Football Recruiting: N.C. State Wolfpack offer Enoch Smith Jr.

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The N.C. State Wolfpack have offered one of the top 20 defensive tackles in the 2014 class in Enoch Smith Jr., who is currently a Notre Dame target. The high-end, three-star DT received his offer from ND in June during a camp visit, while his most recent offer from N.C. State came yesterday.

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A few days before the offer, Smith received a visit from Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin, and it will be interesting to see if Vandy offers him.

Smith has offers from Illinois, Cincinnati, Toledo, Purdue, Indiana, Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, and Western Michigan. BCS schools such as Michigan , Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Georgia Tech, and Wisconsin have also shown interest in the top 500 recruit. NIU and Eastern Michigan are considered out of the race at this point.

The Chicago-area Mount Carmel High standout is one of the top rated recruits in the state of Illinois in 2014, and the disruptive penetrating DT has the offers and early interest to prove it. He had seven sacks and 14 tackles for loss last season.

A top target for Purdue, he has visit the Big Ten school twice in his recruitment, and he took unofficial visits to in-state schools Illinois and Northwestern in September. Although Northwestern is in the city where Enoch Smith Jr. is, they have not shown as much interest as other schools.

Texas, Stanford, and Florida have also taken looks at him. Smith’s big junior season has vaulted his recruiting stock, and he has been a huge piece of Mount Carmel’s state championship-winning team. The offers, like the recent one from N.C. State, will continue to pour in for Smith, with the biggest one so far being the Notre Dame offer he received in June. At this point in time, it looks like ND is out in front early.

New N.C. State coach Dave Doeren was the former coach of NIU who offered the then in-state prospect, so it looks like that’s the reason why N.C. State has offered him. I don’t think anybody will be complaining, because Enoch Smith Jr. is talented DT.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.