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The 2016 NC State football recruiting class: What's all this then?

Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

NC State picked up a pair of commitments on Friday night: two-star offensive lineman Kollin Byers, and wide receiver Daeshawn Stephens. Both were in Raleigh for a recruiting event that included the bulk of State's current 2016 class and a bunch of prospects.

Byers had been committed to UNC-Charlotte, and reportedly has a "blueshirt offer" from NC State, which is to say that he can't have any official contact with NC State until he shows up next August. His scholarship would count for 2017. (Airius Moore was also a blueshirt.)

Stephens is unranked by all of the major recruiting sites; NC State was his first Power 5 offer. NC State's 2016 recruiting class has taken a turn for the strange in the last month, and it's hard to figure what it means.

I'm condescending; this is pure condescension here, so let me get that out of the way. "You're not good enough, son, your star rating is too low!" I'm as guilty of that line of thought as anybody.

Here's what makes NC State's recruiting approach weird/disburbing, in this cycle:

1.) What the heck, did last season mean nothing? 
2.) NC State is taking a smaller class this time around, so why are the coaches jumping on two-star kids with six months until signing day? 
3.) NC State's recent run of commitments hasn't included a single three-star prospect or better. That's odd/bothersome/discouraging.
4.) Any one of these two-star kids could end up being great--there's no telling. Might be great. But recruiting rankings matter--recruiting class rankings correlate with success on the field.

To a certain degree you gotta trust the coaches who are paid to handle this whole recruiting thing, especially when they have the opportunity to see a kid in person. NC State's coaches have had that opportunity with a bunch of the kids they have committed for 2016.

The 2016 class currently ranks 63rd nationally and 12th within the ACC, per 247Sports.