The Research Triangle area's three ACC football programs ended 12 months and more of recruiting yesterday in a matter of only a few hours.
By mid-afternoon, the classes for North Carolina, N.C. State and Duke were complete. Coaches Butch Davis of North Carolina, Tom O'Brien of N.C. State, and David Cutcliffe of Duke all said they were pleased with the results and the work of their coaching staffs.
Cutcliffe, entering his third year at Duke, said he was especially happy after signing all 19 of the players from whom he had commitments, not including a junior-college transfer who enrolled for the second semester.
"Duke football got better today," Cutcliffe said. "Absolutely, Duke football got better today."
North Carolina signed 21 players and N.C. State signed 19, not including two players who enrolled for the second semester. Both classes underwent movement yesterday, with North Carolina's enduring the most.
Allen Wallace, the editor of SuperPrep magazine, was still evaluating classes late yesterday but ranked Florida State, Miami and Clemson as the ACC's top classes in that order. North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech were next in order.
The rest of the ACC rankings were N.C. State, Maryland, Boston College, Wake Forest, Virginia and Duke.
The Tar Heels added Ethan Farmer, a 6-3, 255-pound tight end and defensive lineman from Tabor City; Carlos Gray, a 6-3, 290-pound defensive tackle from Pinson, Ala.; and Sean Tapley, a 6-1, 185-pound receiver from Jacksonville, Fla. Casey Turner, a running back from Jacksonville, Fla., didn't follow through on his commitment and signed with Rutgers instead. Markeith Ambles, a receiver from McDonough, Ga., chose Southern Cal over UNC and Tennessee.
Davis said that Turner's defection was a surprise and that he had been unable to talk to Turner or his family about the change in plans. Davis wanted two running backs in the class and was left with one, Giovanni Bernard of Davie, Fla.
Tapley switched a commitment from South Carolina to sign with UNC. He caught 33 passes for 607 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior. He and Farmer built UNC's total of SuperPrep All-Americas to six. SuperPrep ranked Tapley the No. 37 receiver nationally and the No. 25 senior in Florida. Farmer was ranked the No. 38 defensive lineman nationally and the No. 5 senior in North Carolina.
At the top of the class are two offensive linemen -- James Hurst, 6-7 and 305 pounds, and T.J. Leifheit, 6-7 and 320 --who should be of immediate help for one of last season's biggest weaknesses.
N.C. State added Billy Bennett, a place-kicker from San Diego and Mira Costa Junior College. He will have two seasons of eligibility left.
N.C. State's class includes three of the state's top 10 seniors in SuperPrep's rankings. Robert Crisp, an offensive lineman from Raleigh, is ranked No. 2 nationally at his position. David Amerson, a defensive back from Greensboro, is ranked No. 9 nationally at his position.
Crisp and Amerson are among three SuperPrep All-Americas in the N.C. State class.
O'Brien was pleased with six recruits from North Carolina, one of which is a junior-college transfer and an N.C. State commitment from 2008. Four of the other five were all ranked among the state's top 17 seniors by SuperPrep.
"I expect them all to come in and contribute and help us win a lot of football games," O'Brien said. "We addressed a lot of things we had to address.
"We signed 11 on offense and 11 on defense, so once again we signed a football ‘team,' along with a kicker who hopefully resolves some of the problems we've had kicking off."
Cutcliffe decided to not wait by the fax machine for signed national letters of intent to come in yesterday morning. Instead, he and his coaches started work on Duke's recruiting classes for 2011 and 2012.
Duke signed two quarterbacks, eight backs and nine linemen. Among the linemen is Nick Sink, a 6-5, 250-pound senior at Forsyth Country Day who played tight end and on the defensive line.
Laken Tomlinson, a 6-5, 295-pound offensive lineman from Chicago, was a SuperPrep All-America and was ranked No. 26 nationally at his position.
bcole@wsjournal.com
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