NC State ended Wednesday's national signing day at No. 28 nationally in the Rivals.com team recruiting rankings — the Wolfpack's highest since finishing No. 27 in the class of 2005. The mark ranks tied for third all time in the Rivals.com era, which started in 2002. The 3.04 average stars per signee was the fourth-best showing since 2002.
The 23-member Wolfpack recruiting class was ranked No. 4 in the ACC and No. 33 nationally in average stars per signee. The last time NC State finished that high in the conference rankings was 2004.
The class had four four-star prospects, including a pair of defensive tackles ranked in the Rivals250. Roxboro (N.C.) Person defensive tackle Joshua Harris was listed No. 143 nationally , while New London (N.C.) North Stanly defensive tackle C.J. Clark checked in at No. 186. It is the first time NC State has signed a pair of four-star defensive tackles in the same class.
Rocky Mount (N.C.) High cornerback Shyheim Battle and Bailey (N.C.) Southern Nash running back Zonovan Knight were also four-star prospects. Battle is the first four-star DB to sign with NC State since Rodman Noel in 2011, although class of 2018 four-star De'Von Graves was listed as an athlete and he is playing safety for the Pack.
This class builds off the strength of last year's, which was ranked No. 34. It gives NC State only its second back-to-back top 35 classes since it had four consecutive from 2002-05. Impressively, NC State built a borderline top-25 class without a single Rivals100 signee. It ties the highest ranking in school history for a class with 2004 that did not include a top 100 prospect.
NCSU has landed nine four-star prospects in the last two years, six of whom were in the Rivals250. NCSU head coach Dave Doeren has signed 14 players who were ranked in the final top 250 since getting hired Dec. 1, 2012. His predecessor, Tom O'Brien, signed six from 2007-13. The nine four stars signed since 2018 is the most in a two-year period since 2003-04.
Doeren has also signed his fourth top-35 class among his six total (counting only classes he was fully responsible for), while in the previous 12 years NC State had six combined.
Bios: NC State's Class of 2019
Below is a look back at how NC State has recruited since 2002:
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