The anticipation was that later Friday evening, three-star tight end Garrett Walston of Wilmington (N.C.) New Hanover High was going to announce his collegiate decision. It is safe to say that Walston has been a high-priority target of the Pack since NCSU was his first offer back in January.
From what we have gathered from three different sources, going into Thursday morning, the race for Walston’s commitment was between NC State and Georgia. Those sources also indicated to us that the feeling was that North Carolina was out of it, but during a conversation with Walston himself on Wednesday evening, he flatly denied that.
Nevertheless, taking everything into consideration, UNC appeared to be running third for Walston at a minimum.
So what changed that caused Walston to have delayed his decision indefinitely? One source indicated that Walston was “overwhelmed” this week after letting word leak that he would be announcing his decision Friday, and in the process became confused about his choice.
What we also know is that UNC offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Seth Littrell made a visit to New Hanover on Thursday night. The rules on contact with players during the evaluation period limits coaches to what is generally referred to the “bump rule.” That is that coaches are only allowed to have the basic incidental contact with a recruit and cannot have extensive conversations with the player.
However, coaches can obviously talk with players away from the field. One source told us that Littrell though had a significant role in convincing Walston to delay his decision.
Needless to say, NCSU was hoping that Walston would announce his choice Friday because they felt cautiously optimistic about their chances, especially if it was down to NC State and Georgia.
Walston had been very thorough during the recruitment with numerous unofficial visits to UNC and NC State, including spring trips to personally witness in detail how the teams use and work out their tight ends in scrimmages, prior to Georgia’s offer in mid-April. Up until that Bulldogs offer, UNC and NCSU had been Walston’s two favorites. He has multiple personal relationships to both schools around him.
That is not he case with Georgia. He made just one visit to Athens, and that was prior to his offer.
The anticipation/hope around Raleigh is that if and when Walston settles on a decision, next time he will simply call the coaches and then let the public know rather than giving a heads up to everyone about an announcement.
NC State is hoping to bring in two tight ends in the 2016 class after not signing any last year. They also hope to ink two different types of tight end: an athletic receiving type (kind of like an H-back) like Walston and a physical, blocking type. One guy that could have fit the mold of the latter was Andrew Trainer from Alexandria (Va.) St. Stephens & St. Agnes School, but Trainer verbally committed to Virginia on Friday.
As we noted on the board earlier this week, with offensive lineman Justin Witt from New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way West High verbally committing to NCSU on Monday evening, the number of remaining offensive linemen spots slotted for the class is currently two (always subject to change).
One of those two could go to Ashton Julious, a native of Florence, S.C., at Lackawanna Community College in Scranton, Pa. We have been told that the Pack is in excellent shape with Julious.
Elsewhere on offense, the other need is two receivers, with emphasis on height and length (similar to the desire at offensive line). The net has been cast considerably wide at the wide out position at this point. One player that the Pack would make room for regardless is four-star receiver Cornell Powell from Greenville (N.C.) Rose, who continues to hold the door slightly open for the Pack despite his verbal commitment to Clemson.
An interesting note on receiver Devontres Dukes from Tampa (Fla.) Wharton High, who tweeted out earlier this week he had picked up an offer from NC State. Dukes (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) is apparently a North Carolina native who migrated to Tampa in the past few years. Central Florida and Toledo have also offered Dukes.
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From what we have gathered from three different sources, going into Thursday morning, the race for Walston’s commitment was between NC State and Georgia. Those sources also indicated to us that the feeling was that North Carolina was out of it, but during a conversation with Walston himself on Wednesday evening, he flatly denied that.
Nevertheless, taking everything into consideration, UNC appeared to be running third for Walston at a minimum.
So what changed that caused Walston to have delayed his decision indefinitely? One source indicated that Walston was “overwhelmed” this week after letting word leak that he would be announcing his decision Friday, and in the process became confused about his choice.
What we also know is that UNC offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Seth Littrell made a visit to New Hanover on Thursday night. The rules on contact with players during the evaluation period limits coaches to what is generally referred to the “bump rule.” That is that coaches are only allowed to have the basic incidental contact with a recruit and cannot have extensive conversations with the player.
However, coaches can obviously talk with players away from the field. One source told us that Littrell though had a significant role in convincing Walston to delay his decision.
Needless to say, NCSU was hoping that Walston would announce his choice Friday because they felt cautiously optimistic about their chances, especially if it was down to NC State and Georgia.
Walston had been very thorough during the recruitment with numerous unofficial visits to UNC and NC State, including spring trips to personally witness in detail how the teams use and work out their tight ends in scrimmages, prior to Georgia’s offer in mid-April. Up until that Bulldogs offer, UNC and NCSU had been Walston’s two favorites. He has multiple personal relationships to both schools around him.
That is not he case with Georgia. He made just one visit to Athens, and that was prior to his offer.
The anticipation/hope around Raleigh is that if and when Walston settles on a decision, next time he will simply call the coaches and then let the public know rather than giving a heads up to everyone about an announcement.
***
NC State is hoping to bring in two tight ends in the 2016 class after not signing any last year. They also hope to ink two different types of tight end: an athletic receiving type (kind of like an H-back) like Walston and a physical, blocking type. One guy that could have fit the mold of the latter was Andrew Trainer from Alexandria (Va.) St. Stephens & St. Agnes School, but Trainer verbally committed to Virginia on Friday.
As we noted on the board earlier this week, with offensive lineman Justin Witt from New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way West High verbally committing to NCSU on Monday evening, the number of remaining offensive linemen spots slotted for the class is currently two (always subject to change).
One of those two could go to Ashton Julious, a native of Florence, S.C., at Lackawanna Community College in Scranton, Pa. We have been told that the Pack is in excellent shape with Julious.
Elsewhere on offense, the other need is two receivers, with emphasis on height and length (similar to the desire at offensive line). The net has been cast considerably wide at the wide out position at this point. One player that the Pack would make room for regardless is four-star receiver Cornell Powell from Greenville (N.C.) Rose, who continues to hold the door slightly open for the Pack despite his verbal commitment to Clemson.
An interesting note on receiver Devontres Dukes from Tampa (Fla.) Wharton High, who tweeted out earlier this week he had picked up an offer from NC State. Dukes (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) is apparently a North Carolina native who migrated to Tampa in the past few years. Central Florida and Toledo have also offered Dukes.
(Continued)
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