Impact potential among early enrollees
The Wolfpack has announced seven early enrollees in its 2016 recruiting class — players that will have the opportunity to gain valuable practice experience during spring drills and can get ahead on their academic loads.
Here is how The Wolfpacker ranks their potential instant impact. Note that all current players’ classes are listed by their status for the upcoming season.
1. Cornerback Bryce Banks
Banks, a two-star prospect, heads up the list. The one-time Missouri commitment, who ultimately picked the Wolfpack over an offer from Illinois, fills a need for NC State. Cornerback depth is a question mark after the loss of starter Juston Burris to graduation and the early departures of Malcolm Means and Troy Vincent, the latter of whom ended up at Iowa State.
All that remains among scholarship corners are senior Jack Tocho, junior Mike Stevens, redshirt junior Sean Paul and redshirt freshman Vernon Grier. Of those four, Paul has limited playing experience and battled nagging injuries throughout his career, and Grier was recruited to play wide receiver before moving to corner after the regular season. It should be noted that fifth-year senior Niles Clark is lining up at nickel, but has prior corner experience.
Banks will have a chance to compete for early playing time. He also has the length that NCSU has been looking for in the secondary, checking in at 6-2, 184 pounds when he arrived.
Banks had more than 40 tackles as a senior at Rock Bridge High in Columbia, Mo.
2. Tight end Dylan Autenrieth
Like cornerback, the tight end position is short on numbers and experience. The announcement that David J. Grinnage would leave early for the NFL Draft coupled with Benson Browne’s graduation means that the Pack is down to just junior Cole Cook and redshirt junior Pharoah McKever as scholarship, every-down tight ends. (This does not include junior Jaylen Samuels, an H-back who lines up all over the field.)
Cook has extensive playing experience, but has not been featured prominently as a receiver yet. McKever moved from defensive end to tight end after the regular season, but he did make a quick impression with an 82-yard touchdown catch against Mississippi State in the Belk Bowl.
The 6-4, 225-pound Autenrieth was rated as a three-star recruit coming out of North Paudling High in Dallas, Ga., and over his last two seasons he caught 73 passes for 877 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is a good athlete that averaged 15 points per game in basketball as a junior.
Autenrieth chose NC State over offers from Pittsburgh, Western Kentucky and Marshall, among others. Rivals.com listed him as the No. 74 senior in Georgia.
3. Tight end Bryce Dixon
Dixon’s versatility makes him an intriguing prospect. The 6-3, 210-pounder excelled on both sides of the ball as a senior for Green Hope High in Cary, N.C. He caught 45 passes for 704 yards and nine touchdowns, and piled up 67 tackles, 5.5 sacks and an interception.
Dixon is a good athlete, running the 40-yard dash in less than 4.7 seconds at NCSU’s summer camp last June, and his stock rose considerably after his senior season. Late offers came in from Miami, Tennessee and Virginia, among others, but Dixon held firm on his pledge.
He was recruited to play a role similar to how Samuels was used this past year for the Wolfpack and could give NC State something that they did not have last year: a backup to Samuels.
Rivals.com rated Dixon as the No. 33 senior in North Carolina.
4. Linebacker Garrett Hooker
A lot will depend on the status of Hooker’s surgically repaired foot that he injured late during his senior season. He had piled up 167 tackles before getting hurt, giving him 718 in his career at Ledford High in Thomasville, N.C.
The 6-2, 247-pounder, who lists his hometown as High Point, N.C., will have to excel to crack a depth chart at linebacker that returns almost every significant piece from the 2015 roster. Hooker, a two-star recruit, has a nose for the football, and if the returning players do not show more consistency, then expect him to get a look.
Hooker chose the Pack over an offer from UNC.
5. Quarterback Dylan Parham
There will be an open competition starting this spring at quarterback to replace departing starter Jacoby Brissett. Parham enrolled early to take advantage of that opportunity.
The 6-4, 210-pounder is a physically gifted quarterback, possessing a combination of good arm strength and athleticism. He is still raw as a passer, completing less than half of passes (143 of 294) as a senior at Southeast Raleigh High for 2,003 yards with 20 touchdowns.
Parham is probably a long shot in the competition with redshirt sophomore Jalan McClendon and redshirt freshman Jakobi Meyers. Rivals.com listed the three-star Parham as the No. 45 senior in the state.
6. Offensive tackle Justin Witt
It is difficult, but not impossible, for true freshmen to make quick impacts on the offensive line. Witt, though, might have a chance. The 6-4, 281-pounder from New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way West High was a well-regarded prospect.
He possessed offers from California, Iowa State, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse, among others, and Rivals.com rated him as the No. 28 senior from Illinois. He also helped his team reach the state title game for the 5-A classification this past year.
7. Offensive lineman Bryce Folsom
Folsom is a bit more raw than Witt. The 6-4, 263-pounder was primarily a defensive tackle for most of his high school career until moving to a more extensive role on the offensive line his senior season.
Former Wolfpack offensive line coach Mike Uremovich was known to be very high on Folsom’s potential, which is why he aggressively recruited him last spring despite his limited experience on the offensive side of the ball up to that point.
Folsom, who is rated as a two-star prospect, also had offers from Navy and Syracuse, among others.