The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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MARCH 2016 ■ 47 of North Carolina outside of Garner (N.C.) High's Matthew Butler. The 6-3, 250-pounder, who is good friends with Pack sophomore wide receiver/running back Nyheim Hines, has offers from Duke, NC State, Penn State, UNC, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. He visited NCSU for a junior day Jan. 30. Rivals.com ranks him No. 20 among juniors in North Carolina. He made 65 tackles, including 18 for loss and 10 sacks, last year. Elijah Conliffe is a 6-4, 260-pounder from Hampton (Va.) High that has taken an unofficial visit to NC State. The Pack is among his early leaders along with Penn State and Tennessee. He also has offers from Georgia, Maryland, UNC, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Rivals.com rates him as the No. 18 prospect in Virginia and the No. 19 strongside defensive end nationally. Tommy Christ, a 6-5, 255-pounder at Sterling (Va.) Dominion High, has also attracted the Pack's attention. He is listed as the No. 28 player in Virginia by Rivals. com. NCSU was his first offer, but he has since been tendered by Maryland, Pitts- burgh, Rutgers, Virginia, Wake Forest and West Virginia. ■ Defensive Tackles The Pack has established a strong board at this position. One shoe that could drop soon is four-star Eric Crosby from Ocean Lakes High in Virginia Beach, Va. The 6-3, 265-pounder has visited NCSU on multiple occasions and has the Pack in his top five along with Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee and Virginia Tech. Crosby had 32 tackles, including nine for loss and two sacks, as a junior. Rivals. com ranks Crosby as the No. 5 player from Virginia, and the No. 8 defensive tackle and No. 119 overall prospect nationally. He will announce his choice April 22. Four-star Grant Gibson from Mal- lard Creek High in Charlotte has been a frequent visitor to NCSU. The 6-1, 290-pounder is ranked No. 6 in North Carolina and No. 16 nationally at his posi- tion. Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and West Virginia are among Gibson's other offers. Xach Gill from Wake Forest (N.C.) High has been on the radar since his sophomore year. The 6-5, 270-pounder had 51 tackles, including six for loss and four sacks, last year. He is ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the state and the No. 14 defensive tackle nationally by Rivals.com. Gill went to many NC State games last fall. Miami, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Ten- nessee, UNC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest are among his other offers. ■ Linebackers A key in-state target is three-star Sherrod Greene from Rocky Mount (N.C.) High. The 6-1, 220-pounder's first offer was from NC State, and he has previously listed the Pack as his favorite. South Carolina, UNC, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have since tendered. Greene amassed 154 tackles, 11 stops for loss, five sacks, four fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles while helping Rocky Mount to a state title last year. He is rated as the No. 18 player in the state and the No. 28 outside linebacker nationally. Three-star Hamsah Nasirildeen is better classified as an athlete, but many schools are recruiting the Concord (N.C.) High star as a linebacker due to his 6-5, 210-pound frame. He unofficially visited NCSU Feb. 20 for the basketball win over Clemson. He has also been offered by Maryland, Penn State and South Carolina. As a receiver, he caught 33 passes for 584 yards and a pair of scores, and he also ran for two touchdowns. Defensively, he added 80 tackles, two stops for loss, four interceptions and five passes broken up while playing safety. Rivals.com rates him as the No. 28 player in North Carolina. Darius Hodge had 65 stops, nine tackles for loss and eight sacks last season for Wake Forest (N.C.) High. Impressively, he also blocked five punts. The 6-2, 245-pounder has offers from NC State, Pittsburgh, UNC and Virginia. ■ Cornerbacks The Pack's first priority at corner is keeping touted three-star commit Chris In- gram from Mooresville (N.C.) High in the fold. The 6-0, 175-pounder is continuing to be courted by Clemson and UNC. Rivals. com rates him as the No. 12 prospect in the state and the No. 30 cornerback nationally. Ingram had 26 tackles, an interception and 10 passes broken up last year. Germane Crowell Jr. (6-3, 180 pounds) from Winston-Salem (N.C.) Carver High is the son of the former Virginia and NFL star by the same name who also is Carver's head coach. The younger Crowell has listed NCSU and Duke as his early top two despite offers from Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Rivals.com rates Crowell as the No. 13 player in North Carolina and the No. 37 athlete nationally. ■ Safeties Four-star Brelin Faison-Walden (6-1, 190 pounds) from Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley is ranked as an outside linebacker by Rivals. com, but he is being recruited as a safety. He has offers from, among others, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Penn State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Rivals.com lists him as the No. 7 in the state and the No. 27 outside linebacker in the country. ■ Virginia Beach (Va.) Ocean Lakes' Eric Crosby — Rivals.com's No. 8 defensive tackle and No. 119 overall prospect in the land — has the Pack in his top five along with Alabama, Clemson, Ten- nessee and Virginia Tech. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM