1. Zamareya Jones didn’t want to let on that she liked NC State all along, but she made it clear when talking to her Thursday night how much she is looking forward to playing with the Wolfpack.
Jones has known since her official visit Sept 28-30, that she was going to NC State, and by mid-October, let the other colleges know too.
Jones, who is from Bethel (N.C.) North Pitt High, picked NCSU over Georgia, with Florida State, Mississippi State and Alabama. All five schools received official visits. Assistant coach Nikki West was the primary recruiter on Jones.
Jones came on to the scene early in here prep career and the Wolfpack offered her Aug. 3, 2021. The Wolfpack Central went to see her both her sophomore year and junior year, and while she’s a slender 5-foot-6, 5-7, her basketball IQ is impressive. Players like Jones or Sanford (N.C.) Grace Christian senior power forward Sarah Strong, they make plays or passes that are a step ahead of prep defenders. Jones is known for her high-scoring exploits, but her passing is impressive too.
Jones might not be the biggest point guard on the defensive end, but she does have quick hands and is feisty.
The rule of thumb when watching Jones is that if her three-point shot is on, watch out. That is when she goes for big numbers. Improving her three-point consistency will be needed in college, and that will more than make up for being 5-7.
Point guard is everything in basketball, and now between Jones and freshman point guard Zoe Brooks the Wolfpack should be good for years. It also helps NC State keep up with Notre Dame and North Carolina in the ACC recruiting wars, and ahead of Louisville, Duke and Virginia Tech in recent recruiting classes.
Strong will be visiting UCLA officially this weekend, and it remains to be see if she’ll be at the UConn game Nov. 12, but that would be a logical thing. Jones said she’ll definitely going to that game.
NC State will also have a front row seat for North Pitt freshman point guard Jordan Speller. They can figure out if she’s good enough to be offered. Florida State, Mississippi State, Louisville, Arizona, Miami (Fla.), Auburn, Boston College, Northeastern and East Carolina, have already offered before she has played a prep game.
North Pitt will be playing at the Southeast Raleigh Invitational on Nov. 25, and the John Wall Holiday Invitational Dec. 26-28, which for the girls is usually at Cary Academy.
2. There’ll be several unofficial visitors this weekend, but the big one is officially visiting.
Senior running back Anthony Carrie of Tampa (Fla.) Carrollwood Day will be playing visiting Miami Gulliver Prep on Friday night. Then make his way to Raleigh for an official visit.
Carrie exploded for 26 carries for 205 yards and three touchdowns in a shootout win over Clearwater (Fla.) Calvary Christian on Sept. 8. He’s topped 100 yards in three games, but sometimes doesn’t get many carries in the second half of blowout games.
The. 6-foot, 200-pounder is committed to Michigan State, but the Spartans are in flux. Rivals.com ranked him No. 120 overall in the class of 2024, and it’s easy to see why.
Carrie does two obvious things well — he goes North-South and has great speed to turn the corner. There isn’t any dancing or a lot of wasted movement when he runs. He sees a hole and he gets through it.
NC State probably never envisioned taking three running backs in the class of 2024. Then toss in safety commit Ronnie Royal of Gulf Shores (Ala.) High who is also gifted carrying the ball. NCSU was obviously hoping to bring in Kyron Jones of Charlotte Christian as the second back last year, but he flipped to Georgia.
NC State landed three-star running back Duke Scott, who has had a strong senior year for Stockbridge (Ga.) High, and then picked up local running back Isiah Jones of Rolesville (N.C.) High. Jones has been injured this season for the most part, and his replacement, junior De’Von Thomas, has gone bonkers with 150 carries for 1,694 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s had over 211 yards over the last three games, and has done it five times thus far.
The Kyron Jones situation led to taking just Kendrick Raphael in the class of 2023. NCSU took just current sophomore Michael Allen in the class of 2022, and in theory Jordan Poole could be the running back in the 2021 class now due to attrition (Demi Sumo-Karngbaye and kind of Micah Crowell).
NC State didn’t land a running back in the class of 2020, but got three in 2019. So there is a precedent of taking three running backs in the same class. Jordan Houston, Zonovan Knight and Delbert Mimms were the three in 2019.
The other touted trio of backs was in 2015 — Johnny Frasier, Reggie Gallaspy and Nyheim Hines. It took two years of playing slot receiver, but Hines made his way back to running back.
Jones has known since her official visit Sept 28-30, that she was going to NC State, and by mid-October, let the other colleges know too.
Jones, who is from Bethel (N.C.) North Pitt High, picked NCSU over Georgia, with Florida State, Mississippi State and Alabama. All five schools received official visits. Assistant coach Nikki West was the primary recruiter on Jones.
Jones came on to the scene early in here prep career and the Wolfpack offered her Aug. 3, 2021. The Wolfpack Central went to see her both her sophomore year and junior year, and while she’s a slender 5-foot-6, 5-7, her basketball IQ is impressive. Players like Jones or Sanford (N.C.) Grace Christian senior power forward Sarah Strong, they make plays or passes that are a step ahead of prep defenders. Jones is known for her high-scoring exploits, but her passing is impressive too.
Jones might not be the biggest point guard on the defensive end, but she does have quick hands and is feisty.
The rule of thumb when watching Jones is that if her three-point shot is on, watch out. That is when she goes for big numbers. Improving her three-point consistency will be needed in college, and that will more than make up for being 5-7.
Point guard is everything in basketball, and now between Jones and freshman point guard Zoe Brooks the Wolfpack should be good for years. It also helps NC State keep up with Notre Dame and North Carolina in the ACC recruiting wars, and ahead of Louisville, Duke and Virginia Tech in recent recruiting classes.
Strong will be visiting UCLA officially this weekend, and it remains to be see if she’ll be at the UConn game Nov. 12, but that would be a logical thing. Jones said she’ll definitely going to that game.
NC State will also have a front row seat for North Pitt freshman point guard Jordan Speller. They can figure out if she’s good enough to be offered. Florida State, Mississippi State, Louisville, Arizona, Miami (Fla.), Auburn, Boston College, Northeastern and East Carolina, have already offered before she has played a prep game.
North Pitt will be playing at the Southeast Raleigh Invitational on Nov. 25, and the John Wall Holiday Invitational Dec. 26-28, which for the girls is usually at Cary Academy.
2. There’ll be several unofficial visitors this weekend, but the big one is officially visiting.
Senior running back Anthony Carrie of Tampa (Fla.) Carrollwood Day will be playing visiting Miami Gulliver Prep on Friday night. Then make his way to Raleigh for an official visit.
Carrie exploded for 26 carries for 205 yards and three touchdowns in a shootout win over Clearwater (Fla.) Calvary Christian on Sept. 8. He’s topped 100 yards in three games, but sometimes doesn’t get many carries in the second half of blowout games.
The. 6-foot, 200-pounder is committed to Michigan State, but the Spartans are in flux. Rivals.com ranked him No. 120 overall in the class of 2024, and it’s easy to see why.
Carrie does two obvious things well — he goes North-South and has great speed to turn the corner. There isn’t any dancing or a lot of wasted movement when he runs. He sees a hole and he gets through it.
NC State probably never envisioned taking three running backs in the class of 2024. Then toss in safety commit Ronnie Royal of Gulf Shores (Ala.) High who is also gifted carrying the ball. NCSU was obviously hoping to bring in Kyron Jones of Charlotte Christian as the second back last year, but he flipped to Georgia.
NC State landed three-star running back Duke Scott, who has had a strong senior year for Stockbridge (Ga.) High, and then picked up local running back Isiah Jones of Rolesville (N.C.) High. Jones has been injured this season for the most part, and his replacement, junior De’Von Thomas, has gone bonkers with 150 carries for 1,694 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s had over 211 yards over the last three games, and has done it five times thus far.
The Kyron Jones situation led to taking just Kendrick Raphael in the class of 2023. NCSU took just current sophomore Michael Allen in the class of 2022, and in theory Jordan Poole could be the running back in the 2021 class now due to attrition (Demi Sumo-Karngbaye and kind of Micah Crowell).
NC State didn’t land a running back in the class of 2020, but got three in 2019. So there is a precedent of taking three running backs in the same class. Jordan Houston, Zonovan Knight and Delbert Mimms were the three in 2019.
The other touted trio of backs was in 2015 — Johnny Frasier, Reggie Gallaspy and Nyheim Hines. It took two years of playing slot receiver, but Hines made his way back to running back.
