The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530878
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 ■ 11 TRACKING THE PACK State. The Pack looked like the team to beat, but that changed quickly. The four-star pass catcher named Georgia and Virginia as his top two schools go- ing into his trip to Athens. "If things go right, I could commit right after this visit," Bolder told On3. "This will be my third time to Geor- gia, and I'm excited to get back on the campus of one of the top schools in the country." NC State sat in third place, and it was uncertain whether he would even make it to Raleigh for his official visit. However, during his recruitment, one source close to the receiver em- phasized how important loyalty was to him. Other high schools had tried to get him to transfer from Forest Hills, but he stuck with the people he trusted. NC State was one of the first schools to believe in Bolder, and that mattered. An official visit in June reinforced every- thing he already knew about the pro- gram, and he committed before leaving campus. "It never changed with NC State," he said. "They were my second or third camp. That's when they offered, and they have been on me hard since. Every time they called my coach, they told him I was a priority. They told me the same, and that was important to me." Once he committed, Bolder never re- ally wavered. He signed on Dec. 4 as the highest-ranked recruit in the class and will head to NC State on the heels of a senior year in which he caught 86 passes for 1,445 yards and 11 touchdowns. The battle for Sowells also was hotly contested. He had emerged as one of the top center prospects in the country out of Louisville (Ky.) Male High, and while Kentucky is not in the Wolfpack's usual recruiting footprint, the staff was determined to outwork its SEC compe- tition. Listed by On3 as the No. 280 overall prospect and No. 21 interior offensive lineman nationally, as well as the No. 2 player in Kentucky, Sowells picked up an NC State offer leading into his junior year. Both offensive line coach Garett Tujague and Joker Phillips, a former Kentucky head coach who knows the area well, were both on the phone when they extended the offer. Sowells stopped by campus for a ju- nior day in January and returned in the spring. During one of their visits, he and his father, Isaac Sowells Sr., said players came out of a team meeting and intro- duced themselves, one after the other. "That is the first time that's ever happened," the elder Sowells said. "I thought that was pretty cool. They were very welcoming." Sowells said he could see himself go- ing to NC State at that point. He was also a priority for Kentucky, but every- thing clicked during his official visit to Raleigh, and he committed in July. A flip was never a concern with Sow- ells. He built strong relationships with the staff and his future teammates that helped NC State overcome the proxim- ity and allure of Kentucky. "The amount of communication and how loving Coach Tujague, Coach Do- eren and the whole staff have been to me since they offered me in August [of 2023] always made it feel like home," Sowells said. Wilson, too, was firmly committed, joining NC State's class in June 2023 and never wavering. NC State locked in on two quarter- back prospects in the early days of the 2025 recruiting cycle — Wilson and Bryce Baker, who's now set to attend UNC. Both prospects thought highly of NC State, but Wilson left campus ready to commit after sitting down with Do- eren on a visit prior to his junior season. "That's when I knew," Wilson said. "That conversation we had, with him and my dad, that sealed the deal right there." Wilson is from Columbia, S.C., and held an offer from the Gamecocks when he picked the Pack. Penn State and TCU also had extended scholarship offers. Listed by On3 as the nation's No. 47 quarterback and No. 16 South Caro- lina prospect, Wilson said schools tried hard to flip him, but he never gave it any thought. "They couldn't break what was al- ready built with State," he said. During his senior season, Wilson completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 2,482 yards, with 22 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. It was a stellar finale to his high school career, and his loyalty to NC State throughout the re- cruiting process made a strong impres- sion on his future head coach. "He was very solid throughout," Do- eren said. "He had a lot of people trying to get him to change his mind, and his loyalty was very impressive." ■ Offensive lineman Isaac Sowells had been a priority for his home-state school Kentucky, but the relationships he developed with NC State's staff drew him to Raleigh. PHOTO COURTESY ISAAC SOWELLS Other schools tried to flip quarterback Will Wilson, but he followed through on a pledge he'd made to the Wolfpack in June 2023. PHOTO COURTESY WILL WILSON