The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ■ 2017 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE turn of the year. Another who had a similarly unique backstory was defensive end Ibrahim Kante. Kante committed Jan. 22 while on his official visit. He noted that when he put on a red No. 52 Wolfpack jersey — matching the number he wore this past season as a postgrad at Trinity-Pawling School in Pawl- ing, N.Y. — he began to visualize his future at NCSU. "I came in with an open mind because re- cruiting was heating up the past four weeks, but the second I got there I felt it," Kante said. "I was comfortable. I felt like I didn't want to leave." Towards the end of the visit after meeting with the coaching staff, Kante somewhat casually let out that he wanted to commit. "Everybody started hugging me, giving hugs to my mom, saying this was one of the best moments," Kante recalled. "Coach Doeren told me he was going to put the red light on." The 6-5, 235-pound Kante anticipates starting out at defensive end, but he noted he has some experience along the interior, and if he adds enough weight could play both end or tackle. Kante attended a postgrad program be- cause he graduated at 17 years old from Cardinal Hayes in Brooklyn, N.Y. A growth spurt led to a late-blooming recruitment. He also picked up offers from Boston College, Rutgers and Temple in January. Defensive lineman Dante Johnson from Wekiva High in Apopka, Fla., acknowledged that NC State came into the picture late. In fact, the offer did not come until the day after he returned from an official visit to Purdue Jan. 15, a trip that he capped by giving the Boilermakers a verbal commitment. NCSU did not completely come from no- where, though. NC State actually started recruiting Johnson when he was a sopho- more, along with other notable programs like Florida and Florida State. Then Johnson tore his ACL during his junior season. "Ever since the injury, a lot of schools backed off," he noted. "NC State kept their eyes on me and decided to jump back in." The first task was to convince the recently committed Johnson to still take an official visit, which he agreed to do Jan. 20. Johnson said it was during the visit that NC State fully caught his attention. In par- ticular, the Wolfpack coaches were able to show to him how important Johnson was to the program's future. "It was closer," Johnson added. "They have a great education. The football program is amazing. I just felt like I would fit at NC State. "It seems like home to me. I love NC State." Making the final call though was not easy. "It was very difficult because I was al- ready acquainted with all of the coaching staff at Purdue," he said. "It took a lot of thinking and a lot of time to get situated with my final decision. It was very difficult. "I just came up with the conclusion to go to NC State after looking at all the pros and cons." The 6-4, 250-pound Johnson is being re- cruited by the Pack "to be a versatile player." "Both inside and outside," he noted. Johnson had earlier offers from Central Florida, Iowa State, Tulane and Western Kentucky. "I was very happy with the decision I made, and I felt very comfortable with NC State and their coaching staff," he said. "I definitely feel at home." The fourth defensive line commit was 6-6, 242-pound two-star end Kevince Brown from Winter Park (Fla.) High. Brown committed to the Wolfpack Jan. 15 over reported of- fers from Kentucky, Oregon State, Syracuse, Central Florida and Rutgers, among others. Brown enjoyed a good senior season rush- ing the quarterback. He piled up 11.5 sacks among his 54 tackles for Winter Park High, which finished 9-4. He also had 19 quarter- back hurries, a forced fumble, two passes broken up and a pick-six (returned 76 yards). Brown is a two-time all-conference selec- tion. The same weekend that Brown visited and committed, NC State landed pledges from Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph Regional teammates Louis Acceus, a linebacker, and Joshua Fedd-Jackson, an offensive lineman. Both are three-star prospects according to Rivals.com. Rivals.com rates Acceus as the No. 14 player in the New Jersey and the No. 55 outside linebacker nationally. Acceus had a productive senior season, making 101 tackles, 14 stops for loss and 6.5 sacks. He added five quarterback hurries, five pass broken up, two forced fumbles and an interception for 9-2 St. Joseph Regional. Offensively, he ran 150 times for 862 yards and nine scores. USA Today named him sec- ond-team All-USA. NJ.com selected Acceus as the state's De- fensive Player of the Year. The two helped lead St. Joseph Regional to a non-public Group 3 state title and No. 1 team ranking in the state. Fedd-Jackson is ranked as the No. 15 prospect in New Jersey and the No. 27 se- nior offensive guard in the country by Rivals. com. He made the NJ.com All-State team. Rising senior starting guard Tony Adams hosted Fedd-Jackson on his trip, but it was the collective offensive line unit that helped persuade him to proceed with committing to the Wolfpack. "I talked with every offensive lineman, and I think I met pretty much everybody from the seniors to the true freshmen and redshirt freshmen," Fedd-Jackson noted. "They all said the exact same thing about Coach [Dwayne] Ledford." The message was clear: that the offensive line had each others' back. Fedd-Jackson felt an immediate connection with the linemen, whom Ledford calls the "Band of Brothers," with Adams leading the way. "It felt like I've known this guy for years, and I had only known him for 40 minutes," Fedd-Jackson recalled. Fedd-Jackson said that committing with Acceus was not necessarily planned. "We had talked about it before, but we really hadn't broken it down," Fedd-Jackson noted. "It all just clicked at the same time, and it was a great moment." Fedd-Jackson was sure that the Wolfpack coaching staff felt the same. "I have seen some photos, and those were some pretty big smiles," he said. Fedd-Jackson labeled committing as a "re- ally good feeling." His focus between now and enrollment is getting bigger, faster and stronger. "Coach Ledford is really high on me, and he believes in me," Fedd-Jackson said. "He expects a lot of me coming as a true fresh- man." Leaving the class were a pair of three-star defensive prospects from Florida. Defensive end Deslin Alexandre from Deerfield Beach (Fla.) High switched to Pittsburgh in De- cember and enrolled early there. Linebacker Nick Smith from Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips High signed with Florida. ■ Four signees that committed after the start of January, including end Ibrahim Kante of Pawling (N.Y.) Trinity-Pawling School, supple- mented the Pack's six-man defensive line haul. PHOTO COURTESY HUDL.COM