With a top-15 national ranking, the 2011 men’s tennis recruiting class is the highest rated class in school history. Three players, Robbie Mudge, Austin Powell and Beck Bond, make up the class that was ranked thirteenth according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.
Mudge, who hails from Morrisville, N.C., was the top recruit in the class as he was considered a blue-chip recruit. However, both Powell and Bond were no slouches as Powell has considered a five-star recruit, while Bond was a four-star, according to Tennis Recruiting Network.
“We are pleased with it, we sort of figured we would be in the top-10 but it doesn’t matter what spot you are,” coach Jon Choboy said. “We are just real pleased we have this group.”
Choboy’s wish to be in a top-10 class may have come to fruition had Mudge and Powell been playing and not out due to injury during parts of last year’s season, causing their rankings to fall a bit.
“I think it is a little better than that and the reason is because Robbie Mudge had a broken bone in his foot and he missed the summer national schedule,” Choboy said. “So his ranking is around 30 nationally but that isn’t an accurate ranking.
“And Austin Powell had wrist surgery and lost a full year, but prior to his surgery, he was the No. 1 or 2 player in the south and a top-20 type player. So you take those things into consideration it shows this class could be higher.”
Choboy has even more praise when talking about the final player of the class, in Bond, as he believes that once Bond focuses squarely on tennis he was a chance to become a great player.
“Beck Bond is kind of new to the game of tennis. He was a football and basketball player in high school as well,” Choboy said. “He played a lot of football and basketball when he was younger and got into tennis a little later. So he is sort of catching up ranking wise.
Bond’s perceived ability has his future coach even going so far as to compare him to one of the Pack’s tennis greats, William Noblitt, who is tied for most career wins in school history, with 87.
“I had another player like that a couple years back, William Noblitt,” Choboy said. “He played soccer half the year and then when we got him here and he was able to focus on tennis full time, coupled with strength and conditioning and all the little things, William became the winningest player in N.C. State history and a two-time All-ACC player.”
The 2011 class, in Choboy’s eyes, is the kind of class that you dream of, as very rarely do all of the pieces fall in place like it did this year.
“We had a pretty good list of kids that we were going after. But very rarely do you get exactly what you want,” Choboy said. “You have a lot of competition, but we set out sights kind of high and we really wanted these three guys and one at a time it happened. They committed and we are very pleased.”
But even more importantly, Choboy is excited about the kind of guys he is getting in his recruits, outside of just their ability on the court.
“The one thing that won’t show up on paper or be in any stat sheet is that they all are very good students, and even better people,” Choboy said. “We are doing a very good job of assembling a team of very good people and when you have that it makes a huge difference. Having the people that are going to work hard, be team players, fight hard and push each other all matters when you put a group of people together.”
The giant leap up from last year’s class to this year’s can possibly be credited to the plans to renovate the tennis facilities, which Choboy believed caused more harm then good in the past, in terms of recruiting.
“Having the facility we have to recruit with was definitely a detriment to our recruiting. Not a help, a determent,” Choboy said. “I am absolutely convinced that the renovations and the other things are going to have a positive impact to our recruiting this year. In past years the facility was a detriment but now it is helping.”
Even though this is the highest recruiting class in the history of men’s tennis, Choboy believes that this is just the beginning of some huge recruiting classes heading to State in the next few years.
“Its great to have these guys coming in, but I think it is just the beginning of some really good recruiting classes because of all the things that are going on with the tennis facilities and this good young team,” Choboy said. “We are going to do something with this team for sure.”