Is NC an underrated college football recruiting hotbed? Signs point to ‘yes’

Friday Night Lights enthusiasm persists at Rolesville Stadium with the usual fan overflow standing along the rail. The line to the concessions was a dozen or so deep, but orderly.

The draw, of course, is a Rolesville football program coming off its seventh straight postseason. A year ago, the Rams won the Northern 4A Conference, the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A East Region and finished as the 4A state runner-up.

Although the Rams are off to an 0-2 start against two state-ranked opponents from Charlotte, they remain in the state’s 8A Top 10 poll at No. 7.

Rolesville opened with a 36-21 loss at Mallard Creek, which is ranked No. 2 in 8A and No. 5 among all divisions. The home opener was 38-10 loss to Providence Day, the No. 1-ranked team among all state schools while competing in the NC Association of Independent Schools.

The record is a result of third-year head coach Ranier Rackley’s desire to schedule tough to challenge his talent.

“We’re not discouraged,” said Zavion Griffin-Haynes, a 4-star defensive end committed to North Carolina along with his brother, Jayden Griffin-Haynes, a 3-star linebacker.

“We might have come into the season with a little bit of a big head. We just have to keep working hard, practicing hard and listening to our coaches. We love playing a tough schedule We know tough teams now will challenge us later to be ready to make a playoff run.”

Rolesville faces a third-straight out-of-area, state-ranked opponent this week with a 7:30 p.m. game Friday at Rockingham Richmond Senior (1-1), the No. 7 team in 7A. Richmond’s top recruit is Terande Spencer (6-3, 235), a 3-star defensive end committed to East Carolina.

College recruiting hotbed

The fashionable Rolesville Stadium scene also is fueled by a steady stream of college recruits taking the field. The 2025 Rams reloaded with the Griffin-Haynes brothers among seven juniors and seniors drawing Division I scholarship offers.

In the Providence Day game, the Chargers featured their own seven Division I prospects among the juniors and seniors. Quarterback Zaid Law (6-3, 180) flipped to Syracuse on June 25 after originally committing to North Carolina.

The combined total of college prospects on the field was enough to make fans think they were transported to a high school hotbed state such as Florida, Georgia, Texas or California.

“North Carolina is becoming a state, in my mind, that is nationally underrated for the talent and the coaching in it,” second-year Duke coach Manny Diaz said Monday during his weekly media session.

Diaz cited an upward surge from the early 2000s when he spent six years as an N.C. State assistant under Chuck Amato. He was a graduate assistant (2000-01) and full-time assistant (2002-05).

“I think the high school coaches in the state do a phenomenal job and are building the type of programs that players really want to go to,” Diaz said. “Not that the coaches didn’t do a great job back then, too, but we’re in a different era.

“Twenty years ago, kids played at the school they lived next to. Now that’s not always the case. They have a transfer portal in high school, too. So that does allow for teams to really build a program.”

One way to gauge the number of out-of-state scouts traveling through the Triangle could be the TSA at Raleigh-Durham Airport. Not all the scouts visited Rolesville, but Haynes-Griffin drew offers from 37 schools spanning 22 states. The furthest two were UCLA in Los Angeles, 2,234 miles, and Washington in Seattle, 2,364.

Hometown interest

North Carolina coach Bill Belichick demonstrated his intent to keep Griffin-Haynes home when Rolesville was the first school he visited in February on the initial day the NCAA permitted coaches on campus. Griffin-Haynes had originally committed to the Tar Heels under Mack Brown, but he decommitted after Brown was let go.

A third committed Rolesville senior recruit is 3-star wide receiver Gavin Waddell, who on April 3 announced he is bound for Louisville.

Four Rams junior recruits are 4-star running back Amir Brown (5-11, 200), 4-star wide receiver Anthony Roberts (6-2, 180), 4-star safety Marquis Bryant (5-11, 185) and 3-star Edge Jayden Brodie (6-2, 220).

Brown committed on August 3 to North Carolina, even though On3.com judged him a 92.3 percent prediction to pick Notre Dame.

The early offers for Roberts and Bryant include all three Triangle ACC schools and among the heavyweight recruiting schools are Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee and Miami. Roberts also counts Clemson and Bryant includes Georgia. Brodie’s list features N.C. State, North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

Is NC a football state now?

Is North Carolina — the state of iconic basketball players David Thompson (Shelby/N.C. State) and Michael Jordan (Wilmington/North Carolina) — becoming a football state?

Consider comparing the North State’s number of basketball players to football players ranked among the national top 100 prospects, according to on3.com:

Three basketball players are rated among the top 100 national, and the highest among them at No. 28 is small forward Cole Cloer of Hillsborough. He played locally at Orange High as a sophomore before his transfers as a junior to Caldwell Academy in Greensboro and as a senior this season to IMG in Bradenton, Florida. The other two top 100 hoop players are Nos. 48 and 92.

Football’s total of six top 100 players doubles basketball’s total and the six-pack has a significantly higher ranked top player, No. 11 quarterback Faizon Brandon of Greensboro Grimsley. The others are Nos. 13, 17, 54, 74 and 81.

Of the state’s six nationally ranked players, the highest in the Triangle at No. 54 is South Garner’s Ekene Ogoboko (6-6, 310). He’s committed to Georgia, joining his brother Nnamdi Ogoboko, a sophomore defensive tackle (6-4, 340).

Comparing top 100 player totals admittedly isn’t a thoroughly scientific method, but the rankings do say something about North Carolina’s growing gridiron talent base.

“Football is definitely on the rise,” Griffin-Haynes said. “We’re becoming a football state, too.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 6:00 AM.