TOB Lands Important Commitment

NC State Head Coach, Tom O’Brien has been winning the respect of the media…and now it looks like he is garnering respect from the state’s top high school football players.

Coach O’Brien secured his third – and most important to date – verbal commitment of this year’s recruiting class this week when Shelby Crest linebacker, Dwayne Maddox declared his intention to join former Crest stars David Thompson, Chris Coleman, and Tim Ramseur as member’s of the Wolfpack family.

State also has verbal commitments from Pittsboro Northwood running back Tobias Palmer and Charlotte Independence tight end Mario Carter.

Maddox, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound (rising) senior is considered one of the top 20 linebackers in the country by most recruiting services and he claimed offers from programs like Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. You can read more about Maddox in this article at the N&O.

The former coaching staff left the shelves very lightly stocked with talent at the linebacker position, so Maddox’s commitment provides an extra boost to the Wolfpack’s future depth chart. Now Wolfpackers will start hoping for a ‘dream team’ of commitments at the position and you will see a lot of attention on Laurinburg’s (Scotland High School) Terrell Manning. Manning is considered one of the Top 100 players in the entire country and easily one of the ten best at his position. He continues to most often speak of five schools – Clemson, Florida, North Carolina, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.

There is growing ‘chatter’ within the world of high school recruiting that NC State is positioned very nicely with enough key targets for people to start speculating that the Wolfpack may construct a fantastic recruiting class. You can use the comments in this entry to talk football recruiting.

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Football Recruiting General

76 Responses to TOB Lands Important Commitment

  1. packbackr04 06/22/2007 at 10:11 AM #

    semper fi, do or die!!!!

    what makes the grass grow?

    BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!

    what do we do?

    KILL! KILL! KILL!

    way to go TOB

  2. beowolf 06/22/2007 at 10:30 AM #

    I love the positive buzz building around this program.

  3. noah 06/22/2007 at 10:58 AM #

    Brian Barnes, from Bunn, is going to be another very important prospect.

    BTW, I believe Ryan Hamrick was also from Shelby.

  4. McWufPacker06 06/22/2007 at 10:59 AM #

    I graduated from Scotland High!!! Go Fighting SCOTS!!!

    hmmm, I wonder if there is anything I can do to help him lean towards NC State – legal of course. I’m happy to see the recent positive recruiting news coming about TOB – I’m looking forward to the upcoming football season and beyond.

  5. Mr O 06/22/2007 at 11:06 AM #

    Brandon Barnes, right Noah? His offer list is incredible(includes the Trojans).

    The QB Glennon sounds extremely impressive based on Pack Pride’s camp reports and the comments from some of the other players that attended the camp. Sounds like we have a great chance to land him and he has offers from Miami, Michigan, Va Tech, UVa and many others.

    Also sounds like TOB is very popular in the state of NC right now. It will be interesting to see if this class will be rated as high as Amato’s best classes.

  6. BJD95 06/22/2007 at 11:20 AM #

    ^ It doesn’t have to be rated as high – just needs to give us the threshhold amount of talent we need to really compete at the highest level. It sounds like we are on track for that.

    NC State’s formula in football will ALWAYS need to be “enough talent plus coaching” – we aren’t going to win by accumulating “overwhelming talent” like FSU. That model has been tried, and it failed.

  7. Pack92 06/22/2007 at 11:33 AM #

    Man, it has been sooo long since this feeling has surrounded our football program. The last time I personally remember this much optimism was CTC’s first year and a friend of mine told me after spring practice “some kid named Rivers” might get some playing time that year. What a year that was!
    Way to go TOB. I will say again – DO NOT underestimate this quiet, unassuming man.

  8. Mr O 06/22/2007 at 11:59 AM #

    BJD95: The reason I brought up rating is that it appears this year’s class could be as talented as some in the past if everything goes our way.

  9. ncsu96 06/22/2007 at 12:08 PM #

    One of key questions for this hire is can TOB upgrade his recruiting (over BC) at major state university and so far the very early indicators are yes.

    Just have patience, it may take a little time. We will definitely improve but don’t expect a huge increase in Ws, our schedule has some tough tough away games.

  10. kool k 06/22/2007 at 12:14 PM #

    IT’S DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL!!!

  11. PAPacker 06/22/2007 at 12:18 PM #

    How about QB Jacob Charest? He is also being heavily recruited. Any sense about perceptions of him at camp or what schools he is leaning toward? Same question with Mattes, the OL from Concord.

  12. primacyone 06/22/2007 at 12:54 PM #

    Dwight Jones, one of UNC’s Butch MF Davis’s 2007 star recruits has failed to qualify and has enrolled in Hargrave Millitary academy. He was a 4 star and 16th ranked WR. Chatter says he scored in the 700’s on his SAT. I’m sure Butch MF Davis will try and get him qualifed for the 2008 class.

  13. westwolf 06/22/2007 at 1:15 PM #

    ^I’m sure they’ll find a major for him at Unc, probably the same one as Sheed, Mcginnis, and others.

  14. BoKnowsNCS71 06/22/2007 at 1:17 PM #

    Phil Steele’s CF preview says some good things about the Pack. Going to a bowl is one — except he has us playing USF in Charlotte which does not make any sense since they both play the first game of the season. A re-match would not seem to be that appealling. We are listed as #5 on the list of most improved teams. It looks like TOB is building a solid foundation for the future to go with the talent he has.

    FYI — At the end of last year the NCAA changed its terminology in reference to Division IAA and 1A.

    1A teams are now called FBS teams (Football Bowl Subdivision)
    1AA teams are now called FCS (Football Championship Subdivision)

  15. RickJ 06/22/2007 at 1:25 PM #

    ^We play Central Florida in the first game of the season, not USF.

  16. noah 06/22/2007 at 1:33 PM #

    Brandon Barnes…my fault.

    And I think recruiting rankings do matter a little. People follow them more than they used to and when you can get a little buzz, a little credibility around you, it helps you when you are new and going into a high school or a neighborhood for the first time.

  17. RedTerror29 06/22/2007 at 1:50 PM #

    “1A teams are now called FBS teams (Football Bowl Subdivision)
    1AA teams are now called FCS (Football Championship Subdivision)”

    About par for the course for the NCAA…

  18. RedTerror29 06/22/2007 at 1:57 PM #

    How is our recruiting instate shaping up compared to UNC?

  19. one00_proof 06/22/2007 at 2:01 PM #

    This could be a very, very special class. There’s a big buzz around the recruiting sites, and for very good reasons. Even UNC, who made a nice recruiting haul last year, is starting to question Butch’s recruiting tactics because they’re noticing State is making a pretty big sweep of the top players in the state. We should all be very giddy about this 2008 class, because it’s definitely one that if it shapes out accordingly, could be a program changer.

  20. BoKnowsNCS71 06/22/2007 at 2:25 PM #

    Thanks Rick. Relieves some angst about that first game but not all.

  21. lush 06/22/2007 at 2:44 PM #

    kool k,

    what division it?

    should we go play intermurals????

  22. westwolf 06/22/2007 at 3:13 PM #

    I think that Butch Davis is the type of coach that appeals to fans, boosters, and those in the media who to associate with big names.

    I think that TOB is the type of coach that appeals to parents, long-term high school coaches, and media types who like to associate with academic minded coaches.

  23. gumbydammit 06/22/2007 at 3:24 PM #

    I noticed in the article tha Brandon Spikes ended up at Florida, although supposedly he was coming here. Where’s Paul Harvey when you need him to give us the rest of THAT story…

  24. RedTerror29 06/22/2007 at 3:47 PM #

    ^^I think Butch Davis will be better than TOB at getting the blue chips, where the recruiting’s really seedy, but there’s no reason TOB can’t compete with Butch equally when it comes to good talent in NC.

  25. PAPacker 06/22/2007 at 4:15 PM #

    Any insights about Mattes and Charest?

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