Hometown pride: Meet the NFL Draft hopefuls with North Carolina, South Carolina ties

The 2024 NFL Draft is almost here, and that means several players with ties to the Carolinas will soon hit an important milestone as they pursue their NFL dreams.

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is the headliner of the group as the only sure-fire first-rounder, but Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton and Clemson linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. should also be chosen early in the draft.

Find a look at all the hopefuls below. This story will be updated throughout the week, too, if/when each prospect hears his name called.

Quarterbacks

Drake Maye, UNC (Huntersville, N.C.): What else is there left to be said about Maye? The quarterback with a Tar Heel pedigree from a Charlotte-area family is a projected Top 4 pick in this year’s draft. He has all the measurables, the physical gifts. He was even a basketball star back in his Myers Park High School days.

Sam Hartman, Notre Dame (Charlotte, N.C.): After becoming one of the best quarterbacks in Wake Forest football history, Hartman transferred to Notre Dame for his fifth season and made the most of it: 2,689 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns and eight interceptions. He made a splash at the NFL Scouting Combine in a variety of ways in February and is a projected sixth- or seventh-rounder.

Spencer Rattler, South Carolina: The USC star under Shane Beamer has had a productive offseason, with NFL personnel offering all sorts of compliments, from his toughness to his arm strength. It wasn’t all that long ago before Rattler was the starter ahead of Caleb Williams at Oklahoma; now he’s a projected fourth-round pick that scouts are falling in love with.

Wide receivers

Tez Walker, UNC (Charlotte, N.C.): Walker didn’t get to play an entire season at UNC given all the NCAA entanglements he found himself in at the start of the 2023 season. But he did enough to show that he was a speedy receiver with deep threat ability in his eight games with Drake Maye — who he called “the best quarterback in the draft.” Walker recorded seven touchdowns and 699 yards in eight games this past year and is projected as a fourth-round pick.

Xavier Legette, South Carolina (Mullins, S.C.): If you’re a keen Panthers fan, you might have heard that Legette might stay home in Carolina. The wide receiver suggested as much on a podcast Monday morning with John Crumpler of USA Today: “They keep on telling me that if I’m sitting at 33, they’re going to take me.” Legette notched 71 receptions for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023.

Running backs

Will Shipley, Clemson (Weddington, N.C.): Shipley shined in his Pro Day at Clemson just as he did as a high school star in the Charlotte area. Shipley notched a 4.39 40-yard dash and, according to Pro Football Focus, is a projected Day 3 pick and the No. 9 running back prospect in the draft.

Jaylen Wright, Tennessee (Durham, N.C.): Many consider Wright, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound running back out of Southern Durham High School, to be the best running back in this year’s draft. He ran for 1,013 yards in 2023 and is a projected third-round pick.

Linebackers

Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Clemson: Although he didn’t participate in his Clemson pro day, Trotter turned a lot of heads at the NFL Combine and is an inside linebacker a lot of teams have honed in on, including the Pittsburgh Steelers. At Clemson, the son of four-time Pro Bowler Jeremiah Trotter Sr. notched 87 tackles and 5.5 sacks in 2023. He’s considered a Day 2 pick.

Cedric Gray, UNC (Charlotte, N.C.): Gray exchanged catching touchdown passes in high school for disrupting them in college — and that has put him on the path to being an important piece to an NFL team for years to come. The fourth-round projected draft pick is known for his speed and locker room leadership.

Payton Wilson, N.C. State (Hillsborough, N.C.): Wilson is a high school state champion wrestler, the younger brother of Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Bryse Wilson, a huge fan of Luke Kuechly and the 2023 Butkus Award recepient (for being the best linebacker in the country). Oh yeah ... and his 40-yard dash was tops at his position in the NFL Combine. Check for him to make a splash Day 2 of the draft.

Ty’Ron Hopper, Missouri (Shelby, N.C.): Hopper finished with 55 total tackles and three sacks in 2023. He’s a projected fifth-round pick.

Defensive backs

Nate Wiggins, Clemson: In one of The Observer’s many mock drafts, Wiggins was chosen by the Carolina Panthers with the 33rd overall pick — breaking the troubling tradition of the Panthers not drafting a player from Clemson. It’s a deep DB draft, and someone with a first-round grade could fall to the Panthers come Friday, and if so, the cornerback-needy Panthers would be smart to take him.

Malik Mustapha, Wake Forest (Charlotte, N.C.): Here’s another guy who’s gotten some Panthers buzz. Mustapha, who showed up for the Panthers’ local pro day, is a Charlotte native out of Wake Forest with sixth-round draft pick potential.

Marcellas Dial, South Carolina (Woodruff, S.C.): Dial, a seventh round projected pick, finished with 25 tackles and one sack as a safety for the Gamecocks this year.

Caelen Carson, Wake Forest: Another 2024 cornerback, Carson is a projected fourth-rounder.

Andru Phillips, Kentucky (Mauldin, S.C.): Phillips, a cornerback, is a projected third-round draft pick after flexing his athleticism at the NFL Combine.

Defensive linemen

Eyabi Okie, Charlotte 49ers: He’s played for five college teams — but is also playing for his late grandmother. That’s what Okie, the projected Day 3 pick with all the physical tools to be an effective NFL pass rusher one day, made clear to The Observer during the NFL Scouting Combine in February.

Julius Welschof, Charlotte 49ers: The German-born NFL prospect is a projected undrafted free agent, but his size and potential is something NFL scouts have noticed. As his agent, Marty Magid, told The Charlotte Observer: “He’s an individual who can absolutely make a team,” and even if he doesn’t, he could qualify for the NFL’s international program “where he can be exempt as the 91st person, and the 17th on the practice squad.”

Myles Murphy, UNC (Greensboro, N.C.): The 6-foot-5, 310-pound defensive tackle finished 2023 with 24 tackles and one sack. He’s a projected Day 3 pick and a possible undrafted free agent.

Tyler Davis, Clemson: The fifth-round projected pick is coming into the draft among three really good Clemson DLs.

Ruke Orhorhoro, Clemson: Orhorhoro finished with 25 tackles, five sacks and one pass deflection in 2023. He’s an expected third-round pick after being projected as high as a Top 20 pick right after the season.

Xavier Thomas, Clemson (Florence, S.C.): It’s been a long journey for Thomas, but could he be the one to break the Clemson-Panthers curse? He’s a projected Day 3 pick who plays with “good technique and unwavering energy.”

DeWayne Carter, Duke: The projected fourth-round pick’s stats in 2023: 41 tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery.

Trajan Jeffcoat, Arkansas (Columbia, S.C.): The edge rusher might not get drafted, but don’t count him out on having an NFL career. The transfer out of Missouri finished with 16 tackles and four sacks in 2023.

Eric Watts, UConn (Sumter, S.C.): Watts is a projected sixth-round pick.

Offensive linemen

Graham Barton, Duke: Barton is strong and agile and snapped the ball during his Duke Pro Day, signaling to NFL scouts and coaches that he expects to play center even after being asked to play left tackle during his career at Duke. The Top 40 prospect might fall to the Panthers at one of their two second-round picks. Could he be a succession plan with Austin Corbett — being moved from right guard to center this season — on the final year of his contract?

Jacob Monk, Duke (Clayton, N.C.): The Clayton native is still a projected undrafted free agent but has shot up in positional rankings since his Pro Day in late March.

Dylan McMahon, N.C. State: The projected seventh-round pick was a standout starting center for the Wolfpack his junior year.

Nick Gargiulo, South Carolina: Gargiulo is projected to be an undrafted free agent.

Delmar Glaze, Maryland (Charlotte, N.C.): Glaze is projected to be a fifth-round pick after starting two-and-a-half years for the Terrapins.

Kickers

Joshua Karty, Stanford (Burlington, N.C.): Karty has moved up as a sixth-round projected pick after a great 2023 season at Stanford. His 2023 stats: 23-for-27 on field goals and 21-for-21 on PATs with a long of 56 yards. (His career long, for what it’s worth, is 61 yards in 2022.)