NC State has been rolling at the punting position and landed its future hope at the spot Monday.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Cristian Harthan verbally committed as a preferred walk-on to NC State. NCSU running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel and assistant Jackson White both pursued Harthan and have been tracking him for at least a year.
Harthan attended a NC State game last fall, and returned this spring for practice.
"Coach Goebbel was a super nice guy," Harthan said. "He loves what he does and that is evident. He is a great guy to be around."
Harthan had a been a semi-regular at NC State’s various specialists camps and he was offered April 29. Current punter Caden Noonkester is entering his redshirt junior year, and has a career average of 42.7 yards and attended Waxhaw Marvin Ridge.
Harthan grew up a Wolfpack fan, wants to major in engineering and he knows Noonkester. He started punting in the sixth grade.
"I definitely know Caden and his high school is three minutes from mine," said Harthan, who also played with NCSU freshman wide receiver Keenan Jackson in the past. "[Caden. and I] work with the same [kicking] coach [Dan Orner]. There will be a lot that I can learn from him."
NC State previous punters Trenton Gill and A.J. Cole III both made the NFL, with Cole now one of the best punters in the league with the Las Vegas Raiders, averaging 50.4 yards per punt last year.
Gill averaged 45.8 yards per punt from 2018-21, and Cole averaged 42.2 yards from 2015-18. Former NCSU punter Wil Baumann also averaged 40.9 yards a punt from 2011-2014.
Noonkester and Gill both arrived to NC State as preferred walk-ons.
"I'm super excited and NC State is in-state tuition," Harthan said. "It is somewhere I want to be and it's worth paying the money [for tuition], plus I want to go into engineering. It's a top engineering school in this area.
"I've also worked with Trenton Gill in some private sessions and he's been able to give me tips."
Harthan made the rounds to some regional colleges such as Wake Forest, Clemson, Alabama and Virginia Tech. He also said Ole Miss and Oklahoma have been keeping tabs.
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