NC State isn’t necessarily a flashy program. The Wolfpack are blue-collar, gritty and desperately looking to take the next step.
The same could be said for the way the Wolfpack have recruited over the years. Current head coach Dave Doeren has signed a top-30 class just once since taking the job in 2013. But NC State has pumped out a slew of NFL Draft picks and develops its talent as well as any program in the country.
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Let’s take a look at some of the highs and lows of NC State recruiting over the years.
Best recruit, pre-internet rankings: Torry Holt, WR
The greatest wide receiver in NC State history, Holt still holds a slew of the school’s receiving records: single-game yards (255 versus Baylor in 1998), single-season yards (1,604 in 1998) and career yards (3,379) among many others.
In an interview with the school’s official university website in 2019, Holt credited NC State for being one of the few programs that stuck by him during the recruiting process when he left his high school in Gibsonville, N.C., to attend Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy to improve his grades. The Wolfpack’s belief in Holt paid off.
“NC State stuck with me, even though I had Tennessee, Carolina, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Notre Dame all coming after me,” Holt said. “I got my grades and my studies on point so that I could enroll at NC State. For me, it was about staying committed to those that were committed to me. NC State showed me a tremendous amount of loyalty.”
Holt left NC State as a consensus first-team All-American and the 1998 ACC player of the year. He was taken by the St. Louis Rams with the No. 6 pick in the 1999 draft and was named rookie of the year and won a Super Bowl title in his first season in the league.
He finished his NFL career with seven Pro Bowl selections and was inducted into NC State’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
Torry Holt is one of the top wide receivers in ACC history. (Chris Covatta / Allsport)Best recruit, modern era: Mario Williams, DE
There are several options for this category, including former quarterback Mike Glennon, a top-50 recruit in the Class of 2008 and the program’s highest-ranked QB signee. Defensive tackle DeMario Pressley and running back Toney Baker are the Pack’s two highest-rated recruits of the modern era, but Pressley never earned All-ACC honors (before becoming a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft) and Baker’s career was unfortunately defined by a severe knee injury that forced him to miss two seasons.
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Williams, therefore, is the pick. A four-star defensive end in the Class of 2003, he was ranked the No. 78 player nationally and the No. 7 strongside defensive end. Williams was selected by the Houston Texans with the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft, ahead of Reggie Bush and Vince Young.
His 27 1/2 tackles for loss and 14 1/2 sacks in 2005 are still single-season school records.
Most influential recruit: Philip Rivers, QB
As a former two-star recruit from Athens, Ala., Rivers will also go down as one of the best developmental stories in program history. But he gets the nod here because of the way he set the standard for quarterback play at NC State in the modern era.
Rivers was the first of five Wolfpack QBs this century who went on to play in the NFL, followed by Russell Wilson, Glennon, Jacoby Brissett and Ryan Finley. Could Devin Leary, who recently transferred to Kentucky, and Brennan Armstrong, who transferred in from Virginia, be next?
Rivers left NC State having set school and ACC career records for passing yards with 13,484, and he still holds the school record for passing efficiency.
Biggest bust: Marcus Stone, QB
Stone arrived at NC State as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2003 out of Bishop McDevitt High in Harrisburg, Pa. Recruited to be the successor to Rivers, the No. 4 pick in the 2004 draft, Stone started only 12 games at quarterback over his first four years on campus before moving to tight end as a fifth-year senior in 2007.
He was productive at his new position, catching 36 passes for 452 yards, but that’s not exactly what the Wolfpack were expecting from a four-star quarterback signee.
Best developmental story: Bradley Chubb, OLB
Chubb was the nation’s No. 734 prospect and No. 60 outside linebacker in the Class of 2014. He had a handful of Power 5 offers, but nothing like the list you’d expect based on the way his NC State career unfolded. His father, Aaron, and cousin Nick played at Georgia, but Mississippi State was the only SEC school to offer Chubb a scholarship.
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The Georgia native thrived at NC State, where he won the Nagurski Trophy in 2017, given to college football’s top defender, and he still holds school records for career tackles for loss (60) and sacks (26).
The Denver Broncos selected Chubb with the No. 5 pick in the 2018 draft, and he recently signed a five-year, $112 million extension with the Miami Dolphins. Not bad for a former three-star prospect.
The one who got away: Will Shipley, RB
To say that Shipley, a five-star Class of 2021 running back from Weddington, N.C., is from an NC State family would be an understatement. His parents graduated from NC State, and 26 family members on his mom’s side also have a degree from the university.
But Shipley picked Clemson, where he has emerged as one of the top offensive players in the ACC. In 2022, he rushed for 1,182 yards and 15 touchdowns en route to earning first-team all-conference honors.
“Especially early on in the recruiting process, there was a lot of pressure to kind of be funneled to NC State,” Shipley said last season. “My parents did a great job of always making sure they were never throwing in their bias because (they are) graduates.
“(But) we’ve definitely got Wolfpack in our blood.”
Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories looking back at recruiting superlatives for select Power 5 programs. The stories can be found here.
(Top photo of Philip Rivers: Andy Lyons / Allsport)
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