Dennis Smith, a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, gave a verbal commitment to the Wolfpack on Thursday, according to Scout’s Evan Daniels.
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“They have been on me hard since my sophomore year”, Smith said of the Wolfpack.
Smith, 6-2 and 190, is the top-rated point guard in the class of 2016 and #4 overall.
And Smith has already started recruiting other top players in the class. Power forward Edrice “Bam” Adebayo, from High Point, is rated No. 8 in the class by ESPN and is one of his best friends and AAU teammates.
Smith and Adebayo both played on the adidas circuit. Earlier this week, N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried visited Smith in Fayetteville, taking a helicopter to the school campus. That loyalty meant a lot to me.
With the helicopter service being provided by an N.C. State donor, Gottfried and Early were passengers on a morning trip to Pinetown, where Adebayo’s mother lives, and then Fayetteville, which is about a two-hour, 30-minute drive from Pinetown.
The normal recovery time for an ACL tear is between six and 12 months, so Smith is likely to miss all of his senior season with Trinity Christian’s basketball team.
Gottfried has had success in his first four seasons at N.C. State, making the NCAA tournament all four years and the Sweet 16 twice (2015 and ’12).
“Rehab is progressing faster than what they expected”, Smith said. “It’s a blessing”. If you want to land a top recruit, your visit should maybe look something like this on the very first day of the fall live period. Calipari was supposed to be the unstoppable terminator of college basketball recruiting.
Gottfried is no stranger to airborne stunts.
“Growing up an N.C. State fan, I knew they would be one of my top schools”, Smith told ESPN.
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“I’m good on that, man”, he said with a smile.
