College football signing day is here!!
What a change we have experienced in Raleigh!? In the span of just under two months, NC State fans have gone from overwhelmingly apathetic regarding the annual rite of passage of signing day to highly interested and engaged in the happenings of “life in the fast lane”!
You can thank Coach Dave Doeren and his staff for the big shift.
If you haven’t been paying much attention to the hamster wheel that is college football recruiting then you have missed quite an interesting transformation in Raleigh over the last couple of months. Coach Doeren and his staff deserve significant praise for making an immediate impact on this year’s class – a very difficult feat when you consider the long term sales cycle of recruiting and relationship building. Said with more ‘quantification’, in the last month NC State’s national recruiting rankings have jumped from a range of #65-#70 to something more like #40 on the backs of some important commitments.
Hopefully you recognize this because you’ve been following our message forums (linked here). For example, this article and conversation was actually written BEFORE Doeren’s staff went SIX FOR SIX by nabbing commitments from every official visitor that we hosted last weekend!!
NC State’s new staff beat out SEC and Big 10 programs, among others, for players like Dayes, Gibbs and Jones. Gibbs was not even on the Pack’s recruiting board when Doeren was hired on Dec. 1. Getting Dayes back in the fold is a huge victory, and the addition of Brissett could really pay dividends down the line, while they had to fend off opposing programs for several who were verbally committed when they took the job.
If the staff can duplicate the effort they have given in their short time on the trail so far, recruiting at NC State looks like it is on the upswing. Nothing is signed and delivered yet on the 2013 class, but this staff has shown they are willing to battle for who they see fit for their system, can quickly make an impression and close the deal despite stiff competition.
Truthfully, the jury is still out on a staff that was just completed in late December, but the evidence that has been presented so far shows they have the qualities and desire to do damage on the recruiting trail. It still won’t be a completely level playing field because many schools have been working on the class of 2014 for some time, while the Pack has had to scramble and focus entirely on this year’s cycle, but this coaching staff will have a full year to prove their mettle by this time next February, and the results could be stunning.
Even the folks in Atlanta are noticing the Pack. This piece just hit.
In addition to the recent excitement generated by Doeren and his staff, there are some rumblings that ‘something big’ could potentially happen for the Wolfpack on Wednesday. Although not confirmed, there are rumblings that State may have landed at least one big name that will become
Chancellor Woodson certainly did nothing to diminish this speculation when he announced in Wilmington on Monday night that ESPN was going to be on NC State’s campus for National Signing Day. Evidently he alluded to something big happening, but wouldn’t give specifics.
For a quick primer on the needs of every ACC school you can click here.
North Carolina State
Biggest need: Athletes for spread offense.
Biggest recruit: Three-star wide receiver Johnathan Alston leads a very good class of skill players.
Speaking of Alston, if you haven’t been following our message forums then you might have missed the news in real-time that the Pack landed a commitment from Alston over UNC-CHeats just last week.
I would ask that you definitely take the time to discuss whatever you would like in the comments section of this entry as well as on our football message forums. Additionally, I am impressed with GoPack’s Signing Day Central (linked here) that is providing some great coverage in real-time. It is a huge improvement from their work in the past.
Lastly, please don’t ignore Jigawatt’s daily webrun (linked here) that serves all of the NC State news that you need to set your table for the day!!
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