The Wolfpacker NC State football recruiting mailbag: June 21

NC State hosted its busiest visit weekend of the summer June 16-18 and, while the June 23-25 visit slate is smaller, there are several prospects on commit watch as the program nears the end of its first summer recruiting window.

July, even though it is a dead period on the NCAA recruiting calendar, could be a massive month for the Wolfpack’s 2024 class with several four-star prospects scheduled to make their respective decisions.

This week’s mailbag lays out the current decision calendar and shares some good news on a few recruits who are trending towards NC State.

The Wolfpacker football recruiting mailbag

I haven’t heard much about Robby Martin, the OL from West Virginia, How did his visit go?

Robby Martin’s visit went extremely well. The lineman was definitely enjoying the trip when TheWolfpacker.com spoke with him Saturday, and the intel afterwards indicated that he had a great time. He said he fit in well with NC State’s current players, which is obviously ideal on these official visits.

At this point, his recruitment is essentially a top three of West Virginia, Pittsburgh and NC State. The Mountaineers are his home state program and have been involved here for a while, while the Panthers offered him June 12 but quickly scheduled an official visit for June 23-25.

Both programs are serious competitors with the Pack, but this trip definitely left a positive impression. Martin hopes to make his decision later this month.

Which, if any, of the recruits from this past official visit weekend do you expect to commit soon?

When can we expect to see our next commit?

Of the 7 uncommitted prospects who officially visited last week, I think Martin and Ronnie Royal III are the most likely prospects to make a decision soon. Both recruits shared that they hope to commit before the end of the month. NC State is in a good spot for both prospects, but neither recruitment is sewn up yet. Royal is deciding between Boston College and the Wolfpack, but I everything I heard indicated he loved his first trip to Raleigh.

Here’s are the tentative decision timelines for each of last week—

Four-star wide receiver Jonathan Paylor: July Four-star wide receiver Terrell Anderson: Early-mid JulyFour-star wide receiver Alex Taylor: July 29Three-star athlete Ronnie Royal III: By the end of JuneThree-star offensive lineman Robby Martin: By the end of JuneOffensive tackle Trent Mitchell: “Soon” (likely at some point this summer, per the lineman)Three-star defensive lineman Josh Alexander-Felton: The fall

I think NC State will secure at least one commitment this weekend. The program is in a good spot with Deryc Plazz, who recently decommitted from Penn State, and Jivan Baly, who has been trending towards the Wolfpack for months. With that said, I could see Plazz waiting until the fall to make a decision. Linebacker Elijah Groves also plans on making his decision July 1, so he is someone to keep an eye on as well.

What are the odds of us landing either Jonathan Paylor or Alex Taylor? What about Terrell Anderson?

Do we have a legit shot at Paylor? Seems like SC may close the door on us this weekend.

This is my best guess at a ranking of where NC State stands with those three receivers.

1) Anderson

2) Paylor

3) Taylor

The Wolfpack has been in a good spot with Anderson for months, and his official visit strengthened the program’s standing here. Going into his weekend trip today, I am projecting him to NC State and will likely submit an RPM pick if the momentum does not shift this weekend in Knoxville.

With Paylor, NC State made things very close with South Carolina over the past month, but I get the vibe that the Gamecocks still hold the advantage here. The SEC program will host the four-star receiver this weekend. If he leaves uncommitted, then I could see his decision coming down to the wire next month.

Taylor visited UNC last week and is the only program to host him unofficially this month. He maintains that each of his top five schools, Virginia Tech, Clemson, NC State, UNC and Penn State, are even right now, but this has the feel of an in-state battle between the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels right now. I could also absolutely see the receiver committing to Clemson if there is room in the Tigers’ class.

Are we doing anything different compared to earlier years to improve our official visit experience for recruits? Considering the critical importance of this visit, I am sure all schools strive to maximize the impact and ‘wow” factor for each recruit.

I wrote at-length yesterday about a few changes NC State made to its official visits this year!

To summarize, yes, the Wolfpack’s recruiting department is constantly growing and evolving. The creative team went all-out with this year’s photoshoot, and I had one recruit tell me over the weekend he had never gone through that many photo/video stations. NC State’s staff also adjusted how it schedules the opening hours of the visit to fit in the photoshoots while everyone hangs out around the stadium with the coaches.

Are the higher rated recruits that you speak with turned off to some degree by the recent commitments from lower rated recruits?

No, I do not think that matters very much to the recruits. It helps to pick up commitments from highly ranked prospects, that definitely generates buzz around a class, but I do not think a commitment ever hurts the class. That is especially the case when they are in-state prospects such as Zane Williams and Isiah Jones. They are both extremely productive athletes for winning programs, and a lot of recruiting targets in North Carolina probably know who they are, which helps the Pack.

The post The Wolfpacker NC State football recruiting mailbag: June 21 appeared first on On3.