NC State football recruiting: Updates on the Wolfpack's key 2016 targets

Since our last look at the overall state of recruiting, NC State has added two new members to its class of 2016. In addition to the, well, additions, the Pack found out exactly where they stood with a few other prospects during a normally quiet period.

COMMITMENTS

NC State has added a pair of sleepers in two star Bryce Folsom and three star local athlete Bryce Dixon.

Folsom is a two-way lineman from Georgia who is expected to play on the offensive side of the ball in college. Despite his low ranking among the analysts, the Wolfpack coaches love his talent. He decided to join the fold shortly after his second visit to Raleigh, picking the Pack over Syracuse.

Dixon has played the last few seasons as a wideout for Green Hope in Cary, but after putting on a few pounds in the offseason, NC State offered him as a tight end following a camp in June. A coach's son, Dixon flipped his commitment from Old Dominion, but also had an offer from Boston College. If he can maintain his current speed (between a 4.6 and 4.7 40 yard dash), Dixon could become a weapon in Matt Canada's offense.

ALL QUIET ELSEWHERE?

Outside of these two commitments, State is standing pretty pat with the rest of their targets. Undoubtedly the biggest (figuratively and literally) target left on the board is local defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. The Wolfpack have quietly done very well with Rivals.com's top overall player, but Clemson is a major threat and UNC is not going down without a fight. The good news is that Lawrence is rumored to want to stay close to home, with Raleigh being just across town.

Rivals four star receiver Kelvin Harmon from New Jersey has rather publicly stated that South Carolina is his leader, but the Pack are a definitive second. This will be a hard recruitment to win without another visit in the near future. Receiver Divine Deablo listed State as his leader a few weeks ago but has visited UNC twice since then. However, him remaining uncommitted is a positive sign for the Pack should they wish to stay in the hunt for Deablo. Nothing much has been heard from Myles Dorn since his brother committed to the basketball team, but he did come help Torin move in recently, and took a tour after doing so. It is believed that State has a nice lead here. Floridian CJ Riley is a big target at 6'5", exactly what the Pack is looking for, and has visited Raleigh twice. His list is a little more unknown than the others, but NC State appears to at least be in the hunt with Riley. In-state four star receiver Diondre Overton has the Wolfpack in his top 5, but seems like a lock for Clemson or Tennessee. An under-the-radar choice for the next commitment could be South Carolina two star Chavis Dawkins, who has offer from NCSU, Wake Forest, and Louisville. He has been to campus several times but is somewhat of an unknown in terms of where his recruitment stands.

Defensive end Jimmie Taylor from Jacksonville, NC has held NC State high on his list for a while but it appeared as if the program was holding off on making a big push for his commitment. Since then, Taylor has taken a visit to Michigan that he raved about, even if they may be in the same position with him as the Wolfpack. It remains to be seen if he will re-emerge as a priority.

Kurt Gavin is an offensive lineman from Illinois that the Wolfpack have been on for a while and he plans to visit Raleigh on July 24 for the last big recruiting event before fall practice kicks in. He is another quiet prospect, but there seems to be optimism from the coaching staff regarding their chances.

Linebacker Brocke Miller named his top 8 this past week and State was included. The group also includes Mississippi St, Cal, UVA, VT, Minnesota, Boise St, and Kentucky.

COMMITMENTS ELSEWHERE

A few players on the board for 2016 and 2017 committed to other schools, but most, if not all were long shots to end up in the Red and White. Kennedy McKoy, a running back from Lexington, committed to West Virginia. He had State as his leader early on, but the Pack decided not to take a running back in the class. Tight end Garrett Walston from Wilmington once seemed like a lock to commit to NCSU, but after they filled up at the position, Walston picked Georgia over UNC. Another tight end who was once on the board, Noah Turner of Illinois, subsequently committed to UNC upon Walston's decision to go elsewhere. New Jersey four star wide receiver Brad Hawkins had an offer, but never seriously considered NC State before picking Michigan last week. Four star 2017 QB Jake Allen from Florida took a good look at State, but committed to his dream school in UF.

2017 RIVALS 250 Announced

Rivals.com released their top 250 prospects in the class of 2017 this week and six North Carolina prospects were included. Four of them appear to be receptive to the Wolfpack, offensive lineman Jonah Melton, wide receiver Ryan Jones, defensive end Xach Gill, and defensive tackle Grant Gibson. Gill is a teammate of Dexter Lawrence while Jones has mentioned Clemson and NC State as his two favorites early in the process.

ALL STAR GAME

Current Pack commit Harrison Gee has been invited to play in the Semper Fi All American Game, generally regarded as the third highest of such games. The Burlington (Williams) offensive guard has not said if he has accepted the invitation, but seems likely to accept the honor.