1. Shawn Phillips had a pair of games this fall on ESPN+, which gave a good inkling of what he’ll bring to the table next year at NC State. He’s listed at 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds, and he’s all of 6-10 for sure.
The No. 98-ranked center from Dayton, Ohio, has attended three schools in three years, landing at Glendale (Ariz.) Dream City Christian. It’s a stacked squad with Phillips playing with Rivals.com’s No. 1-ranked overall player Shaedon Sharpe, No. 4-ranked unsigned senior center Yohan Traore and point guard Milos Uzan. Sharpe is head to Kentucky and will enroll in January and Uzan is slotted for Oklahoma.
Watching Traore and Phillips is interesting. The 6-10 or so Traore is from France and is a good outside shooter, while Phillips primarily operated on the block.
Phillips was able to go against two ranked centers in the Las Vegas showcase event. He faced UCLA-bound Adem Bona of Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep, and he battled USC-bound post player Kijani Wright of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon, who is ranked No. 46 in the country.
What Phillips proved in the two games is he has a college-ready body, should rebound well and can block a shot or two, but not as gifted as NCSU redshirt junior center Manny Bates. The comparison’s to Bates will be an easy one. Phillips is probably more adept operating in the post than Bates was coming out of Fayetteville (N.C.) Northwood Temple. Phillips has a half hook that he goes to in the post. Phillips will be similar to Bates in his free-throw shooting and trying mid-range jumpers. Bates shot 48.6 percent from the line his redshirt freshman year, but worked hard to reach 68.6 percent last year. Phillips will need to follow the same script.
Sophomore Ebenezer Dowuona will get the majority of the center minutes this season in light of Bates’ shoulder surgery. If Bates is back and healthy next year, it would be easy to project Bates playing 25-28 minutes a game, with Phillips playing the backup minutes unless Dowuona starts making major strides this season. We’ll see if sophomore Jaylon Gibson has a role next year or if he plays more at power forward than center.
2. Did NC State get a complete steal in Whiteville (N.C.) High senior athlete Deajuan Thompson?
If there was a player in the 2022 class that could be in line for a nice rankings bump, the three-star Thompson could be it.
NC State was aggressive in recruiting Thompson last spring, not even waiting for him to camp to offer a scholarship. NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, East Carolina and Tennessee were all in the mix when he picked the Wolfpack on June 8.
Where it can be easy to overlook Thompson is for a few reasons. Whiteville is 11-0 going into today’s big NCHSAA 2A playoff game against St. Pauls (N.C.) High. Only one game out of the 11 has been competitive — 27-24 win over Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Socastee High. Socastee ended up going 2-6 on the season.
Whiteville’s next closest game was a 35-point win and the two playoff games thus far were both 56-0 blowouts. There are a lot of fourth quarters that he isn’t playing.
The other tricky part is projecting Thompson to outside linebacker, He’s 6-3 and 190 pounds, which in last week’s The Run Down, we mentioned is about what current linebacker Vi Jones arrived at from USC. We brought up Jones last week in relation to junior athlete Grant Tucker of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian, who has a similar build. The hope is Thompson will reach 220 pounds after a likely redshirt year.
The reason for the excitement for Thompson is that even though he’s playing overmatched competition, he just jumps out on film. He’s a heat-seeking missile, whether playing on defense or on special teams. The latter is another example of where he could compare to Jones, who is a special teams dynamo.
Thompson is explosive in space, makes up ground quickly with a long stride and plays with an edge. He could be another classic example of a player arriving at NC State as a bit of a project, but ending up being a major contributor down the road.
3. The coaching carousel promises to be a wild one and maybe it will hit close to Tobacco Road this winter.
Here are two possible scenarios — Virginia Tech goes hard to land Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson and Duke coach David Cutcliffe retires.
At first glance, the immediate reaction is why would Clawson leave Wake Forest? He has it rolling, complete job security and in a few years they could be building a statue of him outside the stadium. With quarterback Sam Hartman back for two more years, odds are good that they’ll continue to be good the next two years.
Now why would he leave for Virginia Tech — money, fan support and if the Hokies are a 11-1 kind of program, they’ll get more national respect than Wake Forest does for playoff consideration.
Clawson is a program builder and is only 54 years old. He was at Fordham from 1999-03, Richmond from 2004-07, Bowling Green from 2009-13 and now at Wake Forest since 2014, which has been his longest stint.
This is why NC State will continue to fight for Raleigh Millbrook High senior wide receiver Wesley Grimes, who has a big playoff game against Rolesville (N.C.) High tonight. Grimes is committed to Wake Forest, but NC State and Notre Dame are giving chase, and everyone is going to watch Clemson after they lost out on wide receiver Andre Greene to North Carolina. He has 75 catches for 1,405 yards and 22 touchdowns for 11-1 Millbrook.
The other interesting Wake Forest commit is senior defensive end Eli Hall of Shelby (N.C.) Crest, who Rivals.com has a four-star prospect. He had 22 offers, but not one from NC State, and ultimately picked the Demon Deacons over Virginia.
Over on the Duke side, wide receiver Jaden Watkins of Asheville (N.C.) The Asheville School claimed an NC State offer, and defensive end Vincent Anthony of Durham (N.C.) Jordan has an offer. Watkins also considered Wake Forest and Virginia Tech and could play defensive back in college. Watkins has big-play speed and Anthony looks like he’ll be a good anchor end with toughness.
The No. 98-ranked center from Dayton, Ohio, has attended three schools in three years, landing at Glendale (Ariz.) Dream City Christian. It’s a stacked squad with Phillips playing with Rivals.com’s No. 1-ranked overall player Shaedon Sharpe, No. 4-ranked unsigned senior center Yohan Traore and point guard Milos Uzan. Sharpe is head to Kentucky and will enroll in January and Uzan is slotted for Oklahoma.
Watching Traore and Phillips is interesting. The 6-10 or so Traore is from France and is a good outside shooter, while Phillips primarily operated on the block.
Phillips was able to go against two ranked centers in the Las Vegas showcase event. He faced UCLA-bound Adem Bona of Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep, and he battled USC-bound post player Kijani Wright of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon, who is ranked No. 46 in the country.
What Phillips proved in the two games is he has a college-ready body, should rebound well and can block a shot or two, but not as gifted as NCSU redshirt junior center Manny Bates. The comparison’s to Bates will be an easy one. Phillips is probably more adept operating in the post than Bates was coming out of Fayetteville (N.C.) Northwood Temple. Phillips has a half hook that he goes to in the post. Phillips will be similar to Bates in his free-throw shooting and trying mid-range jumpers. Bates shot 48.6 percent from the line his redshirt freshman year, but worked hard to reach 68.6 percent last year. Phillips will need to follow the same script.
Sophomore Ebenezer Dowuona will get the majority of the center minutes this season in light of Bates’ shoulder surgery. If Bates is back and healthy next year, it would be easy to project Bates playing 25-28 minutes a game, with Phillips playing the backup minutes unless Dowuona starts making major strides this season. We’ll see if sophomore Jaylon Gibson has a role next year or if he plays more at power forward than center.
2. Did NC State get a complete steal in Whiteville (N.C.) High senior athlete Deajuan Thompson?
If there was a player in the 2022 class that could be in line for a nice rankings bump, the three-star Thompson could be it.
NC State was aggressive in recruiting Thompson last spring, not even waiting for him to camp to offer a scholarship. NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, East Carolina and Tennessee were all in the mix when he picked the Wolfpack on June 8.
Where it can be easy to overlook Thompson is for a few reasons. Whiteville is 11-0 going into today’s big NCHSAA 2A playoff game against St. Pauls (N.C.) High. Only one game out of the 11 has been competitive — 27-24 win over Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Socastee High. Socastee ended up going 2-6 on the season.
Whiteville’s next closest game was a 35-point win and the two playoff games thus far were both 56-0 blowouts. There are a lot of fourth quarters that he isn’t playing.
The other tricky part is projecting Thompson to outside linebacker, He’s 6-3 and 190 pounds, which in last week’s The Run Down, we mentioned is about what current linebacker Vi Jones arrived at from USC. We brought up Jones last week in relation to junior athlete Grant Tucker of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian, who has a similar build. The hope is Thompson will reach 220 pounds after a likely redshirt year.
The reason for the excitement for Thompson is that even though he’s playing overmatched competition, he just jumps out on film. He’s a heat-seeking missile, whether playing on defense or on special teams. The latter is another example of where he could compare to Jones, who is a special teams dynamo.
Thompson is explosive in space, makes up ground quickly with a long stride and plays with an edge. He could be another classic example of a player arriving at NC State as a bit of a project, but ending up being a major contributor down the road.
3. The coaching carousel promises to be a wild one and maybe it will hit close to Tobacco Road this winter.
Here are two possible scenarios — Virginia Tech goes hard to land Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson and Duke coach David Cutcliffe retires.
At first glance, the immediate reaction is why would Clawson leave Wake Forest? He has it rolling, complete job security and in a few years they could be building a statue of him outside the stadium. With quarterback Sam Hartman back for two more years, odds are good that they’ll continue to be good the next two years.
Now why would he leave for Virginia Tech — money, fan support and if the Hokies are a 11-1 kind of program, they’ll get more national respect than Wake Forest does for playoff consideration.
Clawson is a program builder and is only 54 years old. He was at Fordham from 1999-03, Richmond from 2004-07, Bowling Green from 2009-13 and now at Wake Forest since 2014, which has been his longest stint.
This is why NC State will continue to fight for Raleigh Millbrook High senior wide receiver Wesley Grimes, who has a big playoff game against Rolesville (N.C.) High tonight. Grimes is committed to Wake Forest, but NC State and Notre Dame are giving chase, and everyone is going to watch Clemson after they lost out on wide receiver Andre Greene to North Carolina. He has 75 catches for 1,405 yards and 22 touchdowns for 11-1 Millbrook.
The other interesting Wake Forest commit is senior defensive end Eli Hall of Shelby (N.C.) Crest, who Rivals.com has a four-star prospect. He had 22 offers, but not one from NC State, and ultimately picked the Demon Deacons over Virginia.
Over on the Duke side, wide receiver Jaden Watkins of Asheville (N.C.) The Asheville School claimed an NC State offer, and defensive end Vincent Anthony of Durham (N.C.) Jordan has an offer. Watkins also considered Wake Forest and Virginia Tech and could play defensive back in college. Watkins has big-play speed and Anthony looks like he’ll be a good anchor end with toughness.
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