N.C. State Wolfpack Football Recruiting: West Virginia offers Peyton Newell
The West Virginia Mountaineers have offered one of the best (and one of my personal favorite) 2014 recruits in four-star Hiawatha defensive tackle Peyton Newell. The Kansas recruit has received many high-profile offers so far in his recruitment, and he is on the cusp of a five-star rating as one of the top 150 recruits in the nation in 2014.
Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
Newell has high interest in the South Carolina Gamecocks, North Carolina State Wolfpack, Kansas State Wildcats, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Kansas Jayhawks.
Arizona State, Cal, Iowa State, Iowa, Duke, Baylor, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Northwestern, UCLA, TCU, and now West Virginia have also offered one of the elite prospects. I mean, just take a look at that insane list of offers; he is definitely one of the top prospects in the nation.
Widely recognized as one of the two best recruits in the state of Kansas and on the cusp of a top ten ranking at his position, Newell’s Arizona State offer was also relatively recent. The Wolfpack have a good shot at landing Newell, and they were the second team in the state of North Carolina to offer the four-star DT. N.C. State offered him in October, while Duke extended their offer to him a month earlier.
Two national powers in Texas A&M and Notre Dame hosted unofficial visits for the top 150 2014 prospect back in November. At this point in time, it looks like Nebraska is recruiting Newell the hardest, and the Big Ten powerhouse would love to land arguably the strongest recruit in the nation.
Not only is Newell incredibly strong with a 6’3″, 270 pound frame, but he is also pretty quick with a 4.89 forty. He has the makings of a solid run-stopper, in addition to being a guy who can make life extremely difficult on the quarterback. This is a high-end four-star recruit we are talking about, and it will be interesting to see how hard WVU pursues him in the coming months.
Newell set Hiawatha records for most sacks and tackles for loss in a season, and that TFL total of 37 is just mind-boggling and is a testament to his playmaking ability on the interior of the defensive line. He even forced five fumbles, recovered two others, and caught three touchdowns in a breakout junior season that has him rising up recruiting boards.
You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.