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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 Publisher and Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He is also the Lead Pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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Football Recruiting

3-Star DT Drayden Pavey is Taking an Official Visit to NC State

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3-Star 2025 Defensive Tackle Drayden Pavey (6’3″/305) will be taking an Official Visit to NC State on June 18th. He also has Official Visit’s scheduled for Purdue, Wisconsin and Arizona.

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ON3 ranks Pavey as the #4 player in the state of Kentucky (Robert A. Taft High/Burlington, KY)

NC State has already made quite the impression. They only offered him on April 24th. Getting an Official Visit scheduled a week after offering a player is a good sign.

When Pavey released his Top-8 back in February, NC State was obviously on the list. It consisted of Miami (OH), Toledo, Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt, Cincinnati, Indiana and Purdue. Wisconsin is also new to the scene, offering Pavey on April 21st.

As a Junior, Pavey had 46 tackles 7.5 sacks and 9 tackles for loss.

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Football Recruiting

4-Star Safety Jordan Young Includes NC State in Top-8

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4-Star 2025 Safety Jordan Young (6’0″/170) revealed his Top-8 schools today, and NC State made the cut along with Alabama, FSU, UNC, Clemson, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

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It’s not shocking that Young included the Wolfpack, because back on April 15th he shared that he had locked in an Official Visit to NC State for June 19-21. He also has Official Visits scheduled to Clemson (May 31), FSU (June 14), and Tennessee (June 21).

All 4 recruiting databases rank Young as a Top-200 prospect nationally in the 2025 recruiting class, with ESPN, 247Sports and ON3 ranking him in the Top-35. 247Sports ranks him as the #29 overall player nationally, the #2 Safety and the #2 player in the state of North Carolina.

This past season, Young had 66 tackles, 4 forced fumbles, 5 fumble recoveries, 1 interception and 3 pass breakups for Monroe High School. On the offensive side of the ball, he had 34 receptions for 812 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Young is planning to announce his commitment on October 12th.

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Football Recruiting

4-Star Safety Jontae Gilbert Has Locked in an Official Visit to NC State

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4-Star 2025 Safety Jontae Gilbert (6’1″/180) confirmed with me that he has locked in an Official Visit to NC State for the weekend of September 27-29, and he plans for it to be his last Official Visit.

Back in July of 2022, Gilbert committed to Ohio St., but last July he decommitted from the Buckeyes.

Gilbert also has Official Visits scheduled for UCF, South Carolina and USC.

At one point, Gilbert was a 5-star prospect, but now he is a consensus 4-star prospect, and a consensus Top-275 player. Rivals ranks him as the #70 overall player nationally in the 2025 recruiting class, and the #8 player in the state of Georgia.

NC State offered Gilbert in April of last year.

Recently, he has taken unofficial visits to, or been visited by Louisville, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia St., Oregon, Clemson, Texas and South Carolina.

While he doesn’t have an Official Visit set up with Georgia, the Bulldogs are obviously a big player in Gilbert’s recruitment.

Gilbert plays for Douglass High School in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Football Recruiting

3-Star LB Cameron White Has NC State Official Visit Set

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3-Star 2025 Linebacker Cameron White (6’1″/225) will be taking an Official Visit to NC State on June 19-21, according to a source.

NC State offered White back on March 1st.

While White hasn’t officially released a Top-8, he did say that the 8 schools that are standing out are NC State, Louisville, Tennessee, West Virginia, UCF, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Utah.

This Spring, he has taken unofficial visits to Tennessee, UCF, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Louisville, Miami. He’s expected to take an Official Visit to Louisville as well.

Rivals ranks White as the #37 Outside Linebacker nationally in the 2025 recruiting class, and the #79 player in the state of Florida.

This past year, White had 81 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 5 sacks for Sumner (Riverview, FL).

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