NC State will holding its Wolfpack Warrior Camp Friday night. As of Wednesday, we were told close to 70 prospects had committed to coming, although the anticipated number of those showing up will probably fall between 50-70.
One source told us “it’s a good group.” We do not have names to pass along of who will be there other than what has been previously reported. There is a cautious hope that the Pack will be able to pull a commit or two (or more) out of the evening, but nothing is locked in at this point.
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Class of 2017 quarterback Todd Centeio from West Palm Beach (Fla.) Dwyer High will be in Raleigh Friday for a visit, and he is definitely a name that NC State fans should keep on their radar.
We have mentioned Centeio in a past War Room. He was a one-time Miami commitment that backed out of that pledge in the spring. While the NC State coaching staff loves Hunter Johnson from Brownsburg (Ind.) High, they are not going to put all their eggs in that basket.
Johnson likes NC State, we are told that the Pack is among his top 3-5 schools privately, but getting him out of the Midwest is going to be a tall order. However, NCSU has a strong vibe with Centeio, with one source expressing a lot of confidence about the Pack’s chances with him back in June.
It would not shock us if NC State shifted more of its focus on Centeio in the coming weeks.
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Last week we told you about a sleeper at receiver that NC State liked in Tahj Deans from Southern Nash High in Bailey, N.C. Deans, an East Carolina commitment, had a strong performance at the Shrine Bowl Invite-only Camp last Friday in Randleman.
He is not the only under-the-radar in-state wideout that is on the Wolfpack’s board. This week we wanted to pass along the name Daeshawn Stephens from Durham (N.C.) Hillside High.
Stephens is not a complete unknown. We actually invited him on behalf of Tom Lemming for his annual photo shoot at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. We believe he is a cousin of current Pack freshman offensive tackle Emanuel McGirt, who also went to Hillside.
Stephens caught 75 passes for 968 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior at Hillside, and he has picked up a solid list of mid-major offers from conferences like the MAC (Miami of Ohio), Sun Belt (Appalachian State) and Conference USC (Old Dominion).
He went to NCSU twice over the summer to workout. At an individual camp, he checked in at 6-foot-1, 204 pounds and although he is not a burner (40-yard dash time of 4.72 seconds), he has good agility and explosiveness (9-foot-3 standing broad jump and 32.6-inch vertical leap).
More importantly, he impressed receivers coach George McDonald with his work both at the individual camp and when he played at a 7-on-7 for Hillside in Raleigh. Like Deans, Stephens was at the invite-only camp last Friday at Randleman and performed well.
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Many may wonder what happened with three-star defensive tackle commit Kobe Smith from Lawrenceville (Ga.) Archer High. Smith was, from the start, going to be a tough keep for the Wolfpack.
The night he committed to NCSU, after we broke the news of his pledge we quickly interviewed him and he made it clear at that point he still intended to take visits.
The fact that the summer was almost over and he had yet to hit the road led to hope that Smith would hold firm, especially since he is a likely early-enrollee. However, that obviously ended after his trip to Kentucky last Friday.
Ironically, the same day he was in Kentucky, we heard a story that evening of how when four-star quarterback Austin Kendall from Cuthbertson High in Waxhaw, N.C., was reevaluating his Tennessee commitment, it was UK that did a lot of the legwork to convince Kendall to decommit from the Vols.
It was almost set up for Kendall to end up at Kentucky until Oklahoma suddenly entered the picture, and Kendall is rock solid for the Sooners now, but Kentucky was not shy about going after UT when they tried to recruit Kendall away from them.
That is likely what happened here, we are led to believe. But will the outcome be the same with Smith for Kentucky as it was with Kendall? One source told us this week that Georgia Tech is waiting in the wings and likely to try to pounce on Smith once the UK “train dies down.”
Don’t expect NC State to quite give up, either. They have gone up against the Wildcats before, swiping defensive end Tyrone Riley from Savannah, Ga., away from Kentucky shortly before signing day last year.
One source told us “it’s a good group.” We do not have names to pass along of who will be there other than what has been previously reported. There is a cautious hope that the Pack will be able to pull a commit or two (or more) out of the evening, but nothing is locked in at this point.
***
Class of 2017 quarterback Todd Centeio from West Palm Beach (Fla.) Dwyer High will be in Raleigh Friday for a visit, and he is definitely a name that NC State fans should keep on their radar.
We have mentioned Centeio in a past War Room. He was a one-time Miami commitment that backed out of that pledge in the spring. While the NC State coaching staff loves Hunter Johnson from Brownsburg (Ind.) High, they are not going to put all their eggs in that basket.
Johnson likes NC State, we are told that the Pack is among his top 3-5 schools privately, but getting him out of the Midwest is going to be a tall order. However, NCSU has a strong vibe with Centeio, with one source expressing a lot of confidence about the Pack’s chances with him back in June.
It would not shock us if NC State shifted more of its focus on Centeio in the coming weeks.
***
Last week we told you about a sleeper at receiver that NC State liked in Tahj Deans from Southern Nash High in Bailey, N.C. Deans, an East Carolina commitment, had a strong performance at the Shrine Bowl Invite-only Camp last Friday in Randleman.
He is not the only under-the-radar in-state wideout that is on the Wolfpack’s board. This week we wanted to pass along the name Daeshawn Stephens from Durham (N.C.) Hillside High.
Stephens is not a complete unknown. We actually invited him on behalf of Tom Lemming for his annual photo shoot at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. We believe he is a cousin of current Pack freshman offensive tackle Emanuel McGirt, who also went to Hillside.
Stephens caught 75 passes for 968 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior at Hillside, and he has picked up a solid list of mid-major offers from conferences like the MAC (Miami of Ohio), Sun Belt (Appalachian State) and Conference USC (Old Dominion).
He went to NCSU twice over the summer to workout. At an individual camp, he checked in at 6-foot-1, 204 pounds and although he is not a burner (40-yard dash time of 4.72 seconds), he has good agility and explosiveness (9-foot-3 standing broad jump and 32.6-inch vertical leap).
More importantly, he impressed receivers coach George McDonald with his work both at the individual camp and when he played at a 7-on-7 for Hillside in Raleigh. Like Deans, Stephens was at the invite-only camp last Friday at Randleman and performed well.
***
Many may wonder what happened with three-star defensive tackle commit Kobe Smith from Lawrenceville (Ga.) Archer High. Smith was, from the start, going to be a tough keep for the Wolfpack.
The night he committed to NCSU, after we broke the news of his pledge we quickly interviewed him and he made it clear at that point he still intended to take visits.
The fact that the summer was almost over and he had yet to hit the road led to hope that Smith would hold firm, especially since he is a likely early-enrollee. However, that obviously ended after his trip to Kentucky last Friday.
Ironically, the same day he was in Kentucky, we heard a story that evening of how when four-star quarterback Austin Kendall from Cuthbertson High in Waxhaw, N.C., was reevaluating his Tennessee commitment, it was UK that did a lot of the legwork to convince Kendall to decommit from the Vols.
It was almost set up for Kendall to end up at Kentucky until Oklahoma suddenly entered the picture, and Kendall is rock solid for the Sooners now, but Kentucky was not shy about going after UT when they tried to recruit Kendall away from them.
That is likely what happened here, we are led to believe. But will the outcome be the same with Smith for Kentucky as it was with Kendall? One source told us this week that Georgia Tech is waiting in the wings and likely to try to pounce on Smith once the UK “train dies down.”
Don’t expect NC State to quite give up, either. They have gone up against the Wildcats before, swiping defensive end Tyrone Riley from Savannah, Ga., away from Kentucky shortly before signing day last year.
