1. Playoff Friday is the best. The Wolfpack Central will be attending the Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers at Harrisburg (N.C.) Hickory Ridge, but the other big NCHSAA contest will take place with Rolesville (N.C.) High at New Bern (N.C.) High.
Between those two games, these four current Rivals.com top 10 juniors will play in them:
1. Christian Hamilton, wide receiver, Hickory Ridge
2. Noah Rogers, wide receiver, Rolesville
4. Keith Sampson Jr., defensive tackle, New Bern
5. Dylan Smothers, running back, Chambers
Add in Chambers junior wide receiver Kevin Concepcion, and that’s a lot of star power.
Hamilton is interesting for several reasons. We’ll have a story on him coming up, but one of the unique things about the slot receiver/cornerback is he is cousins with former NC State basketball player Torin Dorn, and North Carolina safety Myles Dorn. Torin Dorn Sr. also attended UNC and made the NFL, so Hamilton has that pride of living up to the standards of his family. By the way, Chambers has a third Dorn brother coming up, who is a shooting guard prospect in 2023, Nick Dorn.
The 6-foot, 183-pound Smothers, who goes by “Hollywood” is a four-star prospect with at least 20 scholarship offers, including NC State. He helped Chambers win the NCHSAA 4AA state title last year. Smothers rushed for 97 yards and a rushing touchdown in a 35-14 win over Rolesville and Rogers.
Smothers’ gift as a running back is the ability to make swift cuts in tight places, and he has enough speed to be a home-run hitter. He also will benefit from the fact that the state of North Carolina doesn’t appear to be loaded at running back in the class of 2023.
NC State has also offered Concepcion, who has the ability to be a deep threat but also make clutch possession grabs. He is on the smaller side at 5-11 and 175 pounds, but is nearly like clockwork when it comes to making big plays for Chambers.
The Wolfpack Central had one chance for an in-person look at Chambers, but that turned out to be a hot mess of a night. Chambers played at Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons and a lightning delay went from about 8:20 p.m. until 11 p.m., and the game ended around 1 a.m. Chambers players didn’t get home until after 4 a.m.
NC State isn’t expected to be evaluating Rogers and Sampson, but that’s because they already have. Rolesville and New Bern actually scrimmaged each other in August as part of a jamboree at Rolesville High. Sampson we’ve touched on, but he’s got a top 10 of NC State, Alabama, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Carolina and Virginia. The Wolfpack and South Carolina have been constants in his recruitment. He’s another player where there aren’t many like him in the state from a size and position standpoint.
2. Every year some new players arrive in North Carolina, and The Wolfpack Central is about to binge watch three of them within 48 hours.
Rivals.com ranks junior forward Brandon Gardner at No. 46 overall in the class of 2023 and he is claiming 25 scholarship offers, including eight from the SEC. We first watched him play at the 2019 CP3 Rising Stars Camp and it was clear he was a NC State coach Kevin Keatts’ kind of big man. He’s athletic, a gifted shot-blocker and will dunk on people in his way.
Think young Montrezl Harrell of Tarboro, N.C., but maybe with more bounce. Keatts coached Harrell at Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy and while an assistant at Louisville. Harrell is now with the Washington Wizards, and has been a fantasy basketball steal this season.
The 6-foot-7 Gardner played at Gray Collegiate his first two years in Columbia, S.C. NC State tried to recruit Juwan Gary from the same school in the class of 2019, but he ended up picking Alabama. The Wolfpack offered Gardner on June 17, 2021, but now have a little bit of a homecourt advantage this years.
Gardner made the move to Raleigh Word of God this summer and he played his first official game Thursday night against Minnesota Prep Academy. He struggled with foul trouble in a victory, but now that he’s local, it will be easy to monitor his progress.
Another newcomer of potential note is 6-8 Kany Tchanda of Concord (N.C.) Academy, who will play Goldsboro (N.C.) Wayne Country Day at 12 p.m. Saturday at Charlotte Carmel Christian.
Tchanda appears to be that ideal combo forward, who can be a jumbo-sized small forward in some matchups, but seems to be at least 6-8 and can do enough to be a stretch four. He’s another one who seems to be an ideal fit for Keatts’ style.
The problem with Tchanda is simple — he just needs to be seen. He arrived from the Congo over the summer and has played in a fall league with Concord Academy and a Pangos East Coast camp a few weeks ago. He made the top 30 game and some veteran scouts even threw out the term “potential pro.” From other trusted sources, he’s a legit candidate for the top 100 in the Class of 2024, and the guess is he’ll be a hot name with college coaches by Jan. 1.
Tchanda played this past Tuesday against Raleigh Grace Christian, winning 68-59. Now, Keatts was a little busy that night to see that game, but his son K.J. Keatts is the point guard for Grace Christian. Tchanda went 7 of 10 from the field for 17 points and nine rebounds in the win. Also, pretty good production for just his second prep game in the U.S.
The third player is senior power forward Ezra Ausar of Charlotte Liberty Heights, who is playing against Legion Collegiate Academy at 1:30 p.m. at Carmel Christian on Saturday. Ausar showed that he could physically hang with one of the Overtime Elite teams Nov. 1, but the next step for the Georgia native is to showcase a few go-to moves on offense.
Ausar handles the ball well for a power forward and is a good rebounder, but he’ll need to show some scoring punch. NC State will likely have some scholarships to play with this spring (one currently), and between Ausar and players in the transfer portal, they’ll get some long looks. Texas A&M and Wichita State have offered Ausar, who played for Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy last year.
3. Sometimes the best evaluation opportunities happen “from the couch.”
NBC Sports will have a pair of Class of 2023 point guards that are probably very different from each other, but both could easily end up being NC State targets. One is more traditional than the other, but both are legit and have a national TV audience as their backdrop Friday night.
The first game starts at 5 p.m., with Charlotte Vertical Academy vs. Coppell (Texas) High. The reason the game is on TV is simply junior shooting guard Mikey Williams, who Rivals.com ranks No. 18 overall in the country. The power of Williams’ 3.3 million instagram followers will finally put the spotlight on a player of NC State interest — junior point guard Treymane Parker of Fayetteville, N.C. Unfortunately for NBC Sports, Williams will be out a while with a finger injury.
NC State Rivals went to see Parker his freshman year at Fayetteville Cape Fear High. He then attended New Life Christian in Fayetteville, before making the move to Vertical Academy. Parker also didn’t play for one of the main shoe-sponsored traveling teams and the Covid pandemic also didn’t help.
Add it all up and a player who appeared to be a sure-fire top 100 recruit isn’t ranked and has offers from North Carolina A&T and Kentucky Christian. It’s an example of how high school missteps can slow down a recruitment, but the hunch is the TV game will show that Parker is more than ACC worthy, and we’ll look back a year from now and wonder “How did Parker go so undervalued for so long?”
Long-time prep fans in the Fayetteville area are also well-versed on Parker’s family. Kwe Parker is his half-brother, who played at Tennessee, junior college and North Carolina A&T. Jatrious Smith, Malik Johnson and Telligence Johnson are cousins, and attended different high schools in Fayetteville.
The other TV game starts at 9:30 p.m. on NBC Sports, with Link Year Prep of Branson, Mo., vs. iSchool of Lewisville, Texas. Link Year Prep is loaded and Charlotte native Trey Green is running the show at point guard.
Rivals.com ranks the 5-11, 170-pound Green at No. 131 overall in the class of 2023. Green attended what is now Charlotte Chambers High his freshman year, and then joined Mikey Williams at Lake Norman Christian in Huntersville, N.C. last year. He’s part of the exodus from the state to attend prep powerhouses out of state.
Green has 13 scholarship offers and NC State has showed interest. Green, Parker, Jaylen Curry of Chambers High and Charlotte native Aden Holloway of La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere School are all class of 2023 point guards from the state that the Wolfpack could zero in on. Curry and Holloway played with star junior guard Robert Dillingham of Hickory, N.C., on the Chris Paul All-Stars.
Between those two games, these four current Rivals.com top 10 juniors will play in them:
1. Christian Hamilton, wide receiver, Hickory Ridge
2. Noah Rogers, wide receiver, Rolesville
4. Keith Sampson Jr., defensive tackle, New Bern
5. Dylan Smothers, running back, Chambers
Add in Chambers junior wide receiver Kevin Concepcion, and that’s a lot of star power.
Hamilton is interesting for several reasons. We’ll have a story on him coming up, but one of the unique things about the slot receiver/cornerback is he is cousins with former NC State basketball player Torin Dorn, and North Carolina safety Myles Dorn. Torin Dorn Sr. also attended UNC and made the NFL, so Hamilton has that pride of living up to the standards of his family. By the way, Chambers has a third Dorn brother coming up, who is a shooting guard prospect in 2023, Nick Dorn.
The 6-foot, 183-pound Smothers, who goes by “Hollywood” is a four-star prospect with at least 20 scholarship offers, including NC State. He helped Chambers win the NCHSAA 4AA state title last year. Smothers rushed for 97 yards and a rushing touchdown in a 35-14 win over Rolesville and Rogers.
Smothers’ gift as a running back is the ability to make swift cuts in tight places, and he has enough speed to be a home-run hitter. He also will benefit from the fact that the state of North Carolina doesn’t appear to be loaded at running back in the class of 2023.
NC State has also offered Concepcion, who has the ability to be a deep threat but also make clutch possession grabs. He is on the smaller side at 5-11 and 175 pounds, but is nearly like clockwork when it comes to making big plays for Chambers.
The Wolfpack Central had one chance for an in-person look at Chambers, but that turned out to be a hot mess of a night. Chambers played at Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons and a lightning delay went from about 8:20 p.m. until 11 p.m., and the game ended around 1 a.m. Chambers players didn’t get home until after 4 a.m.
NC State isn’t expected to be evaluating Rogers and Sampson, but that’s because they already have. Rolesville and New Bern actually scrimmaged each other in August as part of a jamboree at Rolesville High. Sampson we’ve touched on, but he’s got a top 10 of NC State, Alabama, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Carolina and Virginia. The Wolfpack and South Carolina have been constants in his recruitment. He’s another player where there aren’t many like him in the state from a size and position standpoint.
2. Every year some new players arrive in North Carolina, and The Wolfpack Central is about to binge watch three of them within 48 hours.
Rivals.com ranks junior forward Brandon Gardner at No. 46 overall in the class of 2023 and he is claiming 25 scholarship offers, including eight from the SEC. We first watched him play at the 2019 CP3 Rising Stars Camp and it was clear he was a NC State coach Kevin Keatts’ kind of big man. He’s athletic, a gifted shot-blocker and will dunk on people in his way.
Think young Montrezl Harrell of Tarboro, N.C., but maybe with more bounce. Keatts coached Harrell at Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy and while an assistant at Louisville. Harrell is now with the Washington Wizards, and has been a fantasy basketball steal this season.
The 6-foot-7 Gardner played at Gray Collegiate his first two years in Columbia, S.C. NC State tried to recruit Juwan Gary from the same school in the class of 2019, but he ended up picking Alabama. The Wolfpack offered Gardner on June 17, 2021, but now have a little bit of a homecourt advantage this years.
Gardner made the move to Raleigh Word of God this summer and he played his first official game Thursday night against Minnesota Prep Academy. He struggled with foul trouble in a victory, but now that he’s local, it will be easy to monitor his progress.
Another newcomer of potential note is 6-8 Kany Tchanda of Concord (N.C.) Academy, who will play Goldsboro (N.C.) Wayne Country Day at 12 p.m. Saturday at Charlotte Carmel Christian.
Tchanda appears to be that ideal combo forward, who can be a jumbo-sized small forward in some matchups, but seems to be at least 6-8 and can do enough to be a stretch four. He’s another one who seems to be an ideal fit for Keatts’ style.
The problem with Tchanda is simple — he just needs to be seen. He arrived from the Congo over the summer and has played in a fall league with Concord Academy and a Pangos East Coast camp a few weeks ago. He made the top 30 game and some veteran scouts even threw out the term “potential pro.” From other trusted sources, he’s a legit candidate for the top 100 in the Class of 2024, and the guess is he’ll be a hot name with college coaches by Jan. 1.
Tchanda played this past Tuesday against Raleigh Grace Christian, winning 68-59. Now, Keatts was a little busy that night to see that game, but his son K.J. Keatts is the point guard for Grace Christian. Tchanda went 7 of 10 from the field for 17 points and nine rebounds in the win. Also, pretty good production for just his second prep game in the U.S.
The third player is senior power forward Ezra Ausar of Charlotte Liberty Heights, who is playing against Legion Collegiate Academy at 1:30 p.m. at Carmel Christian on Saturday. Ausar showed that he could physically hang with one of the Overtime Elite teams Nov. 1, but the next step for the Georgia native is to showcase a few go-to moves on offense.
Ausar handles the ball well for a power forward and is a good rebounder, but he’ll need to show some scoring punch. NC State will likely have some scholarships to play with this spring (one currently), and between Ausar and players in the transfer portal, they’ll get some long looks. Texas A&M and Wichita State have offered Ausar, who played for Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy last year.
3. Sometimes the best evaluation opportunities happen “from the couch.”
NBC Sports will have a pair of Class of 2023 point guards that are probably very different from each other, but both could easily end up being NC State targets. One is more traditional than the other, but both are legit and have a national TV audience as their backdrop Friday night.
The first game starts at 5 p.m., with Charlotte Vertical Academy vs. Coppell (Texas) High. The reason the game is on TV is simply junior shooting guard Mikey Williams, who Rivals.com ranks No. 18 overall in the country. The power of Williams’ 3.3 million instagram followers will finally put the spotlight on a player of NC State interest — junior point guard Treymane Parker of Fayetteville, N.C. Unfortunately for NBC Sports, Williams will be out a while with a finger injury.
NC State Rivals went to see Parker his freshman year at Fayetteville Cape Fear High. He then attended New Life Christian in Fayetteville, before making the move to Vertical Academy. Parker also didn’t play for one of the main shoe-sponsored traveling teams and the Covid pandemic also didn’t help.
Add it all up and a player who appeared to be a sure-fire top 100 recruit isn’t ranked and has offers from North Carolina A&T and Kentucky Christian. It’s an example of how high school missteps can slow down a recruitment, but the hunch is the TV game will show that Parker is more than ACC worthy, and we’ll look back a year from now and wonder “How did Parker go so undervalued for so long?”
Long-time prep fans in the Fayetteville area are also well-versed on Parker’s family. Kwe Parker is his half-brother, who played at Tennessee, junior college and North Carolina A&T. Jatrious Smith, Malik Johnson and Telligence Johnson are cousins, and attended different high schools in Fayetteville.
The other TV game starts at 9:30 p.m. on NBC Sports, with Link Year Prep of Branson, Mo., vs. iSchool of Lewisville, Texas. Link Year Prep is loaded and Charlotte native Trey Green is running the show at point guard.
Rivals.com ranks the 5-11, 170-pound Green at No. 131 overall in the class of 2023. Green attended what is now Charlotte Chambers High his freshman year, and then joined Mikey Williams at Lake Norman Christian in Huntersville, N.C. last year. He’s part of the exodus from the state to attend prep powerhouses out of state.
Green has 13 scholarship offers and NC State has showed interest. Green, Parker, Jaylen Curry of Chambers High and Charlotte native Aden Holloway of La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere School are all class of 2023 point guards from the state that the Wolfpack could zero in on. Curry and Holloway played with star junior guard Robert Dillingham of Hickory, N.C., on the Chris Paul All-Stars.
