ChltObs: 2009 Top 25 NC HS Football players

Football Recruiting General Rankings & Lists52

Charlotte Observer ran a list of the Top 25 high school football recruits in the state of North Carolina today. (Link)

It’s nice to see our big man sitting on top of the heap.

1. Robert Crisp

Chapel Hill, 6-8, 300, OL: Committed to N.C. State and a top-30 national recruit. Had more than 30 scholarship offers, including from every ACC team.

Link to our conversation of Crisp’s announcement

A few more from the Top ten worth monitoring:

3. Gabe King
Northern Guilford, 6-5, 231: 75 tackles last season; wants to be an engineer (Alabama, California, Clemson, Georgia, North Carolina, N.C. State, West Virginia).

5. Alfy Hill
West Brunswick, 6-4, 245, DE: 102 tackles, 12 sacks as a junior (Ala., Kentucky, LSU, UNC, NCSU, Tenn., Va. Tech).

6. Fre’Shad Hunter
Cary, 6-5, 246, DE: 38 tackles, six sacks last season (NCSU, ECU, Fla St, LSU, Purdue, S. Carolina, Tenn).

7. Christian McCain
Northern Guilford, 6-6, 203 LB: 97 tackles, 20 for losses in 2008 (ECU, UNC, NCSU, S. Carolina, Syracuse, Va. Tech).

8. Anthony Creecy
Southern Durham, 6-0, 196, WR: 48 receptions for 863, 5 TDs last season.

9. Prince Shembo
Ardrey Kell, 6-2, 225, DE: Phenomenal athlete can play LB or DE; 61 tackles and 6 sacks last season (Clemson, Duke, UNC, NCSU, Notre Dame, Stanford, Va. Tech).

10. Kendall Moore
SE Raleigh, 6-21/2, 229, MLB: 32-inch vertical leap and played LB, DE and WR. (Clemson, Fla. St., UNC, NCSU, Notre Dame, South Carolina, West Virginia).

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Football Recruiting General Rankings & Lists

52 Responses to ChltObs: 2009 Top 25 NC HS Football players

  1. tvp1 04/19/2009 at 8:13 PM #

    We seem to have a lot of early momentum in-state this year.

    Also, LOL at this guy being listed at 19:

    19. Anthony Carrothers

    Independence, 5-7, 170, QB (Florida A&M, W-S State, N.C. Central, Bethune-Cookman).

    I’m sure he can play, but a 5-7, 150 QB with offers from D-2 schools is a top 20 player in state? I’m sure playing at Independence has nothing to do with the paper’s rating.

  2. Wulfpack 04/19/2009 at 8:35 PM #

    ^Carrothers is a stud. Seen him play a few times and he’s got the goods.

  3. McLovin 04/19/2009 at 9:53 PM #

    Anybody else feel like NC State is going to be considered a football school for many years to come?

  4. Pack Leader 04/19/2009 at 9:55 PM #

    I graduated From Cary and i know some coaches there that tell me Fre’shad hunter is one of the best physical athletes they have had in a long time (josh adams graduated from cary and was ACC Fresh Year). Look for him to put up huge numbers this year and just continue to gain attention from the nation. He is a state fan and apparently state already has a jump on him recruiting wise.

  5. Greywolf 04/19/2009 at 11:01 PM #

    3. Gabe King

    “Northern Guilford, 6-5, 231: 75 tackles last season; wants to be an engineer (Alabama, California, Clemson, Georgia, North Carolina, N.C. State, West Virginia).
    `
    Wants to be an engineer…Wonder why Ga. Tech isn’t after him? “Helluva an engineer”-ing school. 😉 I see North Calarina is listed. Now there’s a great engineering school.

  6. MrPlywood 04/19/2009 at 11:28 PM #

    My thoughts exactly Greywolf. If he wants to be an ENG then State would be a logical choice, and should eliminate UNX right off the bat. Cal is a long way from home. And you would think that Tech would be in the picture.

  7. Greywolf 04/20/2009 at 12:04 AM #

    McLovin,
    I’m confident that NCSU is going to have success in football for as long as TOB wants to coach here. I have seen this University grow from not much more than a techical college to a fine University. I saw NC State College have to play in Riddick Stadium which would seat about 20,000, which was an upgrade from Riddick Field with wooden stands and a standing room capacity of 13,000.
    `
    On the other hand UNX had to suffer in Kenan Stadium with a capacity of 40,000 until 1963 when it was raised to 48,000. 3 years later in 1966 NCSU played UNX in new Carter Stadium with a capacity of 42,000. That was only the 2nd time in 12 years we didn’t play them at Kenan.
    `
    We may enjoy a few more wins but to call NCSU a football school is stretching the imagination. If there is a “football school” in this area it’s UNX.

  8. McLovin 04/20/2009 at 1:07 AM #

    ^^^I hope we manage to get more than “a few more wins” 😉
    However, being a State fan, I know that I shouldn’t be overly optimistic…

    “If there is a “football school” in this area it’s UNX” –> comments like that are exactly why we NEED to establish a strong football program

  9. JeremyH 04/20/2009 at 3:22 AM #

    “On the other hand UNX had to suffer in Kenan Stadium with a capacity of 40,000 until 1963 when it was raised to 48,000. 3 years later in 1966 NCSU played UNX in new Carter Stadium with a capacity of 42,000. That was only the 2nd time in 12 years we didn’t play them at Kenan.

    If there is a “football school” in this area it’s UNX.”

    Who are you so wise in the ways of logic? Also, NC State remains as a basketball school because of the success they had in the sixties..1974, and 1983.

    wait….what?

  10. Alpha Wolf 04/20/2009 at 6:00 AM #

    “If there is a “football school” in this area it’s UNX.”

    I guess that’s why their spring game drew 2,000 and ours over ten times that much, because their interest in football is so much higher than ours.

    Let’s not forget that one of the real reasons Mack Brown left for Texas was because UNC didn’t even fill up their beautiful stadium for a game for the conference championship his last year.

    And let’s not forget that even in down years we have turned up in force over in Chapel Hill — anyone remember their poster of BKS where they Photoshopped out the State red that was there in force that day?

    It’s been over forty years since Carter-Finley opened for business. That was then. This is now — and CFS has been sold out for over a decade. Expanded twice. Perhaps not five more years until it will need further expansion. This interest and passion for NC State football has stayed high when our team was down, when our team was mediocre and when our team was good…in other words, consistently.

    UNC, on the other hand, has nowhere near that level of interest. They may have sold out season tickets last year and perhaps this season to come, but in the recent past — which is far more relevant than the mid 1960s — we are the school that has had the better fan support.

  11. Noah 04/20/2009 at 6:21 AM #

    Gabe King and John Blake are BFFs made for one another. He was listing Michigan and Cal earlier and was talking about leaving the area for college. Frankly, I consider that to be a wonderful idea (and not just because I don’t want him at UNC).

    As for the rest of the list, I’d love to be able to bring in Alfy Hill and Kendall Moore (to go along with Crisp, Creecy and Hunter).

    Keep an eye out for Tyler Brosius as well.

  12. robopack 04/20/2009 at 6:47 AM #

    ^I totally agree alpha.

    Listening to Steve Logans radio show about 3 or 4 years ago he was asked what school in NC he thought would ultimately turn into the “Football Powerhouse”. His response was “NC State because the fans want it the most, they have a chance in Raleigh because the fans are passionate and supportive about football”.

    Its tough recruiting out there though, and we have always had to share our cake with UNX. If TOB gets this thing rolling and he out lasts BMFD (which might only be anougher year or 2) We could find ourselves getting the lions share every year.

  13. ushum 04/20/2009 at 7:12 AM #

    imho, we end up with Crisp, Hill, Hunter, Creecy, and a very good look at Moore…

    not to mention Hartsfield and where the hell is PJ Clyburn on this list????

  14. Greywolf 04/20/2009 at 8:24 AM #

    Alpha,
    `
    Our neighbors to the west are spending $50 million to increase the seating capacity of a stadium that already exceeds that of Carter-Finley and to make further upgrades to their football facilities. They pay their coaches 25% more than NCSU pays its football coaches. Those kind of actions by the SCHOOL would be a better indicator that it was a “football school” than 20,000 supporters and their kids turning out to watch a scrimmage and get a few autographs.
    `
    You ignored the sarcasm indicated by the Smiley and quotation marks in my post and a pretty good job of disguising your personal attack. If you think Saturday’s spring game makes us a football school, that’s you perogative, but I don’t think readers of this blog are going to go “Gee, what a great sports discussionP with that kind of logic.

  15. Classof89 04/20/2009 at 8:25 AM #

    Is Creecy the game breaking WR we need in the mold of Koren Robinson and Holt the elder? That, IMO, is the primary hole in our program on the offensive side of the ball. How close are we to signing him?

  16. Packman02 04/20/2009 at 8:26 AM #

    “We may enjoy a few more wins but to call NCSU a football school is stretching the imagination. If there is a “football school” in this area it’s UNX.”

    ^^

    Florida State begs to differ. FSU built its original stadium in 1950, with a seating capacity of 15,000, a good 20 years after UF constructed its own stadium that could accomodate 22,000. Per Wiki, the Gators and Noles began playing each other in 1958 – and the first game in Tallahassee didn’t come until 1964…

    Sorry for the history lesson but it is a familiar sitiation. There’s no doubt that UF is ‘a football school’ – about a million-times greater of a football school than UNX – but the ‘other school’ down in Florida has had some success of its own…I’m sure many FSU alums and fans were told that they couldn’t compete with the Gators (flagship school, facilities, etc.) but those folks just flat out refused to be denied…

    Don’t think too many would hesitate in calling FSU a ‘football school’ – so why not us?

  17. wolfpack95 04/20/2009 at 8:38 AM #

    I see ad hominem attacks…everywhere.

    Geez Louise.
    Back to discussion…

  18. Alpha Wolf 04/20/2009 at 8:40 AM #

    Greywolf:

    You’re going over the top if you think I attacked you personally. In fact, I am a tad insulted that you would make that accusation. Too much coffee this morning, perhaps?

    So what if UNC is expanding their stadium. That’s Butch Davis’s idea and is certainly not because ticket demand is so overwhelming over there that the scalper’s market it out of control.

    Kenan Stadium rarely full at kickoff and at the end of the game. Tickets are never hard to find, now. I personally hold that their only reason for doing their upgrade is because they feel a tad threatened by what’s happening over in Raleigh. And they need to. The Murphy Center made their “Hacienda” football center look out of date. The changes to Carter-Finley made it clear that their stadium had a real rival in Raleigh. If the platform for success that is being built now continues to grow you won’t be able to get into CFS if you are not a WPC member with a decent ranking and season tickets.

    In short, the stadium over there is being expanded less because of need than for recruiting bragging rights.

    As for being a football school, please quote one single phrase where I said NCSU was a ‘football school.’

    I do, however, strongly believe that State’s alumni, fans and current students have great passion for football and that no matter what UNC does (which frankly, I don’t care about UNC’s doing except when we play them) NC State is arcing towards sustained success in football. And I also believe that playing in CFS is going to be a living red hell for the opposition.

    We can only golf our own ball over here in Raleigh and worry about what we’re doing. Let the chips fall where they may on game day.

  19. Noah 04/20/2009 at 8:41 AM #

    I don’t know if Creecy is a marquee receiver or not…but I agree that’s what we need most of all on the offense (along with a great center).

  20. choppack1 04/20/2009 at 8:42 AM #

    The football school vs. basketball school is basically a reflection on what the school sees itself as.

    For example, I’d consider ECU a “football school”. Why? Because every ECU student and alum cares about ECU football – and they really only casually follow ECU basketball or other sports.

    If you consider UNC a football school ask yourself if they had an intrasquad basketball game how many people would come?

    At State, we’re at the point now where the only way we can get plenty of people to attend our intrasquad basketball games is to have the game before our football game.

    This doesn’t mean that folks will confuse NC State w/ VaTech, FSU, Clemson, tOSU or the UT’s – however, if you look at interest and enthusiasm from the average NC State fan – they’re thinking football more than basketball at this time. That isn’t the case in Chapel Hill and it hasn’t been that way since Charlie Choo Choo Justice was on the sidelines.

  21. Alpha Wolf 04/20/2009 at 8:47 AM #

    Chop, I have literally seen BKS empty itself mid 3rd quarter when the Smith Center opened up for their Blue-White game. There may have only been 25,000 left and the game had not been decided.

    UNC may be successful in football over time, but their heart is with their cagers.

  22. Classof89 04/20/2009 at 8:51 AM #

    Our continuing struggle to recruit top drawer receivers really irks me, given that we have an unparalleled tradition of great receivers going back almost 30 years–Mike Quick, Haywood Jeffires, Holt, Robinson, Danny Peebles, and at least 4 or 5 others I’m forgetting…don’t these high school kids know about that tradition? I can understand not getting the good national kids, but lately, we’ve been having trouble landing the best in-state WRs. There is no reason for a top-5 in NC type player who is a WR to go to any other school, given both our tradition and our need at that position.

  23. Alpha Wolf 04/20/2009 at 8:58 AM #

    On a lighter note: our buddy Bob Lee Swagger on Lee Fowler:

    “For his next trick, Lee will (1) spray paint CONGRATULATIONS TO ROY FOR #5 in the Free Expression Tunnel …. (2) declare DT was over-rated ….. then (3) call a press conference to announce he’s uncovered new evidence against Jimmy V.

    If Lee Fowler “rises from the dead” after all this ….. Easter will have a new poster boy.”

  24. Noah 04/20/2009 at 9:14 AM #

    Jarvis Williams, Donald Bowens, Owen Spencer, Jay Smith, Stephen Howard…we’ve got some receivers. What we need is that marquee, go-to guy that you always worry about on third down.

    We’ve got really good 2-4 receivers and we’ve got two good TEs. We just need that marquee guy.

  25. Alpha Wolf 04/20/2009 at 9:23 AM #

    The “marquee guy” could well be Graham if he improves his catching percentage and the receivers coaches can teach him better open field moves.

    Once the guy gets a step on most DBs, they are not going to catch him. He just has to learn how to make that step happen more often.

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