Football recruits to sign today

Deacons' class not rated high; Heels could sign 11 SuperPrep All-Americas

Credit: AP File Photo

New Bern’s Kevin Reddick (red helmet) graduated high school last fall and has enrolled at North Carolina.

By: By Bill Cole and Dan Collins | JOURNAL REPORTERS
Published: February 04, 2009

Today is National Signing Day -- the day all college football programs are winners.

The NCAA signing period for football will start today, capping what has been, for some schools, more than a year of work on the 2009 recruiting class. Players who previously announced commitments can make their choices official by signing binding national letters-of-intent.

Wake Forest is expected to introduce as many as 23 players, which would be the largest class since the Deacons signed 23 in 2003. Coach Jim Grobe would like to repeat the success of that class, which included Jon Abbate, Steve Justice, Matt Robinson, Jyles Tucker, John Tereshinski and Zac Selmon.

The Deacons spent the final weeks concentrating on linemen, getting commitments from defensive end Kris Redding of Atlanta, defensive tackle Nikita Whitlock of Wylie, Texas, and offensive tackle Devin Bolling of Lynchburg, Va. Redding is a prototypical recruit under Grobe, a 6-4, 235 end who remained largely under the radar after tearing a knee ligament as a junior. He chose Wake Forest over Louisville.

Grobe's classes have never been highly ranked among ACC teams and this one probably will be no exception. The recruits given the best chance to make an impact are running back Michael Campanaro of Clarksville, Md., quarterback Brendan Cross of Alpharetta, Ga., linebackers Duran Lowe of Plant City, Fla., and Daniel Mack of Miami, defensive ends John Gallagher of St. Augustine, Fla., and Zach Thompson of Ashburn. Va., and defensive tackle Frank Sousa of St. Augustine, Fla.

Thompson's brother Patrick is a tight end who has also committed to Wake Forest, and another recruit, linebacker Mike Olson, played with the Thompsons at Stone Bridge High.

Fullback Tommy Bohanon of North Fort Myers, Fla., and cornerback Derald Jones of Jacksonville, Fla., have already enrolled and will be eligible for spring practice.

North Carolina has 28 commitments and could add up to four players in what is shaping up as one of the top recruiting years in school history. N.C. State also has 28 commitments, Duke has 27, and each could add a player today.

UNC has commitments from 11 SuperPrep All-Americas, including Bryn Renner, the No. 3 quarterback in the nation in the magazine's ranking. It also has commitments from seven of the state's top 10 seniors in SuperPrep's rankings and from 13 of the top 34.

UNC also has commitments from running back Hunter Furr of Mount Tabor and offensive lineman David Collins of East Forsyth.

The Tar Heels are waiting on decisions by tight end Malcolm Bush of Hackensack, N.J., offensive tackles Morgan Moses of Richmond, Va., and Bobby Massie of Appomattox, Va., and defensive end Sam Montgomery of Greenwood, S.C. Montgomery and Moses are SuperPrep All-Americas.

Bush (6-4, 230) also is considering Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Rutgers; Moses (6-7, 347) is considering Virginia and Tennessee; Montgomery (6-4, 230) is considering Clemson, South Carolina, Michigan and LSU; and Massie, who is at Hargrave Military Academy as a post-graduate student, is considering Alabama, Georgia, Miami and Mississippi.

SuperPrep ranked UNC's class No. 3 in the nation going into signing day. Two recruits, receiver Joshua Adams and linebacker Kevin Reddick, enrolled for the second semester and can participate in spring practice.

N.C. State does not have any SuperPrep All-Americas, but Coach Tom O'Brien appears to have assembled another solid class. Few of his classes at Boston College were ranked among the nation's best, but he had eight consecutive winning seasons and seven consecutive bowl wins in 10 seasons at BC.

N.C. State has commitments from three of North Carolina's top 30 in the SuperPrep rankings, and Michael Lemon, a 6-4, 250-pound defensive lineman at Georgia Military College, could join the class today.

Four N.C. State recruits are enrolled for the second semester: running back James Washington, offensive tackle Sam Jones, safety Donald Coleman and defensive tackle Nathan Mageo, a junior-college transfer.

Duke will add its first full class under Coach David Cutcliffe and is waiting on a decision by Mike Marry, a 6-3, 205-pound linebacker from Largo (Fla.) High who also is considering Mississippi, Iowa State and South Florida.

Cutcliffe mounted one of the ACC's most determined recruiting efforts in the last year. He landed one SuperPrep All-America, running back Desmond Scott of Durham Hillside, and two of North Carolina's top 35 seniors.

■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.

■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.