NC State Basketball in Fierce Battle with Tar Heels and Others for Deron Rippey Jr.
A few weeks after offering a scholarship to Deron Rippey Jr., new NC State head coach Will Wade and his staff are still waiting to lock in an official visit from the standout point guard out of Blair Academy (N.J.). The 6-foot-2, 175-pound five-star recruit has been busy mapping out visits as his recruitment heats up heading into his senior year.
Rippey is set to visit Chapel Hill for three days starting Aug. 31, where he’ll check out NC State’s longtime rival, the UNC Tar Heels. That visit will be official and coincides with the kickoff weekend for Bill Belichick’s debut leading UNC football. Rippey also has official visits lined up with Alabama (Sept. 12–14) and Texas (Sept. 19–21).
With 44 scholarship offers so far, Rippey—whose father played a season at ECU in the mid-1990s—has already made trips to Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn, Villanova, and St. John’s. The explosive guard has climbed to No. 17 overall in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2026 class, a 10-spot rise from last year.
NC State has offers out to about a dozen players in the 2026 class, including several who were on the radar of the previous coaching staff. Wade and his team are still seeking their first commitment from one of the top high school seniors in the country.
Leave a Reply