Recruiting Roundup: Offers, Offers, and More Offers

Top Target Deciding

Four star quarterback Lorenzo Nunez will decide any time now between NC State and South Carolina. The dual-threat talent from Kennesaw, GA set a tentative deadline for his commitment for Thursday, but with OhioState missing on a major target, they may get more involved. Currently, the chances for the Pack are close to 50-50, but South Carolina sites are feeling pretty optimistic. This would be a huge coup for the Pack, as they came in late and plan on adding two quarterbacks this cycle. Ideally, Dave Doeren would add Nunez and Kendall Hinton from Durham to fill those spots.

Offers Galore

In the past week and a half, State sent out offers to many 2015 and 2016 prospects. Mohamed Barry, Juwuan Briscoe, Nick Gibson, and Trevon Hill were the recipients of offers in the 2015 class. Barry is a safety from former number one overall recruit Robert Nkemdiche’s school in Loganville, GA. He holds offers from the likes of South Florida, Syracuse, WakeForest, and Wisconsin. Briscoe is a cornerback from the recently fruitful state of Maryland who holds offers from Clemson, Maryland, Rutgers, West Virginia, and others. Briscoe fits the mold of a taller corner (6’1”) that the coaching staff has been going after. Gibson is a four star running back from Alabama with offers from most of the SEC and FloridaState, so it would be a battle for the Pack to be considered. Hill, a defensive end from Virginia, has been picking up offers lately, including Clemson, Duke, Nebraska, UNC, the Virginia schools, WakeForest, and Wisconsin. Barry and Briscoe are perhaps the best chances to become future Wolfpackers.

The 2016 class saw many offers go out, with Elijah Deveaux, Brendan Ferns, Janarius Robinson, Taleni Suhren, and Kareem Walker being reported. The one offer to note in particular is Deveaux, a running back from Charlotte Christian, a school that has been extremely good to NC State recently. Bo Hines, Garrett Bradbury, and Ty Linton all signed with NC State in 2014 and 2015 teammate Philip Walton is currently committed to the Wolfpack. Deveaux has been high on the Pack since well before his offer. His father was a running back for Pitt in the 80’s, and they have offered as well. Suhren’s offer has not been confirmed anywhere, but plays offensive tackle for a good school in Charlotte, so he may be a legitimate recruitment to follow later. Ferns, Robinson, and Walker are all elite prospects from out-of-state, so it will take something special to pull them in.

Offers to Other Targets

Some notable offers were sent out by other schools to major target for the Pack over the last few weeks. Local prospect Nyheim Hines picked up a big offer from Notre Dame and another from West Virginia. The Fighting Irish could be a legitimate contender, but it still seems like he may stay with a couple states of North Carolina, if not within the 919 itself. Offensive lineman Emanuel McGirt picked up Florida and Vanderbilt offers, with the Florida offer being a scary one for Pack fans. McGirt is supposedly favoring NC State and UNC. Perhaps the biggest offer to a target was from Stanford, as center Brian Chaffin (another Charlotte Christian target) has shown immediate interest and would like to visit Palo Alto in June. As reported on 247 Sports, Chaffin may be favoring the Pack at the moment. Other important offers came from Michigan (running back Mikell Lands-Davis), WakeForest (defensive end Houshun Gaines), Tennessee (linebacker Riley Nicholson), and UNC (2016 defensive back James Valdez).

On One List, Off Another

In quite a surprise, NC State made the ninth spot on elite athlete/quarterback Torrance Gibson’s list. The Pack are somewhat of an outlier on his list, with many SEC and B1G teams included, with Tennessee at the top. Obviously, Gibson would have to visit to give State any chance, but the fact that they are willing to recruit him as a quarterback undoubtedly helps.

Meanwhile, State fell off of one prospect’s list this week. Maryland defensive end Darius Fullwood trimmed his list to his top five, where State used to reside. This is not a huge deal for State, as they are doing well with some other four stars at the position, but the State coaches surely would prefer to be in Fullwood’s top group.

One happening that flew somewhat under the radar has an effect on the 2016 class. Top quarterback target Austin Kendall (yet another Charlotte Christian product) is strongly considering NC State along with Clemson, UNC, and several other top East Coast programs. One factor that State had going in its favor was Kendall’s older brother was considering walking on at NC State. However, his brother committed to Kentucky as a walk-on (don’t ask my why). The Pack should have some staying power with Kendall due to being on him early as well as his high school teammates’ presence in Raleigh.

Two new names that have emerged as backup quarterback options this week are Josh Ladowski for LakeNormanHigh School and Austin King from Alpharetta (GA) High School. The coaching staff has checked in on both, and Ladowski should be visiting at the least for camp. If one or both of Hinton and Nunez go elsewhere, one of these could become a legitimate option.