Pack Wrestling Locks Up Commitment From Third HS National Champion...In THIS CLASS

And head coach Carter Jordan says he's not done yet.

The Pack landed its third commitment from a high school national champion when it got word from Cary's own Eloheim Palma, the nation's best heavyweight prospect. Earlier this month Palma won the national heavyweight title, defeating state champions from Alabama, California, Michigan and Montana along the way to the title. Palma announced he would be attending State Monday night at Cary High's wrestling banquet. Says coach Jordan:

"That's our third national champion in this signing class, so obviously it's got to be one of the top two or three best classes in the country, if not the best class," Jordan said. "And like I said, we are still not done, we just had a few more kids in [on visits] this weekend and a few more coming this following weekend that are all high school All-Americans."

Palma, who won the national championship at Senior Nationals in Virginia Beach after watching future teammate Dale Shull of Colorado win the title at 130 pounds, said he wanted to wrestle with the Wolfpack to prove he could become a NCAA Champion without leaving the state.

Certainly Darrion Caldwell proved an NCAA title is possible at State, winning one earlier this Spring.

It's been a pretty good year thusfar for Carter and the Pack. His remarkable recruiting effort is coinciding with Caldwell's win, doing wonders to boost the profile of State's wrestling progam nationally to levels not seen since the height of the Bob Guzzo era.

And you've gotta love this quote:

And so his decision boiled down to UNC and N.C. State, and Palma said it was his comfort level with the Wolfpack coaching staff, his lifelong allegiance to the Pack and his interest in the Textiles program that inspired him to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Jainor, a former four-year starter and ACC champion heavyweight wrestler.

"I was talking to both programs and both coaches and I just looked at where I felt more comfortable," Palma said. "And when it came down to it, I'm a Wolfpack fan inside and there is no way of going around it."

Kindly suck it, Tar Heels.