The recruiting and ultimate commitment of three-star forward Jaylon Gibson from Grace Christian Academy in Apex, N.C., came together very quickly. Wake Forest fired head coach Danny Manning on April 25, and five days later NC State five-star signing Josh Hall from Moravian Prep in Hickory, N.C., announced he was not going to attend college and instead stay in the NBA Draft.
It took a week for Gibson and Hall to come together. Following Hall’s announcement to stay in the draft, head coach Kevin Keatts and assistant James Johnson reached out to Grace Christian head coach DeShannon Morris to get in touch with Gibson. Gibson returned the call with interest and the Wolfpack were able to earn the young 6-foot-10 power forward’s commitment.
According to Morris, Gibson is actually 6-foot-11 and his recruitment blew up with over 30 calls a day from Power Five coaches once he announced his release request from Wake. Gibson’s former coach says the lanky big man has an impressive jumper for someone his size and can even step back to make threes when called upon. Morris also said that Gibson was shooting in the low to mid 30s from deep during his senior season.
The Wolfpacer’s Jacey Zembal had began talking about Gibson the previous winter when he was still emerging on the scene after reclassifying into the 2020 class. Jacey noted how Gibson “has a similar frame and playing style” to NC State redshirt junior D.J. Funderburk, although Gibson has not yet shot free throws at the highly efficient rate that Funderburk does.
Some may jump to the conclusion that the Gibson news is related to Funderburk, but we have not picked up any indication that is the case.
In fact, the probability of Funderburk’s return is trending upward. According to source who was with Funderburk this week, Funderburk is receiving positive feedback from professional scouts but has also been advised that it may be best to stay for one more season. In other words, it would be a surprise if Funderburk doesn’t return at this point.
So the Gibson commitment is more likely related to a couple other factors:
• NC State head coach Kevin Keatts clearly prefers to use a scholarship if he has one. It is not a clear and distinct pattern of using available scholarships in the spring, and when Hall opened up a scholarship, Keatts went to work to fill it. This was the best available option they saw.
• The injuries of last season had an impact on Keatts. Some have speculated that Gibson would be a prime redshirt candidate, and there are justifiable reasons to believe that. However, our sources expressed doubt that would be the case, noting at times last year NC State had to play with just two post players due to injuries to redshirt freshman Manny Bates and fifth-year senior Danny Dixon plus the suspension to Funderburk.
Keatts went through an entire season in his year two in Raleigh playing with just two big men — Funderburk and Wyatt Walker — and had little interest in doing that again. Last year he realized that three may not be enough either. Adding another developmental post to go with signee Ebenezer Dowuona while Bates and presumably Funderburk log the majority of the minutes is a nice safety net in case of in-season attrition.
On a side note, it remains to be seen if Gibson will be announced by NC State. We have heard that he may be signing non-binding papers. It is also unclear if Gibson may need to apply for a waiver since he signed with Wake Forest, an obvious fellow ACC rival.
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Speaking of Dowuona, NC State fans can give him a significant assist on the commitment of top-50, four-star forward Ernest Ross in the 2021 class. The two developed a great relationship on the 2019 summer circuit and when Dowuona learned of Ross’ offer to NC State, he started checking in with Ross on an almost daily basis poking him to join the Pack.
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Keatts still have to fill out his staff while he waits on Funderburk and redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels, who as we noted in last week’s War Room may still consider oversea professional options but is more likely than not to return to NC State, to make their final decisions.
Most of the attention for the third assistant coach job fell on Kareem Richardson, who coached with Keatts on the staff at Louisville before becoming a head coach at UMKC. This past year he was an assistant at Indiana State. There were premature reports that Richardson had been hired, but our sources at the time only said that those reports were not correct while not disputing that Richardson was a candidate.
NC State is also looking for a director of operations. A name that makes sense is Chris Zupko, who has been the director of operations at Drexel since 2016. It is no secret that Keatts values loyalty, relationships and chemistry on his staff. Zupko was once an assistant coach for Keatts at Hargrave Military Academy, and he got his start in coaching at Roanoke College in Virginia, which is in Keatts’ previous stomping grounds.
The old director of ops, Travis Hackert, left to take an assistant coach position at UNC Wilmington with former NC State assistant Takayo Siddle, who was hired as UNCW’s head coach.
Given the extended recruiting dead period and the fact that there are no evaluation periods for basketball coaches to hit the road, the urgency to fill the positions have understandably lessened.
It took a week for Gibson and Hall to come together. Following Hall’s announcement to stay in the draft, head coach Kevin Keatts and assistant James Johnson reached out to Grace Christian head coach DeShannon Morris to get in touch with Gibson. Gibson returned the call with interest and the Wolfpack were able to earn the young 6-foot-10 power forward’s commitment.
According to Morris, Gibson is actually 6-foot-11 and his recruitment blew up with over 30 calls a day from Power Five coaches once he announced his release request from Wake. Gibson’s former coach says the lanky big man has an impressive jumper for someone his size and can even step back to make threes when called upon. Morris also said that Gibson was shooting in the low to mid 30s from deep during his senior season.
The Wolfpacer’s Jacey Zembal had began talking about Gibson the previous winter when he was still emerging on the scene after reclassifying into the 2020 class. Jacey noted how Gibson “has a similar frame and playing style” to NC State redshirt junior D.J. Funderburk, although Gibson has not yet shot free throws at the highly efficient rate that Funderburk does.
Some may jump to the conclusion that the Gibson news is related to Funderburk, but we have not picked up any indication that is the case.
In fact, the probability of Funderburk’s return is trending upward. According to source who was with Funderburk this week, Funderburk is receiving positive feedback from professional scouts but has also been advised that it may be best to stay for one more season. In other words, it would be a surprise if Funderburk doesn’t return at this point.
So the Gibson commitment is more likely related to a couple other factors:
• NC State head coach Kevin Keatts clearly prefers to use a scholarship if he has one. It is not a clear and distinct pattern of using available scholarships in the spring, and when Hall opened up a scholarship, Keatts went to work to fill it. This was the best available option they saw.
• The injuries of last season had an impact on Keatts. Some have speculated that Gibson would be a prime redshirt candidate, and there are justifiable reasons to believe that. However, our sources expressed doubt that would be the case, noting at times last year NC State had to play with just two post players due to injuries to redshirt freshman Manny Bates and fifth-year senior Danny Dixon plus the suspension to Funderburk.
Keatts went through an entire season in his year two in Raleigh playing with just two big men — Funderburk and Wyatt Walker — and had little interest in doing that again. Last year he realized that three may not be enough either. Adding another developmental post to go with signee Ebenezer Dowuona while Bates and presumably Funderburk log the majority of the minutes is a nice safety net in case of in-season attrition.
On a side note, it remains to be seen if Gibson will be announced by NC State. We have heard that he may be signing non-binding papers. It is also unclear if Gibson may need to apply for a waiver since he signed with Wake Forest, an obvious fellow ACC rival.
•••
Speaking of Dowuona, NC State fans can give him a significant assist on the commitment of top-50, four-star forward Ernest Ross in the 2021 class. The two developed a great relationship on the 2019 summer circuit and when Dowuona learned of Ross’ offer to NC State, he started checking in with Ross on an almost daily basis poking him to join the Pack.
•••
Keatts still have to fill out his staff while he waits on Funderburk and redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels, who as we noted in last week’s War Room may still consider oversea professional options but is more likely than not to return to NC State, to make their final decisions.
Most of the attention for the third assistant coach job fell on Kareem Richardson, who coached with Keatts on the staff at Louisville before becoming a head coach at UMKC. This past year he was an assistant at Indiana State. There were premature reports that Richardson had been hired, but our sources at the time only said that those reports were not correct while not disputing that Richardson was a candidate.
NC State is also looking for a director of operations. A name that makes sense is Chris Zupko, who has been the director of operations at Drexel since 2016. It is no secret that Keatts values loyalty, relationships and chemistry on his staff. Zupko was once an assistant coach for Keatts at Hargrave Military Academy, and he got his start in coaching at Roanoke College in Virginia, which is in Keatts’ previous stomping grounds.
The old director of ops, Travis Hackert, left to take an assistant coach position at UNC Wilmington with former NC State assistant Takayo Siddle, who was hired as UNCW’s head coach.
Given the extended recruiting dead period and the fact that there are no evaluation periods for basketball coaches to hit the road, the urgency to fill the positions have understandably lessened.
