NC State recruiting update: One week before signing day

Signing day is next Tuesday. T-shirt Dave has pretty much wrapped up his class, although it appears we are going to have some big signing day drama for the first time in a long time.

Derrick Eason is a defensive lineman who has been committed to the Pack since July but elected not to sign with State at the early signing day. That decision raised some eyebrows, as it should. He did say he was fully committed to the Pack which he pretty much had to say. Well, Notre Dame offered and he visited there last weekend. Now we pretty much wait and see. Both teams are confident about it, which isn’t much of a surprise, especially considering it’s Notre Dame. He hasn’t said when he’ll announce so it could be anytime in the next week. Maybe there’s nothing to announce and he’s fully committed to the Pack. I have no idea at this point. My guess would be he flips to ND.

Taiyon Palmer is a four-star corner from Georgia. It looked like State was on the verge of a commitment last week but a last minute visit to Tennessee changed that. Nebraska, State and Tennessee are his final three and he will announce on signing day. I think it’s a Pack-Vols battle. Tennessee is confident but same with ND, they are always confident. If Tennessee hadn’t gotten involved, I can pretty much guarantee he would be a Wolfpacker next year. Hopefully he is anyway.

I think that is all for 2018. If some other visits pop up this weekend, it is likely tied to the coaches not feeling good about Palmer and/or Eason, although that is not a guarantee.

Timothy McKay committed on Saturday to get the 2019 class rolling. He is the second commitment, following long snapper Drew Little. McKay is a decently highly rated offensive lineman from brother. His older brother is indeed Matt McKay, our now backup QB (who is going to give Devin Leary a run for the starting job next year). The younger McKay is a borderline top-20 guy in NC.

Other guys to keep an eye on for 2019 who could commit soon include Shyheim Battle, Drake Thomas and Traveon Freshwater. Thomas and Freshwater are both big-time recruits and State needs to lock them up before they get too interested in Clemson and some others. Both are linebackers. Battle is a corner who might be the safest bet of all the 2019 kids to wear the red and white.

On the basketball side of things, the numbers say we should be wrapped up for 2018 but Anfernee Simons is a top-10 recruit and we are still trying. He’s visiting Raleigh for the UNC-Chapel Hill game. I’m not gonna sit here and play the numbers game. Keatts knows how to count. I don’t think we’ll get him but he’s too good not to try. Florida and Tennessee are also interested but the wrinkle is that he’s eligible for the draft so we likely won’t know what he’s doing until May. I would be stunned if we got him, but Kevin Keatts is a winner so I’m not counting him out.