Before attending Sidney Lowe’s N.C. State Elite Skills Camp, Ryan Harrow wasn’t sure how much interest the Wolfpack had in him. A point guard in the class of 2010, Harrow said he was noticed by State’s coaches as they watched his teammate Jerrell Eddie. Though the Pack showed interest in the young point guard, they were concerned primarily with his teammate.
June 12-15 at Elite Skills Camp, that changed.
Harrow caught the eye of coaches in his pick up games at camp and received a special invitation, along with four other campers, to play with some of the Pack’s current players. That game, according to Harrow, may have won him a scholarship, as he played alongside Courtney Fells, Brandon Costner and Marques Johnson and “held his own.”
“I think it was mostly playing with the college boys that did it,” Harrow said “I held my own scoring, making passes and playing defense.”
According to Harrow, State offered him a scholarship after camp on an unofficial visit, which allowed his mother to meet Lowe. He had already toured the campus and dorms at camp, as the players slept and ate in University Towers during their stay. Harrow said Lowe made a solid impression on both him and his mother.
“Knowing that I would be able to make an impact and also knowing that I could be coached by Sidney Lowe were the major factors,” Harrow said. “He’s played in the ACC, played in the NBA and coached in the NBA. He could take me [from] the level I’m at now, the college level, and hopefully one day to the NBA level.”
According to Jerry Petercuskie, the football team’s recruiting coordinator and special teams coach, football summer camps are an “integral part” of the team’s recruitment process. With coaches not allowed to travel to recruit during the summer, Petercuskie said the camps benefits both players and coaches in the recruiting process.
“It’s a two way street,” Petercuskie said. “They see how we get we coach and we get to see how they respond to coaching. It’s not just how they perform physically.”
Petercuskie said the camp allows the Pack to show prospects the program and it’s coaching, as well as allowing coaches to discover talented players who may have gone unnoticed. The “classic example” of this dichotomy is best seen in incoming freshman quarterback Mike Glennon and incoming freshman safety Earl Wolff, who both camped with the Pack during their high school careers.
“Mike Glennon had offers from everyone in America,” Petercuskie said. “We liked him and we like what he did, so we offered him and he decided to come play for us. Wolff, on the other hand, had no offers and we liked him and we offered him. The spectrum is that diverse from one end to the other.”
Petercuskie, who coached at Boston College under O’Brien from 1997-2006, said the camps are growing both in numbers and in the number of players offered from the camp, though he would like to see even more players in the system come through camp first.
“In the 10 years at BC, about 40% came through camp,” Petercuskie said. “Now it’s growing, but we have not gotten to that point yet. All of our staff, and coach O’Brien in particular, love to see guys work up close and personal-and that’s the bottom line.”
“We’ve been doing this a long time, and we’ve been fooled many times on tape, but rarely do we miss out on a guy we get to see in person.”
