 2015.
3. There is a nose tackle that is definitely interested in NC State.
Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett four-star defensive tackle Kayden McDonald remains bullish on the Wolfpack. The No. 166-ranked junior had come last June, and then returned to watch NC State top Clemson in double overtime. He said Thursday his interest in NC State is legit because of his relationship with defensive line coach Charley Wiles. He also likes coach Dave Doeren.
McDonald plans to make a third trip to NC State this summer. We’ll have a upcoming story with him, but he’s got some legit heavy hitters in the mix. He’ll be visiting Auburn this weekend if everything comes together, and he also plans to see Oklahoma. He just visited Arkansas, where he celebrated his birthday.
McDonald has 28 scholarship offers already, with 11 from the SEC, including one from Georgia. He was credited with 95 tackles, 58 tackles for loss and 19 sacks in 12 games, which are some freaky statistics. McDonald had 11 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks per MaxPreps.com in a 29-15 win over Cumming (Ga.) South Forsyth on Nov. 12.
4. I have to give credit to Notre Dame for a creative, smart and fun tradition that they started last year.
Thursday was Notre Dame’s “Pot of God” day, where the offered class of 2024 prospects or offered luck to previous players offered. The one-two punch of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and recruiting has made it special.
Notre Dame offered at least 68 sophomores in one day. NC State has offered 37 total in the class of 2024. Now that there is context, NC State had three of its targets offered by Notre Dame on Thursday, and that doesn’t included junior target Sam Pendleton of Pfafftown (N.C.) Reagan getting offered Wednesday.
The crossover with NC State includes Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic tight end Jack Larsen, Arden (N.C.) Christ School outside linebacker Cayden Jones and Dillon (S.C.) High tackle Josiah Thompson. Of those three, Larsen would be the one that Notre Dame has a strong chance.
Larsen went to South Bend, Ind., to watch North Carolina play at Notre Dame on Oct. 30. What was amazing is he was back doing media interviews by 1 p.m. the next day Oct. 31.
NC State has been on all three a good amount of time, though Jones would like to see the Wolfpack step up a little bit more. He’s close friends with Christ School teammate Zack Myers, a junior defensive back. Jones also could move to the class to 2023, down the road. The key for NC State is to land Myers and then work on Jones.
