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A college football coach would have to be beyond impressed to offer a scholarship to a rising 9th grader. Well, the NC State coaching staff must have been beyond impressed with rising 9th grader Jaleel McRae on Sunday night when they offered him a scholarship at NC State camp after the 7-on-7 session.

NC State is the first school to offer the 2019 cornerback prospect who hails from the state of Florida (New Smyrna Beach). We caught up with McRae yesterday to get his response to receiving his first collegiate offer from the Wolfpack.

“During the seven-on-seven session the coach pulled me over to the side and told my coach and I to come to his office after the camp,” McRae said. “He talked to me about staying on the right path and to keep hanging out with the people I’m hanging out with now. In the end he offered me a scholarship.”

McRae might be young, but he believes that you can be confident when you know your putting hard work in. We asked if he was surprised to walk away with a scholarship, he told us that he wasn’t.

“I went out there and played hard. Coaches love when you play hard, and I believe that if you do that, you should leave with something for it,” said McRae.  “Honestly, I wasn’t surprised to walk away with a scholarship.  You wouldn’t expect someone to get a scholarship as a rising 9th grader, but this was God’s plan.”

While up in the Triangle area, he camped at UNC on Friday and Duke on Sunday, before camping at NC State on Sunday. It looks as if the NC State coaches wanted to make a move before anyone else in the Triangle, before any of those big schools in Florida, and before any other school in the nation.

 

Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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Football Recruiting

NC State Football Recruiting Update (9/21/23)

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There’s been a lot of NC State football recruiting info flying around, and the update below won’t cover it all, but it’s my attempt at catching up a bit.

NC State offered 4-Star 2025 Running Back Marquise Henderson (5’11″/172) out of Anderson, South Carolina. Rivals ranks Henderson as the #24 Running Back nationally in the 2025 class, and the #2 overall player in the state of South Carolina. Henderson also holds offers from Georgia Tech, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Liberty, James Madison, Arizona an UVA. In 2022, Henderson rushed for 1,230 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging 10.5 yards per carry. He also had 297 receiving yards and 4 touchdown receptions.

3-Star 2024 ATH/LB Justin Rowe out of Asheville, North Carolina, was on an unofficial visit for the VMI game this past Saturday. Rowe holds offers from Michigan, Tennessee, App St, SMU, Missouri, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Duke, ECU, Charlotte, James Madison, Marshall, Liberty, Vanderbilt and NC State. The Wolfpack offered him on June 7th.

On September 14th, NC State Offered Sophomore JUCO Offensive Lineman Markel Bell (6’9″/335) out of Holmes Community College in Goodman, Mississippi. Bell is ranked by 247Sports as the #2 overall player nationally in the Junior College ranks, and the #1 Offensive Lineman. At this point, Bell holds offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Auburn, Arkansas, Houston, Louisville, Miami and others.

2026 Linebacker Anthony Davis, out of Loganville, Georgia, was in attendance for NC State’s game against VMI this past Saturday. Davis already holds offers from Auburn, Georgia Tech, App St., UCF, Arizona St., USF, Liberty and ECU.

2026 4-Star Tight End Kendre Harrison (6’7″/230) took an unofficial visit to NC State this past weekend. Harrison is the #5 overall player nationally in the 2026 class according to 247Sports, and the #1 player in the state of North Carolina (Reidsville High School). The North Carolina standout is the nephew of former NC State basketball player C.C. Harrison. Harrison already holds offers from NC State, Georgia, Wake Forest, Old Dominion, Louisville, Penn St, Oregon, Virginia Tech, UNC, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Auburn. In 2022, Harrison had 263 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns. On defense, he had 92 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 9 sacks.

On September 11, NC State offered 4-Star 2025 Wide Receiver C.J. Wiley out of Milton, Georgia. ON3 ranks Wiley as the #191 overall player nationally in his class. He already holds offers from Georgia, Michigan, FSU, Ole Miss, Miami, Nebraska, Michigan St, UCF, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, BYU, Pitt, Texas A&M, Arizona St and others.

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Football Recruiting

PI EXCLUSIVE: 4-Star PF David Punch Recaps NC State Official Visit

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NC State hosted 4-Star 2024 Power Forward David Punch this past weekend on an Official Visit. I was able to catch up with him and get his thoughts.

I included NC State in my Top 7 because of how active they were in recruiting me. They were very consistent.

When I got there, I toured the practice facility and had a photo shoot. Then we watched the team practice on Friday night. Saturday we watched the practice in the arena, and then we toured it. After that we watched the football game, and then we watched film and had dinner at Coach Keatts’ house.

My favorite part of the Official Visit was watching them practice, and hanging out with the players.

The coaches showed me film on previous players at my position, and also showed me their style-of-play, which is mostly transition buckets, which is something I love.

They are very high on my list after the Official Visit. 

Check out more about who David Punch is here.

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Football Recruiting

NC State Now Has Seven 4-Star Commitments in Their 2024 Class

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ON3 just updated their rankings, and NC State 2024 Offensive Lineman verbal commitment Tyler West jumped from a 3-Star prospect to a 4-Star prospect. ON3 now ranks West as the #22 Interior Offensive Lineman nationally in the 2024 recruiting class, and the #12 player in the state of North Carolina.


Now the Wolfpack’s 2024 recruiting class has SEVEN 4-star commitments.

OL Tyler West
WR Jimmar Boston
WR Jonathan Paylor
WR Terrell Anderson
ATH Ronnie Royal
QB Cedrick Bailey
CB Asaad Brown

This marks the 4th consecutive recruiting class in which NC State has landed SEVEN 4-Star commitments, and the 6th time it has happened under Dave Doeren.

2024 – 7
2023 – 7
2022 – 7
2021 – 8
2020 – 3
2019 – 7
2018 – 6
2017 – 3
2016 – 2
2015 – 5
2014 – 7
2013 – 2

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Football Recruiting

NC State’s 2024 Recruiting Class Ranks 33rd After Ofor Commitment

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After the verbal commitment of Linebacker Joshua Ofor yesterday, NC State’s 2024 recruiting class ranks 33rd nationally according to Rivals.

(Rivals)

247Sports ranks the Wolfpack’s class 37th and ON3 ranks it 35th.

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