Hakeem Flowers, a highly rated wide receiver from Wade Hampton High in Greenville, S.C., secretly made a commitment to Michigan that never came to fruition.
Flowers held off on his announcement because he wanted to do it in the presence of his teammates at Wade Hampton's banquet Sunday, according to Wade Hampton coach Kent Haltiwanger. But between the time of the pledge to Michigan and the banquet, the Wolverines fired coach Rich Rodriguez.
The new Michigan staff under Brady Hoke couldn't gain traction with Flowers, and N.C. State swooped in late and secured the commitment, which finally was announced at the appointed time, at the banquet Sunday night.
In a telephone interview Monday, Haltiwanger explained what happened. He said three of Rodriguez's assistants from Michigan were hired at Pittsburgh, which came after Flowers hard.
Notre Dame also pushed hard to get Flowers to visit over the weekend. But Flowers visited N.C. State on the weekend of Jan. 15 and developed a good rapport with the Wolfpack's coaches and players.
Last week, N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien visited Flowers at Wade Hampton, meeting with him for an hour, Haltiwanger said.
"They really put the foot on the gas pedal as far as recruiting him," Haltiwanger said.
UCLA, Oregon, Michigan, LSU, N.C. State and Notre Dame were the finalists for Flowers' services. He is 6-foot-3 and about 195 pounds, and ranked the No. 24 player in South Carolina by rivals.com.
He made 41 catches for 986 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, with 31 rushes for 411 yards and four scores.
"He has huge hands, long arms," Haltiwanger said. "He's probably suited to be an outside receiver, but he can play inside as well."
Flowers will give N.C. State a boost as the team's first commitment at a position that lost senior standouts Owen Spencer, Jarvis Williams and Darrell Davis from last season.
Ken Tysiac
Monday, January 24, 2011
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20 comments:
Big time! Great pick up!
Only BCS offer this kid had was from NC State. Not saying he might not be a good college player, but he hasn't told the recruiting services the truth when it came to who has offered him.
Scout.com will show he's been offered by a bunch of schools, but Rivals picked up on it and it shows on that profile.
I don't think you can call a kid "Big Time" that wasn't even recruited by his two instate schools.
#24 in South Carolina, not the nation. 50 states, you do the math.
even still puts him now as the highest rated commit in this class, slightly ahead of the punters and long snappers.
lol.
NC State might end up with the lowest rated recruiting class in the BCS. It will definitely be among the bottom 3. This commitment does nothing to change that. Big time, LOL
Funny that the only posts on this blog since August of last year are for NC State commitments. Nothing on any of the multitude of players who have committed to Clemson, South Carolina or even UNC. Nice balanced reporting Tysiac.
hard to post about Carolina's recruiting when they are still trying to write articles on the investigation. You know, the one that is sure to bring UNC down.
outside of the N&O and Charlotte Observer no one is even talking about this, even State fans are about to give up.
Oh and about UNC recruiting, currently ranked in the top 15 nationally by all 3 major recruiting services.
I hate to see if there wasn't an "investigation" going on.
keep up the witch hunt guys, glad some of these guys are playing in these All-Star games, so you can recycle some of your old articles and shove them down our throat.
UNC fans can keep talking about recruiting, but what happens on the field is what matters. 4-0 for TOB.
Hey, anonymous @ 7:08..who has more wins on the field, TOB at State or Butch at UNC?
4-0 sure but TOB has 3 of 4 losing seasons in Raleigh. But hey, y'all keep basing your success off beating the Heels.
Sign TOB to a lifetime contract. I'm all for it.
Carolina fired Bunting, the only team he could beat was State, what's that saying?
Wow. The information in here is dreadful.
Here's his scout profile: http://northcarolinastate.scout.com/a.z?s=178&p=8&c=1&nid=4416009
Notice he had offers from 7 BCS schools, including LSU and Oregon. That's pretty impressive. He's 6'2" with a 38" vertical and has 4.5 speed. You can't coach that...
More from rivals, the source that "allegedly" has Flowers with onyl one BCS offer: http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/barrier_noentry.asp?ReturnTo=&sid=&script=content.asp&cid=1134991&fid=&tid=&mid=&rid=
And I quote: "Greenville (S.C.) Wade Hampton wide receiver Hakeem Flowers claimed two dozen scholarship offers before the end of his junior season. "
Yeah. Nobody wanted this kid. Yeah, right...whatever gets you through the night bud...
4-0 B!itches...the pack owns the heels.
63-31-6.
State could win the next 34 years and then it would be EVEN, much less owned.
pretty clear who owns who at this point.
but again, enjoy those 4 straight wins against Carolina and the losing seasons.
For you UNC fans who are hung up on *stars* behind someone's name, here's one for you:
Russell Wilson: TWO STARS!!!! And he's 3-0 against YOU!!!
You can take your stars and shove them up your a$$....
"63-31-6."
No ones interested in the record going back to when NCSU had a club team. That's pretty irrelevant.
How has it been since we actually got serious about football? Since the formation of the ACC (1953), the record is 26-32, advantage UNC. And, oh, BTW, the NCSU/UNC game was played AT UNC every year from 1943 until 1964....
http://www.statefansnationforums.com/topic.php?id=646
NC State is a cancer on society. Just ask Jimmy V and Kay
Wow, spoken like a true Wal-Mart tarhole fan.
Good God these Wal-Mart, Bandwagon, CPCC, Gaston Tech, CVCC, etc., Tar Heel "fans" are annoying as you know what.....
Marvin Austin was a 5* and look what he did for your program!!
Greg Little...see above...
Robert Quinn...see above...
Mike Paulus...see above...
Jarrell Miller...see above..
You can have your STARS, Tutors and Agents.....
We will take our Wins over Butch and our integrity....
Wow Anon 9:12, that might be the most disrespectful thing I've ever read on a sports forum.
Is this the Carolina Way?
I would never make fun of Dean Smith's condition now and have a great deal of respect for the man.
How can anyone say State fans are the classless ones when crap like that is posted?
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