Something to watch for next week are names coming to NC State’s next junior day, which will be Saturday, Feb. 23. The goal for the Pack is bring in the in-state recruits that did not come to the one in January, like defensive lineman Myles Murphy from Southwest Guilford High in High Point, safety Ja’Qurious Conley from Northside High in Jacksonville and defensive lineman Jacolbe Cowan from Charlotte Providence Day. Murphy and Cowan were last-minute cancellations (Cowan had flu and Murphy’s ride fell through). Conley had previously planned to go to Duke’s junior day.
NC State will also be bringing in some of its out of state targets. This year’s spring evaluation period will also loom large as NC State may have to look out of state for more targets since the state is not as deep in talent and the Pack won’t have it as easy as it did last year.
Some have asked if NC State may target Florida State potential transfer Landon Dickerson, an oft-injured offensive lineman. Dickerson is a Hickory native and NC State was one of his first offers. We assume he knows NC State redshirt sophomore quarterback Bailey Hockman as well.
That said we have no information if NC State has gone after Dickerson, and there was one report that Dickerson may take his name out of the transfer portal.
Last week in the War Room, we did five predictions for the 2020 recruiting cycle and our first projection was: “Be prepared for a UNC splash in the state of North Carolina.” Turns out that UNC splash is affecting NC State even out of state with the verbal commitment of four-star receiver Josh Downs from North Gwinnett High in Suwanee, Ga.
Ironically, we had two different people ask us during the course of last week if we thought Downs was basically a done deal to NC State, including one following the podcast we recorded at Amedeo’s (which is a good time to remind folks to come out and enjoy the show and hang out afterward). Each time we answered ‘No,’ and we told one of the two that asked us it’s more of a 50-50 deal if anything with UNC.
We refer you back to a tweet on Nov. 30 when Dre Bly was hired as UNC corners coach in which Downs said “Whoa I see you uncle dre (eyeball emojis) .. this changes the game.” Rivals.com’s Chad Simmons, who is as clued in as anyone in the state of Georgia, had also been hinting that UNC was a strong contender.
We know there is a natural inclination to think that there is a long ways to go with Downs, and we are sure the Pack will still try. Our understanding is his father Gary Downs preference throughout the recruitment remained for his son to go to NC State but gave his blessing at the end.
But we would not get your hopes up into thinking that the Pack will easily swipe Downs at the end. Indeed, in the watch what they do and not what they say category, Downs deleted all pictures from his recent visits to NC State from his twitter account (along with those from other trips like Georgia Tech, which if Downs does not somehow end up at UNC it would not stun us if the Yellow Jackets become a sneaky contender).
Speaking of Twitter, that brings us to our next note. In early January we had a source tell us that they thought NC State was being a bit complacent on the recruiting trail and not realizing that the new UNC staff was going to get after it. We know that this source is well-tuned to the new coaches in Chapel Hill and suspect that is where he was getting his information from.
If that was the case, and we don’t think it was, it is clear that something UNC has done in recent weeks has woken NC State. New hire Todd Goebbel and Aaron Henry in particular have been getting after it on Twitter. Goebbel has been tweeting lines such as “Substance over Hype” and “mentally tough people stay focused, withstand temptation and delay gratification, they won’t sell out an ultimate later for an easy now” while also tweeting a graphic that said “A wolf doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep.”
Henry added, “I know we live in a world a ‘lie’ is more entertaining than the truth!” before adding “Don’t believe the hype believe the facts!” while including a graphic NC State football made about NC State having more in-state players on its roster than other school in the state.
That graphic was put out in a tweet from NC State Football that said simply, “Just facts.” The account did another “Just Facts” tweet today pointing out NC State has the second most wins in the ACC over the past two years.
UNC’s Tim Brewster, who while probably annoying to rival fans is very savvy at the social media game, responded to the “homegrown” tweet from NC State with, “We are THE University of North Carolina … Not the State College. #Facts100.” He had earlier tweet, “This is the Tar Heel State! It’s a well known fact!”
As we noted earlier, we don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but the rivalry has spiced up on the recruiting trail. Ironically, the two schools traditionally have not butted head-to-head for recruits that much over the years in football recruiting.
NC State will also be bringing in some of its out of state targets. This year’s spring evaluation period will also loom large as NC State may have to look out of state for more targets since the state is not as deep in talent and the Pack won’t have it as easy as it did last year.
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Some have asked if NC State may target Florida State potential transfer Landon Dickerson, an oft-injured offensive lineman. Dickerson is a Hickory native and NC State was one of his first offers. We assume he knows NC State redshirt sophomore quarterback Bailey Hockman as well.
That said we have no information if NC State has gone after Dickerson, and there was one report that Dickerson may take his name out of the transfer portal.
•••
Last week in the War Room, we did five predictions for the 2020 recruiting cycle and our first projection was: “Be prepared for a UNC splash in the state of North Carolina.” Turns out that UNC splash is affecting NC State even out of state with the verbal commitment of four-star receiver Josh Downs from North Gwinnett High in Suwanee, Ga.
Ironically, we had two different people ask us during the course of last week if we thought Downs was basically a done deal to NC State, including one following the podcast we recorded at Amedeo’s (which is a good time to remind folks to come out and enjoy the show and hang out afterward). Each time we answered ‘No,’ and we told one of the two that asked us it’s more of a 50-50 deal if anything with UNC.
We refer you back to a tweet on Nov. 30 when Dre Bly was hired as UNC corners coach in which Downs said “Whoa I see you uncle dre (eyeball emojis) .. this changes the game.” Rivals.com’s Chad Simmons, who is as clued in as anyone in the state of Georgia, had also been hinting that UNC was a strong contender.
We know there is a natural inclination to think that there is a long ways to go with Downs, and we are sure the Pack will still try. Our understanding is his father Gary Downs preference throughout the recruitment remained for his son to go to NC State but gave his blessing at the end.
But we would not get your hopes up into thinking that the Pack will easily swipe Downs at the end. Indeed, in the watch what they do and not what they say category, Downs deleted all pictures from his recent visits to NC State from his twitter account (along with those from other trips like Georgia Tech, which if Downs does not somehow end up at UNC it would not stun us if the Yellow Jackets become a sneaky contender).
•••
Speaking of Twitter, that brings us to our next note. In early January we had a source tell us that they thought NC State was being a bit complacent on the recruiting trail and not realizing that the new UNC staff was going to get after it. We know that this source is well-tuned to the new coaches in Chapel Hill and suspect that is where he was getting his information from.
If that was the case, and we don’t think it was, it is clear that something UNC has done in recent weeks has woken NC State. New hire Todd Goebbel and Aaron Henry in particular have been getting after it on Twitter. Goebbel has been tweeting lines such as “Substance over Hype” and “mentally tough people stay focused, withstand temptation and delay gratification, they won’t sell out an ultimate later for an easy now” while also tweeting a graphic that said “A wolf doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep.”
Henry added, “I know we live in a world a ‘lie’ is more entertaining than the truth!” before adding “Don’t believe the hype believe the facts!” while including a graphic NC State football made about NC State having more in-state players on its roster than other school in the state.
That graphic was put out in a tweet from NC State Football that said simply, “Just facts.” The account did another “Just Facts” tweet today pointing out NC State has the second most wins in the ACC over the past two years.
UNC’s Tim Brewster, who while probably annoying to rival fans is very savvy at the social media game, responded to the “homegrown” tweet from NC State with, “We are THE University of North Carolina … Not the State College. #Facts100.” He had earlier tweet, “This is the Tar Heel State! It’s a well known fact!”
As we noted earlier, we don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but the rivalry has spiced up on the recruiting trail. Ironically, the two schools traditionally have not butted head-to-head for recruits that much over the years in football recruiting.
