Recruiting Rundown: Spotlighting First Offers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Welcome back to this week's Recruiting Rundown, where we keep fans updated about what's going on in the world of recruiting across the state of North Carolina. This week was arguably the busiest of the year in terms of offers, and we can't possibly cover everything. Instead, I'm zeroing in on players who earned their first offers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">North Carolina Players Earning First Offers</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rather than simply listing out a bunch of the offers we've seen this week, we want to talk about some of the bigger themes that we've seen (I'll also have a companion piece later about some of the out-of-state teams picking up their efforts in North Carolina). So far, we've seen a ton of first offers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>These are huge, not only because it takes some of the stress of a player not knowing if he'll have an opportunity, but also because it's the hardest offer. After schools see another team has offered, they're often quicker to be the second or third team to jump in, and we've already seen that for several athletes this week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Which Players Earned First Offers This Week?</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Concord University (WV) has been active in North Carolina (spoiler, they're one of the teams we'll feature later) and Coach Chris Hawk has dispensed a slew of first offers to athletes across the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Several Cleveland County players earned Concord offers as their first, as Burns defensive tackle <strong>Nate Wilson</strong> and Crest outside linebacker <strong>Khali Clark</strong> each kicked off their recruitments. Clark's Chargers teammate, defensive back <strong>Javion Hopper</strong>, was also offered after a 41-tackle season. Teammate <strong>Max Davis</strong> earned an offer, too. Corvian Community running back <strong>Desmond Walker</strong> also got off the mark with a Concord offer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chambers defensive back <strong>Marley Vincent</strong>, who my colleague Matt Morrow has been high on for a while, received a Concord offer as his first. His teammate, receiver <strong>Dior Carter</strong> was also offered on that school's visit. Carter is a smaller, shiftier receiver who led Chambers in receiving last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Finally, Providence defensive back <strong>Austin Roberts</strong>, who sits inside our top 150, was offered by the Mountain Lions on Wednesday. Fellow Charlotte-area playmaker <strong>Landon Lee</strong> earned an offer, too.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Concord wasn't the only team active this week, though, and several other players earned first offers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>FCS Samford has a new staff with plenty of familarity with the Carolinas. On Thursday, they dispensed an offer to one of Grimsley's team leaders. 2028 defensive lineman <strong>Tristan Wardlaw</strong> earned his first offer from the Bulldogs, who also offered his running mate, established recruit <strong>Guy Vann</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Other First Offers Going Out</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Weddington tight end/H-Back <strong>Matthew McCoy</strong> earned a Wofford offer on Thursday. That particular position in Weddington's offense can throw recruiters for a loop, based on how the Warriors' H-Backs are deployed, so it's an important first offer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Elsewhere in Union County, a pair of small-school linebackers earned offers. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Forest Hills' <strong>Chris Baker</strong> earned a Towson offer after a long, tireless process. He's an instinctual player who has been right on the cusp of an offer from several teams, and this could really get his recruitment started. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/Chrisbaker2027/status/2051406826697339219?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Chrisbaker2027/status/2051406826697339219?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Piedmont's <strong>Davis Weycker</strong> is a physically-imposing linebacker with speed, but he missed last summer while recovering from an Achilles injury. An offer from Denison preceded an immediate offer from UVA-Wise, kicking off what could be a busy month on the recruiting trail for the big backer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A few offensive linemen earned first offers recently. Lumberton's <strong>Taylor Martin</strong> was offered by UNC-Pembroke. The Braves also offered Hertford County lineman <strong>Charles Eure</strong>. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I'm really liking some of the offensive line offers the Braves are handing out, as Maiden's <strong>Baylor Duncan</strong> also received a recent UNC-Pembroke offer (his second, but I'll count it here). That makes three offensive linemen we really like who have been identified early by the Braves.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Finally, here are a couple more first offers that I saw this week, though I certainly missed some. East Forsyth's <strong>Cason Holder</strong>, one of the <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2026/04/top-6-ol-in-forsyth-county/">top offensive linemen in Forsyth County</a>, earned an offer from Lenoir-Rhyne.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jordan running back <strong>Damien Hayes</strong> earned his first Division I offer from FAU earlier this week. He's part of a deep running back class in 2027, and a guy who could see his recruitment take off.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We had one young guy earn his first offer this week. Eastern Guilford two-way player <strong><a href="https://prepredzone.com/player/samuel-haith-iv/">[player_tooltip player_id='2155088' first='Samuel' last='Haith']</a></strong> earned a Georgia State offer on Thursday. He could be a national recruit by the time all is said and done.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>This state is big, and it's easy to miss something, especially at this time of year. Want to keep us updated on your recruitment? Tag and/or DM me on Twitter/X (<a href="https://x.com/whelms21">@whelms21</a>) to make sure I know what's going on.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->