Four-star tight end Thaddeus Moss will join the NC State football team in 2016, he announced Saturday at the Duke-NC State basketball game.
Moss made the decision to join the Wolfpack after fielding offers from Texas A&M, Alabama, Arizona State and UCLA, as well as offers from about half of the ACC schools, including in-state rivals Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and Wake Forest.
“It just felt right,” Moss told ESPN. “It’s close to home, it felt right and they kept it real with me from day one. NC State was the first team to offer, and loyalty was rewarded.”
Moss is the son of NFL great and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Randy Moss, who spent 14 seasons in the NFL. Randy Moss caught 982 passes (14th all-time) for 15,292 yards (third all-time) and 156 touchdowns (second all-time) over his 14-year career with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers. He set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a single season in 2007 with 23, as well as the rookie touchdown reception record with 17 in 1998.
Before being drafted No. 21 overall in 1998 by the Vikings, Randy Moss was originally committed to play college football at Notre Dame before off-the-field issues forced him to redshirt for a season at Florida State. He wound up playing two seasons for the Marshall Thundering Herd where he caught 168 passes for 3,356 yards and 53 touchdowns.
The younger Moss, who is listed at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, attended Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte. He joins fellow Mallard Creek alumni tight end Jaylen Samuels and cornerback Vernon Grier.
Moss is currently ranked as the top recruit of NC State’s 2016 recruiting class, with ESPN giving him a four-star ranking and a grade of 80. He ranks just above three-star recruits and quarterback Dylan Parham, safety Isaiah Stallings and defensive tackle Shug Frazier, who each earned a grade of 79. He is one of two tight ends who have committed to the Pack for the 2016 season, with three-star Dylan Autenrieth being the other.
Moss joins a talented tight end group that features Jaylen Samuels, Cole Cook and Pharoah McKever, but just lost Benson Browne to graduation and David J. Grinnage to the NFL Draft. The amount of playing time he gets will likely revolve around how well he adjusts to the higher level of competition, as well as how often the team decides to line up the juggernaut Samuels at tight end and the progression of Cook and McKever, the latter of whom just switched positions for the second time in three years.
Last year’s top recruit, running back Johnny Frasier, was redshirted for his rookie season due to the depth at the position at the start of the year. However, the second and third recruits Nyheim Hines and Darian Roseboro each saw their fair share of playing time. Moss could find himself in either position, as the depth at tight end is currently adequate, but he could be too talented a player to pass up playing time — only time will tell.
Look for the Pack to lock up more recruits in the coming days, as National Signing Day is set for Feb. 3.
