Caden Fordham commits to NC State Wolfpack football recruiting

A late Tuesday night red light grew the NC State Wolfpack football recruiting class to nine after three-star Florida athlete Caden Fordham pulled the trigger via a tweet at 10:20 p.m.

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The Wolfpack view the 6-1, 210-pound Fordham as a linebacker prospect. He earned his offer at a camp last summer, and he was also heavily pursued by Louisville, among his other offers, which included schools like Miami, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Colorado and Illinois.

The prospect actually checked in at No. 6 on the latest version of The Wolfpacker's Top 50 recruiting board.

"It appeared that Fordham was getting close to committing to NC State, but Louisville may have put the brakes on that," we wrote in our June 8 update on The Wolves' Den message board. "There was a growing perception that the Cardinals were in the drivers’ seat, but our sources indicate that while Louisville is a strong contender that is not an accurate picture."

Last season in 13 games as a junior, he had 93 tackles, including 11 for loss and six sacks, plus four interceptions, two forced fumbles and two recovered loose balls.

Fordham's pledge moves the Pack up to the No. 42 recruiting class nationally, which ranks 11th in the ACC per the Rivals team rankings formula.

However, if the classes are ranked by average stars per recruit, the Wolfpack class rises to fifth in the ACC, behind only Clemson, UNC, Miami and Florida State — who each boast a group ranked among the top 17 nationally.

The schools that are ranked higher by the Rivals team formula but have a lower average stars per pledge (NC State's is 3.0) are: No. 21 nationally Pittsburgh (16 commits), No. 23 Boston College (18), No. 25 Georgia Tech (14), No. 29 Virginia (13), No. 30 Louisville (12) and No. 31 Wake Forest (14).

The Wolfpacker will have more on this breaking story Wednesday.