Day's Sleeper: Sleeping giant awakens down east

TAKOBY COFIELD, offensive line, Tarboro High

Sooner or later, the word starts slipping out.

So it was with Takoby Cofield.

“First, people started hearing about him around here,” said Tarboro coach Jeff Craddock. “Then, it was creeping over the border into Virginia. And then into South Carolina. A few weeks ago, Penn State came by and was very impressed.”

One thing that has helped is that Cofield hasn’t stopped growing. Craddock said he’s climbed from 6-foot-4 to about 6-5½ and 290 pounds in the past year. Because of that, schools are projecting him as a tackle rather than an interior lineman.

“And he’s a very good athlete; he’s got those good feet linemen need,” Craddock said.

Cofield has also been improving his speed. He has scholarship offers from Duke, East Carolina and Virginia Tech. And he’s receiving strong interest from Tennessee, Virginia, Clemson, South Carolina, Penn State, North Carolina and N.C. State.

Cofield said he likes most of the schools following him, but is waiting on that Tar Heels offer in particular.

“I’ve been a Carolina fan my whole life,” he said. “So right now they’re very much in it.

Craddock took the phone back. “The thing is,” he said, “Takoby’s just gotten so much better every year. I can’t wait to see how much he improves as a senior.”

--Stan Olson

Our Sleeper of the Day item targets under-noticed Carolinas football recruiting prospects. As always, if you have a candidate, email me at solson@charlotteobserver.com.