NC State football lands verbal commitment from junior in-state receiver

Wilmington (N.C.) Hoggard receiver Chris Toudle admits, while chuckling, that he grew up a UNC fan. He also is quick to add that he is going to have to get rid of all the blue in his room now, because he is headed to NC State.

Toudle verbally committed to the Wolfpack on Friday night while in Raleigh to see a spring practice. Toudle (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) also had offers from Maryland, Wake Forest and Appalachian State.

“I felt like it was really right for me,” Toudle said. “I prayed to God about it, and he gave me all the answers. I thought it was to my best interest for my future education and career that I decide to go to NC State and play football there. My family supported it. They were right behind me.”

Toudle said that NC State’s recruiting approach quickly opened his eyes to what the Wolfpack was offering him.

“They were intent on helping me get on the right path to what I want to do in my life educationally and at the same time being a big-time football player in the ACC,” Toudle noted.

The Rivals.com database lists Toudle as a tight end, but NC State is recruiting him as a wide receiver. He caught 32 passes for 556 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior, while helping Hoggard go 13-1 and reach the semifinals of the NCHSAA 4A playoffs, before losing in overtime to Laurinburg Scotland County High.

Toudle also plays basketball and participates in track. He runs the 100-meter dash and 400 relay, while also doing long jump and high jump. In hoops, Toudle averaged 8.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game as a junior.

“Their top two receivers right now are Kelvin Harmon and Steph Louis,” Toudle noted. “After this year, they are going to become big-time draft prospects. Me being a big receiver, they think I can be an outside receiver that can fit in. … I just thought it was a great fit for me to be there.”

NC State certainly felt the same way. When Toudle sat down in head coach Dave Doeren’s office following the spring practice, he told Doeren: “You commit to me and I commit to you. With that being said I commit to NC State.”

Doeren’s reaction said it all for Toudle.

“He went crazy,” Toudle recalled. “That’s when he went to the room and told all the other coaches and they went insane. It was just a great experience, and it was fun to be a part of.”

Toudle joins three-star offensive guard Timothy McKay from Raleigh Wakefield and long-snapper Drew Little from New London (N.C.) North Stanly High in NC State’s 2019 class.