NC State Football Recruiting Update – February 20, 2019

Upcoming Junior Day – February 23, 2019

Lots of marquee talent expected in Raleigh for our second Junior Day.

3* WR Antonio Barber is expected to attend – he has been committed to Tennessee for a while, but our staff is very high on him.

4* DE Myles Murphy is also expected to be in attendance.

Committed Elsewhere

Target 4* WR Josh Downs and Target 4* WR Ray Grier have both committed to UNC.

Both are on the smaller side – Grier is listed at 6’0, and Downs is listed at 5’10”.

Downs is a legacy recruit that we hated to miss on, but his cousin coaches at UNC (Dre Bly) and he was probably promised immediate playing time and lots of touches in each game.

Target 4* DT Demonte Capehart has committed to Clemson. As a kid from South Carolina, we were never in good shape for him, particularly against Clemson.

Target 4* S Cameron Rose-Sinclair has also committed to UNC. Keep an eye on him for a potential flip, he is from Myers Park – where 4* WR Porter Rooks (State commit) and 4* WR Mushin Muhammad, both top tier targets for State are going to HS.

Target 3* CB Jahquez Robinson has committed to Alabama.  He was committed to State since his sophomore season before decommiting before National Signing Day. We were his first offer during his sophomore season.

Quiet Period

Quiet Period is in effect for February 8 – April 14, 2019.

Quiet Period is: “The NCAA defines the quiet period as a time when “a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents off the college campus and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high school.”

This would be the main reason why State is hosting Junior Day at the football facility on February 23rd, and should have another event before the Spring Game in early April.

New Intriguing Offers

DT Jaylen Smith from Hertford County HS in North Carolina. 6’4″, 265 with a reported 4.64 40. Reminds me a lot of BJ Hill on film, athletic, great footwork and extremely good size. He was just officially rated a 3* on 24/7 sports on Tuesday, 2/19. Another late blooming prospect which State was able to pounce on before other schools.

TE John Copenhaver from Roswell HS in Georgia, is another new offer to an outstanding prospect who can do a lot of things on the football field. He would definitely bring a lot more athleticism to our TE/H-Back position. At this point, it looks like our best competition for him is South Carolina. We were his first scholarship offer.

Scholarship Situation

With Shimko, Mimms, and Walker being blue shirts in the 2019 cycle, they will greatly impact our scholarship numbers for the 2020 class.

Before them, we had roughly 14 spots left in the 2020 cycle before attrition (Vernon Grier, Shug Frazier, and Joe Babros left the team) . With the blueshirts, it brings us down to 11 scholarships.  I fully expect there to be a little more attrition before next fall.

Hence, my guess is that we will take around 15 players in the 2020 cycle, with two current commits (3* QB Ben Finley and 4* WR Porter Rooks).

Best Guesses for 2020 Class

Based upon the current scholarship distribution for the team and current scholarships available, here’s what I am anticipating State taking in the 2020 class:

1 QB – Done – 3* QB Ben Finley committed.

1 RB – Highest Target is 3* Trenton Simpson from Mallard Creek, others include 3* Ahmani Marshall (East Forsyth), 3* Elijah Green (Roswell, GA), and 3* Kobe Pryor (Cedartown, GA).

2-3 WR – 4* Porter Rooks committed, Highest Target is 4* Mushin Muhammad from Myers Park HS, others include 4* Jahvante Royal (Fort Lauderdale, FL), 3* Jhari Patterson (AC Reynolds HS), 3* Aydin Henningham (Deerfield Beach, FL), 3* Anthony Barber (Rock Hill, SC), and  3* Bryce Dowdy (Deerfield Beach, FL).

1 TE – Highest Target is 3* John Copenhaver from Roswell, GA, others include 3* Kendall Karr (Cramer HS) and 3* Tommy Guajardo (Dearborn, MI).

2 OL – Highest Target is 4* OT Mitchell Mayes from Sanderson,  others include 3* Jimmy Christ (Sterling, VA), 3* Seth McLaughlin (Buford, GA), 3* OG RJ Adams (Woodbridge, VA), and 3* OG Anthony Carter Jr. from Matthews Butler HS.

2-3 DE/DT – 5* Desmond Evans from Lee County HS is the top target, others include 4* Myles Murphy (Southwest Guilford), 4* Jacolbe Cowan (Providence Day School), 4* Kendrick Bingley-Jones (Providence Day School), 3* DT Jaylen Smith (Hertford County HS), and 3* Will Anderson (Hampton, GA).

1 LB – Highest Target is 3* Mohamed Kaba from Clinton HS, others include 4* Zykevious Walker (Ellaville, GA) and 3* Jamari Stewart (Port St. Lucie, FL).

1 CB – Highest Target is 3* Devan Boykin from Ragsdale HS, others include 3* Davonte Brown (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and 3* Colby Dempsey (Fort Lauderdale, FL).

1-2 ATH – Highest Target is 3* Ja’Qurious Conley from Northside HS, others include 3* Jaheim Bell (Valdosta, GA), 4* Arian Smith (Mulberry, FL), and 3* Charles Toombs (Immokalee, FL).

New Recruiting Pitch

Our staff has been heavily involved in the “facts” not “hype” recruiting war with UNC in the last few weeks.

Here are a few examples of the “facts” based graphics being seen via social media:

Still facts.#1Pack1Goal 🐺🐺🏈 pic.twitter.com/VwoVUh1gqR

— NC State Football (@PackFootball) February 18, 2019

Just facts.#1Pack1Goal 🐺🐺🏈 pic.twitter.com/GLwWU1KGgS

— NC State Football (@PackFootball) February 15, 2019

Just facts.#Homegrown #1Pack1Goal

🐺🐺🏈 pic.twitter.com/pQn6buCXG0

— NC State Football (@PackFootball) February 13, 2019