The NC State football team signed 19 recruits on Wednesday as part of the new early signing period. The class is ranked 26th in the nation and No. 3 in the ACC, behind only Florida State and Clemson.
Head coach Dave Doeren attributes a lot of the recruiting success to the fact that the program has been able to show over the last few seasons that it can develop players to an NFL level.
“When you see us send four defensive linemen in one draft class, and then you see us get the four best defensive linemen in the state, there’s a correlation there,” Doeren said. “I think when kids can see it, it’s different than when you just talk about it.”
Sixteen of the 19 players will be enrolled in the university for the spring semester giving them an early start to life with the program, which can be a big help with adjusting to the program.
“It’s important when you’re losing good players that you get the new ones in early to help develop them and teach them the systems, but it’s also a personal choice.” Doeren said. “We don’t only go the way of recruiting one guy over another because he’s early and the other one is not. It just happened where a lot of the guys we got were early, and we had a lot of early spots because of when our guys graduated and left the program.”
In this class, the Pack welcomed 15 in-state recruits, two of whom are ranked in the ESPN 300 rankings. For Doeren and his staff, in-state recruiting has been a major focus, especially when they have to compete with so many other fantastic programs within the state.
“With seven Division I schools in the area and the schools outside of the state, what we’ve done is built a place where the recruits can go to the NFL, graduate with an incredible degree, be surrounded by wonderful people,” Doeren said. “It’s competition. I love it. We’ll get out on the road and compete with anybody. I’m not afraid of any of those guys. I look forward to competing against them. They’ve got their job to do and we’ve got ours, and may the best man win.”
For the Wolfpack this season, one of the weak spots has been the secondary. However, the Pack strengthened that area greatly with this recruiting class. Among the new recruits are four defensive backs: Jalen Frazier, Jakeen Harris, Khalid Martin and Shyheim Battle.
The big talk surrounding this recruiting class is regarding the defensive line and running back commitments. Defensive end Savion Jackson is a spring enrollee and ranked No. 34 in the ESPN 300 rankings and No. 5 at the position. Adding to the defensive line, tackle C.J. Clark will be coming in the spring. Clark is ranked in the ESPN 300 at No. 279 overall and No. 21 at his position.
Jackson and Clark, along with defensive end Terrell Dawkins and defensive tackle Joshua Harris, show great potential going forward for the Pack at that position.
One of the players who will look to hit the ground running in the spring is running back recruit Zonovan Knight. The North Carolina native has big shoes to fill with Reggie Gallaspy Jr. leaving the program, but being ranked No. 47 in his position nationally, the Southern Nash product looks to be up to the challenge.
Another player who will be competing for a starting spot is quarterback Bailey Hockman, who is ranked as the No. 1 junior college pocket passer. Hockman, who went to Florida State before attending a junior college, was highly recruited out of high school before his time with the Seminoles.
