Earl's an Eagle

In a draft deep with safeties---22 were drafted overall---Earl Wolff finally heard his name called in the fifth round, where he was nabbed by the Philadelphia Eagles. Wolff, an all-ACC first teamer in 2012 after a productive Pack career, will now get to work making 31 teams pay for their silliness. For what it's worth, I had him #1 overall in my mock draft.

Lightly recruited out of Hoke County High School in Raeford---and by lightly recruited, I mean he wasn't until he showed up at a Pack summer camp and left with a scholarship---Wolff went from off the radar to sure-tackling machine in short order. He finished his career with 400 tackles, the fifth most in school history, and his 145 stops in his senior season were the most by an N.C. State player since 2005. Wolff posted 15 games with 10 or more tackles in his career, broke up 12 passes, picked off seven passes, and forced eight fumbles, the third best total in program history.

Wolff will follow in the footsteps of hard-hitting Jesse Campbell, who was also an Eagle, and perennial all-pro Adrian Wilson as N.C. State safeties to play in the NFL.

I've been a lifelong Steelers fan but kind of jumped ship to the Seahawks last year. A young gentleman who once represented #WPN with class happens to be their starting quarterback, and he is pretty good. Thanks to the Eagles selecting another gentleman who represented #WPN with class, the Steelers aren't even my favorite team in Pennsylvania. Yup. Russell Wilson and Earl Wolff were some pretty solid two-star recruits.

In case you missed it, recruiting analyst (and State fan) Anna Hickey had a great feature on Wolff earlier in the week.

Pack alumni Zach Allen, Brandan Bishop, and R.J. Mattes, none of whom were drafted, will hope to latch on to a training camp tryout as undrafted free agents.