The world of football recruiting rankings and star systems can be quite a conundrum.  Do stars matter?  Do they not matter?  Today I will be starting a new series called “Pack of Stars” where I will be looking at NC State’s Top-25 football commits of the past 14 years (that’s how far back the databases at both Scout and Rivals go).  Each player will get there own piece.  I don’t have an algorithm that I conjured up to determine these 25 players.  I looked at the Scout and Rivals databases, took the highest national ranking between the two sites, assigned that ranking to the player, and put them in order.  As I go through each of these, at times you will think “stars” are a brilliant indicator of talent, and at other times you will want to throw out the system entirely.  Without further adieu…

#25 – Defensive Tackle – Justin Jones

Justin Jones was a member of the 2014 Wolfpack recruiting class.  He played for South Cobb High School (Austell, GA).  Coming out of high school Jones stood 6’2″ and weighed 275lbs.  Scout and 247 gave Jones 3-stars, while ESPN and Rivals gave him 4.  In fact, Rivals ranked Jones as the #241 player in the 2014 recruiting class.

After arriving last summer, NC State head coach Dave Doeren thought Jones was physically ready to play as a true freshman, and didn’t need to redshirt.  Last season Jones was able to break into the rotation, seeing action in 10 games, and recording 11 stops.  Jones missed the Spring Game earlier in the year due to a shoulder injury.  The true sophomore had a chance to move into a more prominent role this year with the exit of T.Y. McGill and Thomas Teal at the Tackle positions, but the NC State coaches decided to move fellow true sophomore Kentavius Street (just a hint…you will see Street later on this series) from Defensive End to Defensive Tackle.  Jones will definitely be in the rotation this season, but we will have to see how much he pushes his fellow Tackles Kentavius Street and Bradley Chubb (also a Sophomore) in order to get significant playing time.

Jones is only a Sophomore and has plenty of time for those “stars” to shine.