The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1493632
36 ■ THE WOLFPACKER he NC State football recruiting class for 2023 has more variety than usual. The Wolfpack tallied 24 newcomers, but there are fewer prep stand- outs in that group than the program typically welcomes. Fifteen hail from the high school ranks, while three are junior college prospects and six are additions from the transfer portal. Such is the new reality of college football recruiting. The portal has become the dominant storyline in December, replacing the build-up to National Signing Day. So prevalent is the desire to seek experienced help from the transfer market that NC State head coach Dave Doeren noticed an opening to make a splash in the junior college ranks. "It felt like, with the transfer portal and all the attention paid to four-year trans- fers, that the junior colleges were being neglected a little bit in recruiting," Doeren said. "We were able to find some really good players there that normally would have had more traffic, in our opinion. "That was a good job by our coaches — do- ing their homework and finding guys that were fits and in the need areas that we had where we weren't having the same luck, maybe, in the high school or the portal world." For Doeren, that was the latest adjustment in what he noted has been a three-year period of dramatic changes in recruiting. "We are learning how to live within this world as we go," he said. "We'll get better as we go through it." In totality, Doeren was pleased with where NC State landed. "It's an incredibly talented group of young men, and we're excited to have the honor to help them and coach them and develop them into the best versions of themselves," Doeren said. "There's a bunch of guys who are going to help us, and some of them, because of the guys we're losing, will have a chance to play early." Doeren noted that the four-player prep offensive line class stands out for being the "tallest group of linemen we've ever gotten in one class." Three of the four are listed at 6-foot-6 or taller. "The wingspan, the athleticism, the length, all those things matter at the tackle and guard positions when you're talking about pass protection, standing between the quarterback and the line of scrimmage," Doeren said. DIVERSE RECRUITING Dave Doeren Leans On High Schools, Junior Colleges And The Transfer Portal To Assemble His 2023 Class BY MATT CARTER T On3 Consensus Four-Stars Signed By Dave Doeren Year Total 2023 2 2022 4 2021 4 2020 2 2019 6 2018 6 2017 1 2016 2 2015 5