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2016 Football Recruiting Thread - Notes from NSD Press Conference and Reception

I am truly impressed that coaches can maintain recruiting functions while still trying to coach the current team week in and week out. They surely feel like their work is never done, which is why the probably put in such insane hours.
 
I updated the Big Board posts at the beginning of the thread with some visit info. DT Christian Colon is visiting NC State for the FSU game. It will be a big visit weekend for NC State. Some of the 2016 skill position targets (that I will add to the thread later on) will be there as well.

OL Pete Leota has made the trip up to Boston College for their game today.
 
There a lot of skill position players that I want to add to this thread. Instead of waiting until I have them all written, I will add them one-by-one. I will post them at the end of the thread and also put a copy at the beginning of the thread to keep everything together. I will kick it off with Big Board RB Elijah Deveaux:

Elijah Deveaux (RB - 6’1/208) Charlotte Christian HS / Charlotte, NC
Rating: 3-star / #38 ATH in the country / #17 player in North Carolina
Power 5 Offers: Wake Forest, Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, NC State and Pitt
Background: The recruiting websites have been following him for a long time. He was first mentioned on Rivals in April 2012 when he was an eighth-grader and has been mentioned or covered in 24 articles since then. Had 1,800 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns as a sophomore. Running style combines speed and power. Excels at running between the tackles. Can catch the ball out of the backfield. His father played RB at Pitt from 1988-1992. Says that he (Elijah) has been a Pitt fan all of his life. Likely will also play baseball at the college level. Said that Wake baseball contacted him earlier in the process than Wake football (Wake football has since taken the lead in the recruitment). He is very focused on academics and also wants to play early. Boston College may be recruiting him as a defensive back. He knows Isaiah Robinson and 2015-commit Amari Henderson from youth football.
Unofficial Visits: Visited NC State on multiple occasions, including 9/27 for the NCSU-FSU game which he attended with his younger brother who was on his first unofficial visit. Visited Wake Forest in July and again for the homecoming game against Army. Visited Georgia Tech and Duke over the summer. Went back to Duke in September for the Duke-Kansas game. Visited Boston College in January. Attended Pitt’s win over Notre Dame last season. Attended only one camp this summer (Clemson).
Recruitment: Has named a top 5 of Wake Forest, Duke, NC State, Pitt and Georgia Tech. He is still open to other schools. He will likely decide earlier than most kids in his class. My guess is that he will make a decision this winter. He has hinted that he may already know where he wants to go, but hasn’t let on which school that is. He has never mentioned a leader. He had really good things to say about Wake after attending the Army game.
Outlook: If I were betting money I would guess that he ends up at NC State or Duke, but there are a lot of factors in this recruitment and I think Wake Forest has a legitimate shot. He wants great academics, early playing time, a program that brings-in high character recruits, and a comfort level with the baseball program. With so many factors involved this recruitment difficult to predict. Then throw in the fact that he hasn’t to my knowledge even hinted at a leader. This is obviously one to watch closely.
 
Another addition to the still-in-progress skill position Boards. Moe Neal is a dynamic playmaker that Wake is heavily involved with, and we all know how much Wake needs to target playmakers. To provide some context to his ranking as the #7 all-purpose back in the country, keep in mind that the #9 all-purpose back in the 2015 class is Nyheim Hines.

Moe Neal (WR/RB 5’10/165) – Forestview HS / Gastonia, NC
Rating: 3-star / #15 player in North Carolina / #7 all-purpose back in the country
Power 5 Offers: Wake Forest, Duke, NC State, Boston College, Syracuse, Mississippi State
Background: First noted in recruiting circles as a freshman in HS when he recorded 800 all-purpose yards. Increased that number to 2,000 yards his sophomore season. Also scored 27 TDs last season. Through his first 4 games this season he is averaging 222 all-purpose yards per game. Has 12 touchdowns in those 4 games. Ran a hand-timed 4.6 40 as a freshman. Told an interviewer he ran 4.5 this year at an Under Armor combine. He envisions himself used in a Percy Harvin type role. He knows that he has to get bigger and stronger to play at the college level. Moves around between RB, slot and WR in Forestview’s spread offense, but lines up at RB the most. UNC is evaluating him as a receiver. Georgia Tech is recruiting him for the A-back role. He has said that he is looking for a school that provides him with the right combination of academics and football.
Visits: Attended camps this summer at Duke, NC State, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina. Also visited Wake Forest and Georgia Tech in July. I don’t know of any fall visits yet, but he said recently that he would like to visit Syracuse, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Recruitment: Mississippi State offered him after his freshman year. Visited Boston College in January. NC State and Duke offered immediately after he attended their summer camps. Told multiple interviewers this summer that Wake Forest was recruiting him the hardest, specifically telling Scout (about the attention he was receiving from Wake) “It means a lot. They’ve been showing a lot of love to me and my family.”
 
Deac94 said:
Another addition to the still-in-progress skill position Boards. Moe Neal is a dynamic playmaker that Wake is heavily involved with, and we all know how much Wake needs to target playmakers. To provide some context to his ranking as the #7 all-purpose back in the country, keep in mind that the #9 all-purpose back in the 2015 class is Nyheim Hines.

Moe Neal (WR/RB 5’10/165) – Forestview HS / Gastonia, NC
Rating: 3-star / #15 player in North Carolina / #7 all-purpose back in the country
Power 5 Offers: Wake Forest, Duke, NC State, Boston College, Syracuse, Mississippi State
Background: First noted in recruiting circles as a freshman in HS when he recorded 800 all-purpose yards. Increased that number to 2,000 yards his sophomore season. Also scored 27 TDs last season. Through his first 4 games this season he is averaging 222 all-purpose yards per game. Has 12 touchdowns in those 4 games. Ran a hand-timed 4.6 40 as a freshman. Told an interviewer he ran 4.5 this year at an Under Armor combine. He envisions himself used in a Percy Harvin type role. He knows that he has to get bigger and stronger to play at the college level. Moves around between RB, slot and WR in Forestview’s spread offense, but lines up at RB the most. UNC is evaluating him as a receiver. Georgia Tech is recruiting him for the A-back role. He has said that he is looking for a school that provides him with the right combination of academics and football.
Visits: Attended camps this summer at Duke, NC State, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina. Also visited Wake Forest and Georgia Tech in July. I don’t know of any fall visits yet, but he said recently that he would like to visit Syracuse, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Recruitment: Mississippi State offered him after his freshman year. Visited Boston College in January. NC State and Duke offered immediately after he attended their summer camps. Told multiple interviewers this summer that Wake Forest was recruiting him the hardest, specifically telling Scout (about the attention he was receiving from Wake) “It means a lot. They’ve been showing a lot of love to me and my family.”
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I just hope that MOE KNOWS how special MSD is.
 
The seventh best all-purpose back in the country is only a 3* ??
 
I have updated the posts at the beginning of the thread with the info below. This wraps up my first look at the wide receivers for 2016. I am adding local recruit Derion Slade to my wide receiver Big Board. As noted below, I am speculating on his position and probably could have classified him as an ATH.

Derion Slade (5’11 / 178) - West Forsyth HS / Clemmons, NC
Ranking: 3-star
Offers: Wake Forest, Duke and West Virginia
Background: Athlete played all over the field for West Forsyth last year. Started the season at slot WR before moving to QB. Some recruiting websites list him as a dual-threat QB, but for now colleges are recruiting him as either a WR or DB. It will be interesting to see if he starts to get any attention as a dual-threat QB as he has put up some big numbers so far this year. I am going to guess that Wake is recruiting him for WR. Plans to major in sports medicine. High-level basketball player is a guard on the Team Felton AAU team, and will likely draw lower-level college scholarships offers to play on the hardwood. One of the first things that I noticed about him was that he had #UNC in his twitter profile and his Twitter banner was a picture of the UNC logo (since changed). Probably basketball related but still shows the perils of in-state recruiting, even in nearby Clemmons.
Visits: Wake Forest for Gardner-Webb game (which was a terrible game to attend from a crowd/weather perspective). Visited Duke 3 times already, including a game in September. Virginia Tech (no offer) on September 20.
Recruitment: West Virginia (specifically Lonnie Galloway) got the advantage of being his first offer and they will be a factor throughout his recruitment. He recently told Scout that Wake Forest and West Virginia are recruiting him the hardest. Tweeted the staff’s Sports Illustrated poster mailing last month. Said in the tweet “Can’t never count the home team out!”.


Keep an Eye On (players with a Wake offer at this point)
3-star WR Cornell Powell 6’1/190 (Rose HS / Greenville, NC) – Rivals #45 WR in the country and #11 player in North Carolina. He has a very intimidating offer list already, headlined by schools like Ohio State, LSU and Florida State. He warrants mention here only because he told Rivals that he visited Wake unofficially last month. He called campus “amazing”, said he was impressed by the business school, and called the building of the indoor practice center “uplifting”. He is wide-open but directionally seems to be headed towards one of the powerhouse programs. I will keep an eye on him.

Keep an Eye On (players without a Wake offer at this point)
Unrated WR Bryce Dixon 6’4/200 (Green Hope HS / Cary, NC) – Boston College is his only offer so far
Unrated WR Samuel Denmark 6’0/177 (Hanahan HS / Hanahan, SC)
 
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Deac94, I've heard we aren't interested in local product Kennedy McCoy from North Davidson. He has an offer from State and ran for 349 yards and six TD's last night at Davie! Can you verify if we have no interest? If so, this is a mistake by our staff IMO
 
Big 2016 recruiting day at Carolina today. Out of the players mentioned on this thread, key target DL Christian Colon, OL Taleni Suhren and DL Zach Gilbert will be there.
 
Bubbadeac said:
Hey Deac94, is Wake looking at Graham QB Jamie Newman?
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I had to research this one because I haven’t started looking at QBs yet. It looks like Wake is definitely recruiting him. Three-star dual-threat QB has a 3.8 GPA and is ranked #26 overall in the state. No surprise that a ranked, in-state player with that kind of GPA would be on Wake’s radar. Plus he reportedly camped at Wake this summer (along with camps at Duke, Clemson, NC State, and UNC). I have no idea about the exact interest level, and QB recruiting is particularly tough for me to crystal ball this early. It’s just a different animal.

If Wake offers, I imagine that it will be just to keep pace with NC State and others that have offered already. Even if Wake offers I wouldn’t expect it to be committable until Coach Ruggiero has a chance to complete his process next May.

I will post more about QB recruiting sometime after I finish the RB board, but I would expect Newman to be on a list of 5-10 names that Wake seems to have an early interest in.
 
I made the following updates to the original post on 2016 recruiting for the defense (post #2 on the thread).

Removed CB Jordan Griffin from the Watch List (Players with a Wake offer) following his commitment to Kentucky. I am glad that I get to unfollow him as this ends one of the most extensive Twitter-based love affairs between a recruit and a school’s fanbase that I have seen over the past year of following Wake recruits. Possibly influenced by the fact that Griffin retweets everything that he gets from UK fans, but from what I saw from following Griffin, Kentucky fans do some of the best work on Twitter. And they love Griffin. This is what I had originally written:

“3-star CB Jordan Griffin (Jonesboro HS / Jonesboro, GA) – #33 cornerback in the country. 6’1 tall so he meets the staff’s height requirement. The first thing that I noticed about Griffin is his Twitter name: Student Comes 1st. The second thing that I noticed is that he tweets a thank you note to pretty much everyone who follows him on Twitter. Seems like Wake material, and indeed Wake Forest has offered. So have Clemson, Kentucky, Ole Miss and NC State. Kentucky was his first offer and he attended both their spring game and summer camp. He has also visited UNC, Tennessee and Clemson. On the first day of the contact period he reported that he talked to Ohio State, Kentucky, NC State and Wake Forest. This is widely considered to be a two-horse race between Clemson and Kentucky, but he seems like the kind of recruit that we could have a shot with.”


Removed Tim Glass from the Watch List (Players without a Wake offer) following his commitment to NC State. This is what I had originally written:

"3-star S Tim Glass (Liberty Christian Academy / Danville, VA) – Rivals #25 S in the nation and #14 overall in Virginia. Has Power 5 offers from NC State and Virginia. NC State was his first offer. They offered before his sophomore year. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were his leader right now. It seems like they are recruiting him pretty hard. He has visited NC State and Virginia Tech three times. He also visited UNC and Virginia this summer. He said in an interview that he is pretty confident that offers will eventually come from Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Pitt and Miami."

Removed Zach Gilbert from the Watch List (Players with a Wake offer) following a Rivals article that again confirmed his high interest in UNC, Tennessee and Florida. This is not a recruit that Wake is going to be in competition for. I had probably made a mistake including him in the initial post. This is what I had originally written:

“3-star DE Zach Gilbert (South Mecklenburg HS / Charlotte, NC) doesn’t have a ton of offers yet but the ones that he has are pretty intimidating. Right now Tennessee and Florida appear to be leading with UNC running third. He has said that he would prefer to play in the SEC. He did have a brother go to Wake Forest. So there’s that. Son of former NFL star Sean Gilbert. He is Rivals #18 player in North Carolina.”

Updated Watch List DT Ellison Jordan’s write up to include a new offer from UNC.
 
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Added to the RB Board located at original post #3 at the beginning of the thread:

Jordon Brown (RB 5’10 / 180) – Southern Durham HS / Durham, NC
Rating: 3-star, #32 ATH in the country, #13 player in North Carolina
Offers: Wake Forest, Boston College, North Carolina, NC State and West Virginia
Background: High school teammate of Kendall Hinton. Had an 80-yard catch and run TD that ended up being the game winning score in last year’s state championship game. Had 750 yards and 13 TDs rushing last year and another 400 yards and 3 TDs receiving. Also a teammates last season that is a freshmen at NC State and another that is a 2015 commit to West Virginia. Says that he doesn’t want to choose a school based on where his teammates are going. Classified as an ATH by Rivals, most (if not all) schools are recruiting him as a RB. Looking for a place where he can play early that has great academics. Scout claims that he ran 4.48 and 4.50 on a slow track at UNC’s camp. He grew up a UNC fan as a kid.
Visits: Has visited NC State a few times. He visited Wake at least once this summer. Attended camp at UNC (his only camp this summer). He indicated that he would try to attend a game at each of the schools that have offered him thus far.
Recruitment: NC State was the first Power 5 school to enter the mix when they offered Brown in March. In a Rivals interview, he seemed to be more focused on NC State and Wake than the out-of-state schools. He maintains that he is wide open and will not name a favorite this early. I would be very surprised if he ultimately chooses an out-of-state school.
 
More additions to the RB Board located at original post #3 at the beginning of the thread:

Cade Carney (RB/S 5’11/200) – Davie HS / Mocksville, NC
Rating: 3-star, #23 player in North Carolina
Power 5 Offers: Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, UNC and NC State
Background: First noted in recruiting articles after he rushed for 1,900 yards and 17 TDs as a freshman. Production dropped to 1,200 yards and 15 TDs his sophomore year as he battled an ankle injury. Plays in a spread offense in high school. Lined up some at slot WR in prior years even though he is 200 lbs. He is also playing defense this year (Rover). UNC and NCSU are recruiting him as an ATH. Wake Forest is recruiting him for RB. Georgia Tech is recruiting him for the B-back role in their offense. Some schools think he projects better as a safety and he may draw more safety offers than running back offers going forward. His preference is to play RB. ECU has offered him as a safety. His father played DL at ECU, and Cade claims that he grew up as an ECU fan. His older sister is currently a freshman at ECU. He has said that the key factors in his recruitment will be what position he will play and the quality of the schools academics. Also would like to play in a “football town.”
Visits: Attended games at Wake, UNC and NC State during the 2013 season. Camped at UNC, Duke (no offer) and Clemson (no offer) this past summer. Visited Georgia Tech in May. Visited ECU in Spetember for the ECU-UNC game. Visited NCSU in September for the NCSU-FSU game. Has indicated he will visit Virginia Tech soon.
Recruitment: Wake Forest, UNC and NC State all offered after his freshman year. Even though the Grobe staff made the original offer, you can tell from his Twitter that the Clawson staff is recruiting him hard. He is not shy about his interest in Clemson even though they have not yet offered. I expect that Clemson would be very tough to beat if they offer. ECU will be a darkhorse throughout the process given his connections to the school. Said that UNC was his favorite camp this summer.


Rico Dowdle (RB 5’11/185) – A.C. Reynolds HS / Asheville, NC
Rating: Unrated
Power 5 Offers: Wake Forest
Background: Played RB sparingly as a sophomore, rushing for just under 400 yards and 4 TDs. Highly athletic, Dowdle is the leading scorer on Reynolds basketball team. He was suspended for the first 4 games of his high school season for disciplinary reasons.
Visits: Camped at Wake Forest this summer and received an offer shortly after. Also visited Wake unofficially later in the summer.
Recruitment: This one is tough to read without knowing how serious the issues were behind the 4-game suspension that Reynolds gave him. I have no idea if that would have impacted the staff’s interest level or not. The Wake staff generally seems very conservative about making offers early in the process, but Dowdle is another example of the staff showing a willingness to be really aggressive about offering certain recruits that they have seen perform in one of their camps. The early offer has very likely put Wake in a solid position. He has used a picture of himself in a Wake jersey in front of BB&T field as his avi on Twitter since the summer.



I will have more RBs later this week.....
 
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Hammer1 said:
Deac94, I've heard we aren't interested in local product Kennedy McCoy from North Davidson. He has an offer from State and ran for 349 yards and six TD's last night at Davie! Can you verify if we have no interest? If so, this is a mistake by our staff IMO
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I would be the wrong person to ask about whether or not the staff has zero interest in a recruit. I can only look for signs of higher interest levels and I can tell you that McCoy hasn't hit my radar (yet?). Do you know if he is an academic fit for Wake? Did he attend the underclassman camp at Wake in July?
 
This may be a dumb question, but can someone DM me with info about how I can change the thread title?
 
Or just double click next to the title like you would change a file name in Windows.
 
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