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Two weeks ago, Marvin Ridge rising junior K.J. Brent attended North Carolina's football camp. At the end of the day, North Carolina offered Brent, a kid its coaches had barely heard of that morning, a scholarship.
And Marvin Ridge coach Scott Chadwick was told that Tar Heels coach Butch Davis called Brent “the best wide receiver to come to our camp in the three years we've been at UNC.”
Which wasn't a surprise to Chadwick.
“K.J. started as a freshman, catching 19 passes,” Chadwick said Thursday. “But nobody knew him because he barely played last year. He broke his leg on the first series of our first scrimmage, and missed the entire regular season.”
Brent came back and played in the team's two playoff games, catching five passes, but after the layoff, “was a shell of his former self,” Chadwick said.
No more. Now he is 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds.
“He has every important attribute of a great receiver except outstanding speed,” Chadwick said. “He's not 4.4 (seconds in the 40-yard dash), but more like 4.65. Other than that, he has great size, and does a great job of using that size. He's got great hands – he catches everything – and he runs great routes.”
With two more years of prep football to play, that speed could get better, although Brent's other attributes more than make up for it. Just ask the Tar Heels.
Brent first drew attention at several big combines earlier this year. And recently, he was Offensive MVP for the National Underclass Combine for the Top 100 rising juniors in the Southeast, Chadwick said.
In May, many of the bigger programs dropped by to take a look at Brent.
“The only thing keeping him from more offers is we have no film on him,” Chadwick said. “Once people see him in person, they fall in love with him.”
Raleigh linebacker trims list
Southeast Raleigh High linebacker Kendall Moore has cut his list to six schools, he said Thursday. Four of them are in the ACC.
Moore, who plans to announce his choice July 11, said the remaining schools in contention are Duke, N.C. State, South Carolina, Florida State, Maryland and Notre Dame. He visited the Irish last weekend.
Moore, the No.10 prospect on our N.C. Top 25 list, said he doesn't currently have a leader. He has received “16 or 17” total offers.
He said schools have talked to him about playing defensive end, outside linebacker or inside linebacker.
Moore, who is 6-foot-2 and 234 pounds, had 120 tackles including 11 sacks a year ago.
Read more of Stan Olson's football recruiting notebook at charlotteobserver.com/sports
