Weekly Recruiting Update 8/10/17

Upcoming Commitment Announcements:

Lancine Turay – Maybe as soon as late August

Jovaughn Gwyn – Mid-September

Eriq Gilyard – October 1st

Targets Left:

4* DE/DT Alim McNeill

4* OG Jovaughn Gwyn

4* DT Jordan Davis

3* DT Elijah Brown

3* DE Joseph Boletepeli

4* LB Keshon Artis

3* LB Eriq Gilyard

3* LB Calvin Hart

3* CB/S Kendall Williamson

3* DE Jarrett Jackson

3* DE Dennis Briggs (has been officially offered now)

3* DE Jason Mercier

3* DT Jalen Alexander

3* DE/DT Jordan Redmond

3* OT Kahric Belle

5* P Paxton Brooks

Official Offers In The Mail:

As mentioned last week, our staff sent out official offer packets on August 1^st. Here’s an example of what recruits received in the mail, via Commit CB/S Teshaun Smith’s Twitter:

1 Pack 1 Goal ???????? pic.twitter.com/ZPSG2Z9cFM

— LOCK-SMITH〽️ (@Te_Smith26) August 2, 2017

Ratings Update:

JUCO Cornerback Commit Kishawn Miller (Georgia Military College) has recently received a final evaluation from 24/7 sports. He is now a 3* and rated the #3 JUCO Cornerback in the country.

Highlights of Miller

Extra Scholarship Available:

FR OT Bryce Folsom has left the program. Therefore, the 2018 class has an additional scholarship available.

Linebacker Recruitment:

Target 3* Calvin Hart Jr. (American Heritage HS – Florida) has announced his top 2 schools. We made the cut along with Texas A&M. He is another late-blooming, athletic, linebacker prospect who we found during the 2017 spring evaluation period.

Highlights of Hart Jr.:

Note: Target 4* LB K’Vaughn Pope has committed to Ohio State and is now off of our board.

New Emerging Targets:

3* OT Kahric Belle – Attends North Miami Beach HS in Florida. 6’6”, 292.

Rated the #102 OT in the country (3*) by 24/7 sports/Scout, NR (3*) on Rivals, NR on ESPN. Worth noting that he also plays some Defensive Tackle for North Miami Beach HS.

Highlights of Belle:

Analysis of his film:

Strengths 
Very strong at the point of attack, very long arms, good footwork in run blocking schemes, athletic for his size, drive blocks well in the running game, particularly downfield, a very large individual

Weaknesses 
Needs to play with lower pad level (stood up a lot on film and lost leverage), needs to develop better leg kick and pass blocking techniques (easily coachable), relied on size a lot to overpower defenders instead of technique

He has named us as his current leader following a visit to Raleigh this summer.

5* Punter Paxton Brooks – Attends Airport HS (West Columbia, SC). 6’5”, 170. Recently was invited to participate in the Under Armour All-American Game. He is the #2 Rated Punter in the country in the 2018 class by Kohl’s Kicking Camp. He’s also rated the #97 PK in the country by Kohl’s Kicking Camp. Also, he is currently ranked #4 in his senior class academically and has a 4.9 GPA.

Profile breakdown from kohlskicking.com:

“Brooks recently attended the 2017 National Scholarship Camp. He repeatedly hit 50-60 yard blasts and he built upon his dominant performance at the Southern Showcase Camp in May. Brooks again was a dominant punter and performer. His long frame makes him an attractive prospect as a D1 punter. Brooks’ FG’s and KO’s show flashes of big potential as well. His strength is in his punting. Brooks earned the 2nd spot to the Under Armour All-American Game by winning the punt off against the top players at this national event. He has all the tools to become a great college P/KO specialist!”

Priorities:

Defensive Line and Linebacker. 3 Defensive Line positions, 2 Linebackers, and 1-2 OT, 1 best available

Projections:

With the committal of Derrick Eason, it has started to really limit how many more D Line spots we have available in this class. Here’s my current projection of how things pan out for each of our remaining targets:

4* DE/DT Alim McNeill – NC STATE

4* OG Jovaughn Gwyn – NC STATE

4* DT Jordan Davis – MIAMI

3* DT Elijah Brown – DUKE

3* DE Joseph Boletepeli – NC STATE

4* LB Keshon Artis – VIRGINIA TECH

3* LB Eriq Gilyard – KENTUCKY

3* LB Calvin Hart – NC STATE

3* CB/S Kendall Williamson – GEORGIA TECH

3* DE Jarrett Jackson – NC STATE

3* DE Dennis Briggs – MIAMI

3* DE Jason Mercier – PITTSBURGH

3* DT Jalen Alexander – MARYLAND

3* DE/DT Jordan Redmond – WISCONSIN

3* OT Kahric Belle – NC STATE

5* P Paxton Brooks – NC STATE

*** LATEST INTEL. HAS JORDAN DAVIS POSSIBLY COMMITTING TO MIAMI, DON’T WRITE US OFF FOR HIS RECRUITMENT BECAUSE HE GOES TO MALLARD CREEK, WHERE WE HAVE RECRUITED EXTREMELY WELL SINCE THE 2014 CLASS.

*** AT THIS POINT, I THINK WE WILL RUN OUT OF SPOTS FOR KENDALL WILLIAMSON, THEREFORE HIS PREDICTION SWITCH TO GEORGIA TECH.

CLASS OF 2018 EARLY ENROLLEES:

I think there is a good possibility that several of our 2018 guys will enroll in January. K Chris Dunn is definitely one of the potential early enrollees. Based upon his GPA, I would think that Paxton Brooks might also be able to enroll early. Look for maybe as many as 4-6 of our current commits to enroll early.