Is North Carolina getting enough respect for its high school football talent?
North Carolina has always been known as a high school basketball recruiting hotbed. Football, not so much.
But that’s beginning to change.
The state’s basketball talent is still strong, and growing, but football is really — really — making strides.
“Colleges know now that North Carolina has the players,” Hough High School football coach Shawn Baker said. “And I mean, we have a lot of big-time players, too. People can see it. I think times have changed and everybody knows to get the best talent, you need to come through here.”
This season, six N.C. players are ranked in the 247 Sports’ Top 247 national rankings for the class of 2025. All of them are four- or five-star recruits. South Carolina, which had long been considered ahead of North Carolina in high school football interest and talent, has one.
In 2023, seven N.C. players ended up in the top 247 rankings. South Carolina had two.
And in this year’s NFL Draft, N.C. had 10 players drafted, including former Myers Park High star Drake Maye (No. 3 overall by New England). Only nine other states produced double-digit draftees.
Looking ahead at the 2025 mock drafts, former Chambers defensive end James Pearce, now at Tennessee, is listed as a potential top 10 pick.
“I don’t think we did a good job of promoting our kids in the past,” said Baker, who notices more prominent college programs coming to the state each year. “I think we’re doing much better now and coaches are realizing that we have some real talent in North Carolina.”
Baker said more in-state high schools are beginning to play in- and out-of-state showcase games against elite teams from neighboring states as well as against each other. He said that helps raise awareness among college coaches and recruiting services.
On the opening week of the season in Charlotte, for example, there are four featured games being played at Memorial Stadium and Bank of America Stadium showcasing nationally-ranked teams and talent.
Also, with most games now being streamed, college coaches can see recruits live or on-demand each week.
“The influx of people and talent here, and the level of competition, continues to rise,” Ardrey Kell coach Greg Jachym said. “We have coaches coming from all over the country now to recruit.”
In the past seven years, the state has had three players ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the nation at some point during their high school careers — Harding running back/linebacker Quavaris Crouch, Providence Day quarterback Jadyn Davis and Providence Day lineman David Sanders.
Right now, Sanders is rated as high as No. 2 in the class of 2025 and Greensboro Grimsley QB Faizon Brandon, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound sophomore, is the No. 1 player nationally in the class of 2026.
“I would easily say that Charlotte is on the map now, moreso than in the past,” said Rock Hill (SC) Northwestern coach Page Wofford. “I think that’s true (of North Carolina). It’s the same at my school. Colleges aren’t stupid. They see where the talent is and where the good players are coming from and they will concentrate their efforts there.”
