WRAL Sports Fan

College Football

Recruiting: In-state teams seem to have secured players

By Sammy Batten

Jan 28, 2009

For the first time in recent memory, national signing day may actually be drama-free for North Carolina’s five in-state football programs.

It’s been common the last few years for some major development to occur in the final hours before prospects officially become recruits by signing their names to a national letter-of-intent. But because the in-state schools have already secured their major targets for the most part, signing day 2009 may be a mere formality.

Duke (27), N.C. State (27) and North Carolina (29) have all received oral commitments exceeding the NCAA annual quota of 25, which means they have little or no room for any signing-day maneuvering.

Wake Forest (22) and East Carolina (18) will probably add one or two more on signing day, but nothing earth-shattering is expected.

North Carolina may be set to sign one of the best classes in school history.

Scout.com currently ranks the UNC class third-best in the nation behind Ohio State and LSU. Rivals.com has the Tar Heels sixth.

If those rankings hold, it would be North Carolina’s best class since Scout and Rivals began their ratings in 2002. UNC’s highest previous standing was 13th in both polls in 2003.

Prior to that, you have to go back to 1994, when Mack Brown was in charge of the Tar Heel program, to find a higher ranking. Brown’s class was rated 11th nationally that year by SuperPrep recruiting magazine, which has produced the longest-running team rankings.

Duke has the next-highest-rated class among the in-state schools, according to Rivals. The Web site has the Blue Devils 49th.

N.C. State comes in at No. 2 in the state in the Scout.com rankings and holds down the 33rd spot nationally.

Of course, all these are subject to change on signing day, when a large number of uncommitted players tend to announce their decisions.

Duke picks up receiver

The Blue Devils added a late member to their class this week when former Virginia commit Tyree Watkins committed after a weekend visit to Durham.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound wide receiver plays at Camden High in Camden, N.J. He made a pledge to Virginia back in July, but withdrew the commitment after Mike Groh was dismissed as the Wahoo’s offensive coordinator.

Watkins quickly formed a strong relationship with Duke receivers coach Scottie Montgomery.

“He said the receivers coach was knowledgeable and he clicked with him pretty nicely," Camden coach Thomas Hanson said. “Once Virginia’s offensive coordinator left, he felt it was a better fit for him to come down there to Duke with the younger coaching staff, and he can be part of the building process."

Watkins is the only player in Hanson’s 28-year career at Camden to be a four-year starter. He made 79 catches and scored 18 touchdowns in his final two varsity seasons.

“He’s real intelligent,’’ Hanson said. “He’s a student of the game. He knows his plays sometimes better than the coaches.’’

Meyer coming to town

Urban Meyer, fresh off of leading Florida to a second national championship in three years, is scheduled to be in Fayetteville on Friday.

Meyer is coming to town to watch one of his prized recruits, Jack Britt offensive lineman Xavier Nixon, play basketball.

Florida currently has 16 commitments and is ranked 10th nationally by Rivals.com. But you can expect the Gators to make a significant rise come signing day, when they’ll probably add four to five more four- and five-star athletes to that list.

Ex-No. 1 coming home?

Thomasville’s E.J. Abrams-Ward, who was No. 1 a year ago in The Fayetteville Observer’s preseason Top 50 list of the state’s top prospects, may be coming home.

Abrams-Ward was dismissed last week from the program at Tennessee for reasons that were not made public. He was redshirted in 2008 as a true freshman.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal’s veteran reporter, Bill Cole, the 6-4, 210-pound wide receiver would like to transfer to North Carolina.

Thomasville assistant coach Sam Captain told Cole that contact has already been made with UNC defensive coordinator Everett Withers. But because the Tar Heel staff is busy finishing off the current recruiting class, it may be several weeks before they can give Abrams-Ward a decision, Captain said.

Sammy Batten can be reached at battens@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3534.