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football Edit

Signing day plot lines

Here are three things that stand out when digesting NC State football's 2020 signing class (thus far) and the recruiting cycle that has been.

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Speed And Athleticism

Any time a prospect registers a Nike Football Rating of over 100.00 after performing at an Opening Regional, that player has elite athleticism.

NC State signed three prospects who achieved that mark: three-star defensive lineman Davin Vann from Cary (N.C.) High, two-star receiver Anthony Smith from Huntingtown (Md.) High and three-star cornerback Joshua Pierre-Louis from The Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Smith is one of two NCSU signees to have run under 11 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 22 seconds in the 200, joining three-star receiver Chris Scott from Dacula (Ga.) High. Pierre-Louis could join those two this spring.

Vann is a standout wrestler and excels in the throws in track. Three-star cornerback Aydan White of Christ School near Asheville, N.C., is a three-time 110-meter hurdles champ for private schools in track and added the high jump title last spring.

Three-star defensive back Devan Boykin from Ragsdale High in Jamestown, N.C., and three-star receiver Jalen Coit from Cheraw (S.C.) High were both basketball stars and have turned in fast times in the 40-yard dash.

Simply put, this is one of the most athletic classes that NC State has signed in a while.

Still Spots Left

The Wolfpacker will have a full breakdown Thursday of how the final spots may play out, but the Pack could target about five more players after the surprising late decommitment from three-star offensive lineman Austin Blaske of South Effingham High in Guyton, Ga. (more on that below).

The Pack appears to be holding a blueshirt for three-star receiver commit Joshua Crabtree from Heritage High in Wake Forest, N.C. A blueshirt allows for a team to count a recruit ahead to the next year’s class. Crabtree using a blueshirt would permit NC State to take an extra prospect in the 2020 class.

This is the third year of the early signing period for football. NC State in the past two recruiting cycles has added three high school/junior college signees in February. In 2018, it was cornerback Taiyon Palmer and defensive linemen Val Martin and Derrick Eason. The latter most of the three was a long-time commit who chose not to sign in December. Eason has since moved to offensive line.

In 2019, NC State added running back Jordan Houston, defensive back Cecil Powell and running back Delbert Mimms, though Mimms was a blueshirt.

This year should be the most active January and February for NC State since the beginning of the early signing period, but the wildcard is the transfer portal. The Wolfpack may be in a position to be more aggressive with the portal than most schools due to the number of scholarships it has available.

The Decommitments

The harsh reality is that a major storyline of this recruiting cycle was the decommitments along the way:

• Four-star cornerback Jahquez Robinson from Sandalwood High in Jacksonville, Fla. committed to NC State when he was an unknown and during his sophomore season in high school. Robinson’s stock exploded and it was probably unrealistic to expect him to stick with the Pack for over two years. He signed with Alabama on Wednesday.

• Three-star cornerback Joseph Johnson from Life Christian Academy near Richmond, Va., was another defensive back that NC State identified before the high majors, but his commitment in the spring did not last long. On his second go-round, Johnson chose Penn State over NC State.

• Three-star receiver Nate McCollum from Dutchtown High in Hampton, Ga., committed to NC State in March for football and baseball, but a late-summer push from nearby Georgia Tech led to a switch to the Yellow Jackets.

• A pair of in-state prospects switched to rival UNC during the fall: three-star receiver Stephen Gosnell (a lifelong Heels fan) from East Surry High in Pilot Mountain and three-star offensive lineman Jonathan Adorno from Rolesville High.

• A pair of defensive linemen that NC State parted ways in the fall: three-star Jaylen Smith from Hertford County High in Ahoskie, N.C., and junior college prospect Pheldarius Payne from Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa. Smith ended up at Oregon, and Payne signed with Nebraska.

• Then there was the stunning switch by Blaske to Georgia in the hours leading up to signing day.

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