The commitment of junior defensive tackle Grant Gibson from Charlotte Mallard Creek was not a complete surprise. Although he professed to us over a month ago that he wanted to see what was going to come his way in the spring and summer in terms of offers, quietly there were indications that Gibson was going to make an early decision.
NCSU surged to the front for Gibson last spring and summer and never really relinquished the position. Interestingly, UNC had a lot of personal connections to Gibson that could have made them a serious threat, but NC State won over Gibson and his family.
Gibson’s commitment could have an impact on others. He is close with fellow Mallard Creek junior linemen Eric Douglas and T.J. Moore. At the moment, we get the vibe that NCSU is in better shape with Moore. Sources have indicated to us that Moore’s top two is emerging as South Carolina and NC State, and a decision could come down before spring is over.
Douglas has previously mentioned that he will make a decision by April. If we recall correctly, he has even indicated that he would simply tip off his choice by showing up at their spring game. However, unless Florida amps up its efforts we tend to get a vibe that South Carolina and UNC could be top two there.
He did however join Moore for an unofficial visit on Feb. 27, and the Pack is hopeful that they gave NCSU some momentum there. Between Moore and Douglas, the general consensus is Moore has the upside while Douglas is more polished.
UNC obviously has a commitment from Mallard Creek star athlete Ryan Jones. However, reports indicate that Jones took an unofficial visit to South Carolina with Moore and Douglas this week.
As we noted before on the board, we picked up a sense from talking with sources at Mallard Creek last month that few expected his UNC pledge to remain solid without at least mutual overtures between Jones and other schools. However, the bigger threat for UNC appear to be big brand name schools from the SEC than NCSU.
The pledge of Raleigh Wakefield quarterback Matt McKay was even less surprising than Gibson’s. There was a quiet thought that developed middle of last week that McKay’s commitment was imminent. The only mild surprise was that he went ahead and cancelled plans to visit Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. This is what we wrote in last week’s War Room:
“In recruiting, the quarterback derby appears to have three candidates at the top, but one could be moving ahead of the others on his timeline. Raleigh Wakefield’s Matt McKay has not hidden his affection towards NC State since January, and after a couple of recent visits may be getting close.
“McKay is going to check out Pittsburgh, who at the moment is State’s apparent lone serious competition for him, this weekend. Former NC State offensive coordinator Matt Canada is now at Pittsburgh. Then the question could become will McKay wait to see if Tennessee and Virginia Tech, two programs that have been expressing serious interest offer, or will he go ahead and pull the trigger.”
We initially believed that given small numbers, NCSU would take only one quarterback in the 2017 class. Over the past week, our thoughts have changed on that.
We do believe that the Wolfpack is still hoping to pursue Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley’s Hendon Hooker, who added offers from Missouri and Virginia Tech this week to go with Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and South Carolina.
Hooker is supposed to decide soon. The pre-McKay decision vibe was that NC State was a quiet leader for Hooker. The post-McKay decision vibe is that Hooker might prefer to be the lone quarterback in the class, thus it could be a hard sell for the Pack.
There is also four-star Jake Bentley from Opelika (Ala.) High on the board, although NCSU is currently on the outside of his top three. We also had a reporter from the Rivals.com network contact us with quotes he gathered from signal caller Todd Centeio from West Palm Beach (Fla.) Dwyer High (same high school as Jacoby Brissett and Shawn Boone).
There was a time late last summer where Centeio, a former Miami commit, looked like a lock to end up at NCSU. Both sides slowed down that recruitment however, and it is interesting that when Canada was let go and ended up at Pittsburgh, he did not extend an offer tom Centeio like he did McKay and Hooker.
Centeio listed Indiana, NC State, Toledo and Wake Forest as the four schools in the mix. He additionally said these two things:
“NC State told me that they are taking two quarterbacks. My high school coach is good friends with [Dave Doeren], and he told me coach that they were probably going to take two quarterbacks.”
We will continue to monitor Centeio to see if he emerges as a viable option as a potential second quarterback. Our guess is that State is content with McKay, but they would take another signal caller if they deemed him good enough and worthy; not for the sake of simply having two in the class.
NC State did the same thing in the class of 2016, aiming for two, but not reaching for a second quarterback after landing Dylan Parham of Raleigh.
Our hope (no guarantee) is top start rolling out the top 25 (or whatever the number may be) list next week. Based on early feedback, we get the sense that NCSU is doing well at receiver, offensive line and defensive line in this class so far. They could also end up getting a significant chunk of the class from in-state prospects.
In addition to Moore, Douglas and Hooker, who we mentioned earlier, these N.C. natives are also high on NCSU from what we have gathered (although not all of them may have committable offers):
- Receiver Jaquarii Roberson, Ahoskie’s Hertford County High
- Receiver Emeka Emezie, Waxhaw’s Marvin Ridge High
- Tight end Jeremiah Hall, Charlotte’s Vance High
- Defensive end Taijh Alston, Cameron’s Union Pines High
- Defensive lineman Matthew Butler, Garner High
- Defensive lineman Xach Gill, Wake Forest High
- Linebacker Sherrod Greene, Rocky Mount High
- Linebacker Darius Hodge, Wake Forest High
- Defensive back Germane Crowell Jr., Winston-Salem’s Carver High
- Safety Jaylin Dickerson, Southern Pines’ Pinecrest High
There has been some talk about NC State’s chances of making the NIT. It is important to remember that a few years ago, the NIT was taken over by the NCAA and one of the rule changes was that a regular season conference winner that did not get into the NCAA Tournament automatically qualified for the NIT.
This basically applies to the small, one-bid conferences. If their regular season winner did not win the postseason conference tournament, at least now they have the NIT. For instance, North Florida won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and Bucknell, who State beat earlier this season, won the Patriot League.
Both have already been upset in their respective conference tournaments, thus both are locked into the NIT. North Florida is in the unique situation of hoping Stetson wins the conference tourney because they are ineligible due to APR, and then North Florida gets the automatic bid. Thus it is harder to get into the NIT than many may remember. Of course if NC State does not have a winning record it’s a moot point.
NCSU surged to the front for Gibson last spring and summer and never really relinquished the position. Interestingly, UNC had a lot of personal connections to Gibson that could have made them a serious threat, but NC State won over Gibson and his family.
Gibson’s commitment could have an impact on others. He is close with fellow Mallard Creek junior linemen Eric Douglas and T.J. Moore. At the moment, we get the vibe that NCSU is in better shape with Moore. Sources have indicated to us that Moore’s top two is emerging as South Carolina and NC State, and a decision could come down before spring is over.
Douglas has previously mentioned that he will make a decision by April. If we recall correctly, he has even indicated that he would simply tip off his choice by showing up at their spring game. However, unless Florida amps up its efforts we tend to get a vibe that South Carolina and UNC could be top two there.
He did however join Moore for an unofficial visit on Feb. 27, and the Pack is hopeful that they gave NCSU some momentum there. Between Moore and Douglas, the general consensus is Moore has the upside while Douglas is more polished.
UNC obviously has a commitment from Mallard Creek star athlete Ryan Jones. However, reports indicate that Jones took an unofficial visit to South Carolina with Moore and Douglas this week.
As we noted before on the board, we picked up a sense from talking with sources at Mallard Creek last month that few expected his UNC pledge to remain solid without at least mutual overtures between Jones and other schools. However, the bigger threat for UNC appear to be big brand name schools from the SEC than NCSU.
***
The pledge of Raleigh Wakefield quarterback Matt McKay was even less surprising than Gibson’s. There was a quiet thought that developed middle of last week that McKay’s commitment was imminent. The only mild surprise was that he went ahead and cancelled plans to visit Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. This is what we wrote in last week’s War Room:
“In recruiting, the quarterback derby appears to have three candidates at the top, but one could be moving ahead of the others on his timeline. Raleigh Wakefield’s Matt McKay has not hidden his affection towards NC State since January, and after a couple of recent visits may be getting close.
“McKay is going to check out Pittsburgh, who at the moment is State’s apparent lone serious competition for him, this weekend. Former NC State offensive coordinator Matt Canada is now at Pittsburgh. Then the question could become will McKay wait to see if Tennessee and Virginia Tech, two programs that have been expressing serious interest offer, or will he go ahead and pull the trigger.”
We initially believed that given small numbers, NCSU would take only one quarterback in the 2017 class. Over the past week, our thoughts have changed on that.
We do believe that the Wolfpack is still hoping to pursue Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley’s Hendon Hooker, who added offers from Missouri and Virginia Tech this week to go with Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and South Carolina.
Hooker is supposed to decide soon. The pre-McKay decision vibe was that NC State was a quiet leader for Hooker. The post-McKay decision vibe is that Hooker might prefer to be the lone quarterback in the class, thus it could be a hard sell for the Pack.
There is also four-star Jake Bentley from Opelika (Ala.) High on the board, although NCSU is currently on the outside of his top three. We also had a reporter from the Rivals.com network contact us with quotes he gathered from signal caller Todd Centeio from West Palm Beach (Fla.) Dwyer High (same high school as Jacoby Brissett and Shawn Boone).
There was a time late last summer where Centeio, a former Miami commit, looked like a lock to end up at NCSU. Both sides slowed down that recruitment however, and it is interesting that when Canada was let go and ended up at Pittsburgh, he did not extend an offer tom Centeio like he did McKay and Hooker.
Centeio listed Indiana, NC State, Toledo and Wake Forest as the four schools in the mix. He additionally said these two things:
“NC State told me that they are taking two quarterbacks. My high school coach is good friends with [Dave Doeren], and he told me coach that they were probably going to take two quarterbacks.”
We will continue to monitor Centeio to see if he emerges as a viable option as a potential second quarterback. Our guess is that State is content with McKay, but they would take another signal caller if they deemed him good enough and worthy; not for the sake of simply having two in the class.
NC State did the same thing in the class of 2016, aiming for two, but not reaching for a second quarterback after landing Dylan Parham of Raleigh.
•••
Our hope (no guarantee) is top start rolling out the top 25 (or whatever the number may be) list next week. Based on early feedback, we get the sense that NCSU is doing well at receiver, offensive line and defensive line in this class so far. They could also end up getting a significant chunk of the class from in-state prospects.
In addition to Moore, Douglas and Hooker, who we mentioned earlier, these N.C. natives are also high on NCSU from what we have gathered (although not all of them may have committable offers):
- Receiver Jaquarii Roberson, Ahoskie’s Hertford County High
- Receiver Emeka Emezie, Waxhaw’s Marvin Ridge High
- Tight end Jeremiah Hall, Charlotte’s Vance High
- Defensive end Taijh Alston, Cameron’s Union Pines High
- Defensive lineman Matthew Butler, Garner High
- Defensive lineman Xach Gill, Wake Forest High
- Linebacker Sherrod Greene, Rocky Mount High
- Linebacker Darius Hodge, Wake Forest High
- Defensive back Germane Crowell Jr., Winston-Salem’s Carver High
- Safety Jaylin Dickerson, Southern Pines’ Pinecrest High
•••
There has been some talk about NC State’s chances of making the NIT. It is important to remember that a few years ago, the NIT was taken over by the NCAA and one of the rule changes was that a regular season conference winner that did not get into the NCAA Tournament automatically qualified for the NIT.
This basically applies to the small, one-bid conferences. If their regular season winner did not win the postseason conference tournament, at least now they have the NIT. For instance, North Florida won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and Bucknell, who State beat earlier this season, won the Patriot League.
Both have already been upset in their respective conference tournaments, thus both are locked into the NIT. North Florida is in the unique situation of hoping Stetson wins the conference tourney because they are ineligible due to APR, and then North Florida gets the automatic bid. Thus it is harder to get into the NIT than many may remember. Of course if NC State does not have a winning record it’s a moot point.
