To the delight of standing-room only crowd at sports bar near campus, dynamic guard Ryan Harrow signed his national Letter of Intent with N.C. State on Wednesday afternoon.
Wolfpack fans watched highlights of the 25th-ranked high school basketball player in the country on the flat-screen TVs at Sammy's and cheered as he made his commitment official.
"We're going to turn some heads," said Harrow, who's joined in the recruiting class by highly-rated combo guard Lorenzo Brown and forward Luke Cothron."We're going to be one of the best teams in the ACC."
Harrow, at 5-11 and 158 pounds, doesn't cut an imposing physical presence, and he talks with a high-pitched squeak in his voice, but he charmed the room with his wit and personality.
"I'll talk to y'all," the high school senior from Marietta, Ga. told the crowd. "I like the attention."
The frequent target of Harrow's one-liners was fellow top prospect, forward C.J. Leslie of Raleigh, who was one of the 150 or so people in attendance. Leslie, who orginally commited to N.C. State but re-opened his recruiting options last spring, surprised his friend with the visit.
"I know he's going to make the right decision," Harrow said. "He doesn't want to play with another point guard besides me."
Leslie, who's rated 12th in the class of 2010 by Scout.com, said he's not ready to make a decision with N.C. State, Kentucky, Florida, Oregon, Georgia and Connecticut all still on his list.
"This is definitely a plus," Leslie said of Harrow signing with State.
Leslie plays for coach Erasto Hatchett at Word of God in Raleigh. Hatchett, Harrow's brother-in-law, organized the press conference and promoted it on N.C. State's message boards.
"[Ryan] deserves to have his day," Hatchett said. "He has been overlooked for so long."
