-- Mike Glennon says he's sticking with the Pack no matter what. His brother's travails at Virginia Tech have no doubt impacted his decision to stay pat with a coaching staff he's comfortable with.
-- Sticking with football, one of the state's top prospects at WR/RB, Tony Creecy of Southern Durham High, committed to Tom O'Brien and the Pack while partaking of O'Brien's camp over the weekend (3-star per Scout, 4-star per Rivals, ESPN gives him a 77 grade). Creecy had an impressive offer list: LSU, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Oregon and a host of many others. Creecy is a tremendous athlete with great speed and strength. He's somewhat short for a wide receiver at 5'11", but he may be suited to play some out of the slot or play a dual-threat role lined up in the backfield. Bottom line, he's a playmaker that's talented enough to give coaches a reason to find space for him on the field.
The best part? Creecy says he made the decision when he did in hopes to sway some other kids at camp to commit. This is shaping up to be a great year for in-state recruiting for the Pack in a year where North Carolina has good talent depth in the high school ranks.
-- The Pack also landed another football committment over the weekend, this time an offensive lineman. Torian Box, a 6'3", 295-lb. prospect out of Georgia committed on Saturday relatively quietly. There's not much of a book on Box at the moment. He's certainly athletic, playing basketball in addition to football, averaging 13 and nine a game. Box had offers from Mississippi State, UAB and East Carolina, but now that the Pack has offered and landed him, I wouldn't be shocked to see a big-time school take a second look at him. O'Brien and his staff have a knack for identifying talent -- particularly on the offensive line -- early. O'Brien may have to fend off late suitors leading up to signing day much like the Jarvis Byrd situation last year.
-- ESPN blogger Heather Dinich is up to her usual head-scratching ways. She's in the midst of doing a countdown of the league's 30 best players and State's Nate Irving made the list...just way lower than you might expect. Currently on her 11th selection during the countdown process, she's got him at 19th behind fellow linebackers Dekoda Watson (#18), Bruce Carter (#14), Quan Sturdivant (#12) and Sean Spence (#11).
With all due respect Heather, please, Watson? Carter? Sturdivant? Spence? Given the choice of a healthy Irving versus any one of these four, I take Irving any day of the week and twice on Saturday. Sheesh. She admittedly ranked Irving lower due to his injury issues, which makes about as much sense as most of her nonsensical arguments. Aren't we assuming that everyone on this list is ranked according to their potential? If Irving plays the way he did last season for a full year, does he suddenly become 5-10 spots better just by virtue of more minutes logged? I know she's not afraid to go out on a limb without much supporting evidence (i.e. the "pretty trees" argument for Kenan Stadium last year), but good grief, this is atrocious (and par for the course for Dinich).
It'll be interesting to see how the rest of her list shapes up; she's essentially slotted Nate the fifth-best LB in the league at this point, and if anymore LBs pop up in the top 10 she's arguing he's sixth or worst. That's just crazy talk.
-- Sticking with football, one of the state's top prospects at WR/RB, Tony Creecy of Southern Durham High, committed to Tom O'Brien and the Pack while partaking of O'Brien's camp over the weekend (3-star per Scout, 4-star per Rivals, ESPN gives him a 77 grade). Creecy had an impressive offer list: LSU, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Oregon and a host of many others. Creecy is a tremendous athlete with great speed and strength. He's somewhat short for a wide receiver at 5'11", but he may be suited to play some out of the slot or play a dual-threat role lined up in the backfield. Bottom line, he's a playmaker that's talented enough to give coaches a reason to find space for him on the field.
The best part? Creecy says he made the decision when he did in hopes to sway some other kids at camp to commit. This is shaping up to be a great year for in-state recruiting for the Pack in a year where North Carolina has good talent depth in the high school ranks.
-- The Pack also landed another football committment over the weekend, this time an offensive lineman. Torian Box, a 6'3", 295-lb. prospect out of Georgia committed on Saturday relatively quietly. There's not much of a book on Box at the moment. He's certainly athletic, playing basketball in addition to football, averaging 13 and nine a game. Box had offers from Mississippi State, UAB and East Carolina, but now that the Pack has offered and landed him, I wouldn't be shocked to see a big-time school take a second look at him. O'Brien and his staff have a knack for identifying talent -- particularly on the offensive line -- early. O'Brien may have to fend off late suitors leading up to signing day much like the Jarvis Byrd situation last year.
-- ESPN blogger Heather Dinich is up to her usual head-scratching ways. She's in the midst of doing a countdown of the league's 30 best players and State's Nate Irving made the list...just way lower than you might expect. Currently on her 11th selection during the countdown process, she's got him at 19th behind fellow linebackers Dekoda Watson (#18), Bruce Carter (#14), Quan Sturdivant (#12) and Sean Spence (#11).
With all due respect Heather, please, Watson? Carter? Sturdivant? Spence? Given the choice of a healthy Irving versus any one of these four, I take Irving any day of the week and twice on Saturday. Sheesh. She admittedly ranked Irving lower due to his injury issues, which makes about as much sense as most of her nonsensical arguments. Aren't we assuming that everyone on this list is ranked according to their potential? If Irving plays the way he did last season for a full year, does he suddenly become 5-10 spots better just by virtue of more minutes logged? I know she's not afraid to go out on a limb without much supporting evidence (i.e. the "pretty trees" argument for Kenan Stadium last year), but good grief, this is atrocious (and par for the course for Dinich).
It'll be interesting to see how the rest of her list shapes up; she's essentially slotted Nate the fifth-best LB in the league at this point, and if anymore LBs pop up in the top 10 she's arguing he's sixth or worst. That's just crazy talk.
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