The Wolfpacker

March 2012

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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2012 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE the third smallest but is in line with the total in recent years. O'Brien inked 25, 26 and 27 N players in his first three classes while he worked to get his ros- ter number up. In the past three years, O'Brien has signed 19, 20 and 22 recruits. This year's collection includes 19 high school standouts, two junior college transfers and one post-grad student. The Pack con- tinued its trend of signing bal- anced classes, with defensive end being the notable exception this year. State signed four pass rushers, including the probable headliner of the group, Kenderius White- head from Martin Luther King High in Lithonia, Ga. Whitehead, who made six tackles in the Sem- per Fidelis All-American Game in Phoenix in January, spurned offers from Clemson and Georgia to sign with NC State. O'Brien joked at his signing day press conference about how an SEC coaching friend called DEYLAN BUNTYN Havelock, N.C./New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M. • 6-4 • 335 pounds Defensive Tackle three-star prospect and the No. 28 junior college recruit nationally … Ranked by SuperPrep as the No. 43 junior college prospect in the country … Listed as a two-star prospect by ESPN, Scout.com and 247Sports. Stats: Credited with 16 tackles, including three for loss, Bench presses 405 pounds and squats 555 pounds … Has a 24-inch vertical leap. Honors/accomplishments: Rated by Rivals.com as a Measurables: Runs the 40-yard dash in 5.4 seconds … is to have a good semester. I'm trying to get a 4.0 [grade-point average]." — Buntyn. Recruitment: Buntyn signed with Winston-Salem State out Quotable: "My first goal [as an early enrollee at NC State] players who bench, squat and hang clean a combined total of more than 1,000 pounds … Buntyn's total was 1,225 pounds. and recorded two pass breakups, a blocked kick and a fumble recovery in 2011 … Helped NMMI go 9-3 and play in the HOT Bowl vs. Navarro College Dec. 3 (Navarro won 40-24) … Made 15 tackles, including a sack, as a freshman in five games … Had 78 tackles, including 19 for loss and 11 sacks, and added seven fumble recoveries as a senior at Havelock (N.C.) High. Off the field: Member of the New Mexico Military Institute "K" Club, football 28 ■ THE WOLFPACKER of Havelock High in 2009, but never enrolled at the school and matriculated to New Mexico Military Institute instead. There he earned an offer from NC State, ironically for the second time. State had offered him out of high school, but Buntyn did not decide quickly enough. The Pack moved on after filling up its slot at defensive tackle. This time, when Buntyn got the of- fer on July 11, he immediately jumped on it. He enrolled at NC State in January and will have two years to play two. Recruiter of record: Special teams coordinator Jerry Petercuskie. Scouting report: Size and strength are Buntyn's two great- he gets a head start in learning the defense. A realistic goal for Buntyn this fall will be to land a spot in the four- or five-man rotation that defensive line coach Keith Willis likes to utilize. 2012 projection: Buntyn has the advantage of going through spring practice, so est assets. He likely projects as a run-stuffing, gap-controlling defensive tackle whose primary job is to occupy blockers to free up the linebackers behind him. Kenderius Whitehead DE 6-4 220 Joe Wright Shadrach Thornton John Tu'uta Quincy McKinney Desmond Owino M.J. Salahuddin Josh Sessoms Manny Stocker David Grinnage Charlie Hegedus K'Hadree Hooker Jarnor "J.J." Jones Bryce Kennedy Tyler Knox Eddie Gordon Xavier Griffin Marchez Coates Drew Davis Deylan Buntyn Robert Caldwell Niles Clark Name A Closer Look At NC State's 22-Man Recruiting Class BY MATT CARTER THE SIGNEES C State signed a class of 22 on Feb. 1. Of the six recruiting classes signed by Wolfpack head coach Tom O'Brien, this haul represents the night before and was amazed that NC State and defensive backs coach Mike Reed were able to get Whitehead out of Georgia. "I think Mike did a fabulous job," O'Brien said. "When the kid came, some- thing clicked with the kid with this school and this staff from the start. He made the 2012 Football Recruiting Signees Pos. DT LB WR 6-2 195 Marietta, Ga. DT WR 6-2 180 Newark, Del. TE OL 6-2 320 6-3 235 DB 6-4 190 OL 6-3 280 DB 6-3 185 QB 6-1 190 RB OL 6-3 310 DE 6-6 230 6-2 200 DE 6-4 225 Myrtle Beach, S.C. OL 6-3 300 DE 6-5 235 LB Nairobi, Kenya@ Fayetteville, N.C. Bailey, N.C. 6-1 205 Hinesville, Ga. Coatesville, Pa. Greenville, N.C. Fredericksburg, Va.# Lithonia, Ga. * Played at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M.; ^ Played at Desert of the Palms in Palm Desert, Calif.; # Played at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy ; @ Played at Sanderson High in Raleigh Southern Pines, N.C. Columbus, Ga.# Lithonia, Ga. CB 5-11 170 Marietta, Ga. CB 5-11 175 LB Ht. Wt. Hometown 6-4 335 6-3 245 Raleigh Twentynine Palms, Calif.^ Pomfret, Md. Havelock, N.C.* Boiling Springs, S.C. 6-5 240 Newark, Del. 6-1 290 Deep Run, N.C. Georgia visit, and when I went down to visit the school, he showed up in Wolfpack colors and was howling like a wolf. We knew we had a chance at that point. "They are all pass rushers. We've just increased our ability to have a dominant guy come off the edge and beat a guy one- on-one without having to blitz every time." NC State also continued its tra- dition of signing one quarterback. This year it's Manny Stocker, a 6-3, 200-pounder from Coates- ville (Pa.) Area High who is al- ready enrolled at NC State. Stocker beat out three other signal-callers who are headed to BCS-level schools, including two that signed with ACC rivals, for the Wolfpack's quarterback offer during NC State's summer camps. "The thing we go on a lot at camp is arm strength," O'Brien said. "The ability to throw the ball and make throws that have to be made if you are going to succeed at this level. With him being an athlete helped a lot. He might be a better athlete than we thought he was." The following are in-depth bios, in alphabetical order, on all 22 of NC State's signees.

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