THE SPORTS DESK
Football: Chargers’ Holmes chooses the Wolfpack
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
As Chris Holmes was prepared to wrap up a visit to North Carolina State last week, its football coaches asked him a question.
The Wolfpack staff wanted to know what was preventing the Chancellor High School rising senior standout from orally committing to their program.
Holmes pondered that question for a few days. On Tuesday, he realized there was nothing holding him back.
Holmes orally committed to N.C. State. He chose the Wolfpack over scholarship offers from 10 other Football Bowl Subdivision programs.
“I’d been thinking about that question since my visit,” Holmes said. “I realized I didn’t have an answer. So I thought about it some more and committed.”
Holmes (6-foot-2, 187 pounds) played cornerback and wide receiver for the Chargers last season. He was recruited by the Wolfpack as a safety.
He will be eligible to sign a national letter of intent in February.
Holmes said he narrowed his choices to N.C. State and Marshall. He also had scholarship offers from Boston College, Clemson, East Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Old Dominion, South Carolina, Temple and West Virginia.
“Every place had something that stood out about it,” Holmes said. “But N.C. State stood out the most.”
Holmes played mostly at wide receiver for Chancellor’s run-heavy offense in 2011. He didn’t receive any all-Battlefield District honors, but he said that’s because he played just one entire game on defense (Chancellor’s Region I playoff loss to Grafton).
Holmes said he had limited film to show coaches, but “I guess when I did play defense, I made plays.”
Chancellor assistant coach Chris Lam, who handles recruiting for the school, said Holmes was attractive to college coaches because of his “freakish athleticism.”
Holmes was the Battlefield player of the year in basketball. He was also a track and field standout for the Chargers. Lam said he has a vertical leap of 38 to 39 inches. The coach added that Holmes’ body frame will allow him to add nearly 20 pounds of muscle “in the blink of an eye.” Holmes is rated a three-star prospect by recruiting service Rivals .com.
“Chris’ potential is nowhere close to being complete,” Lam said. “The package and skill set he brings to N.C. State is phenomenal.”
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
tcoghill@freelancestar.com
