TIM PEELER: Sometimes, Best Players Aren't Top Recruits

Second in a series of articles looking back at some of the best recruiting classes in NC State football history. 

BY TIM PEELER

RALEIGH – Throughout the 1974 high school season, football fans across North Carolina had their eyes on a running back from the Greensboro/High Point area. He wracked up yards nearly 3,400 yards in his final two seasons, scored 27 touchdowns as a senior and led his team to an undefeated, state championship season in 1974.

He was a sure-fire college all-star that every college in the area wanted to sign. If he had played in today’s atmosphere of high-profile recruiting, Jamestown’s Rickey Adams of Ragsdale High School would have been a four- or five-star recruit waiting to enroll in the college of his choice.

Across town, there was another running back, tiny at 5-10, 170 pounds even in those days. He had only one other scholarship offer, and it wasn't from another ACC school. He was destined to be turned into a defensive back.

But Ted Brown was eager to follow in the footsteps of a couple people from Andrews High School, where he was a standout performer, to Raleigh: quarterback Johnny Evans, fullback Timmy Johnson and head coach Bob Boswell, all of whom had left Andrews the year before to join Wolfpack head coach Lou Holtz.

Both Brown and Adams started slowly in their college careers. Both, in fact, had seen spot duty with the varsity but were demoted to the junior varsity squad the first few weeks of the 1975 season. Brown, who carried once in the season-opening win over East Carolina and fell backwards for two yards, was so discouraged at his role, he called home to tell his parents that he was coming home. A last-minute pep talk from Boswell made him reconsider and agree to stick it out one more week.

Then came the fateful afternoon of Sept. 27, 1975, when Brown was playing a junior varsity game against Chowan College in Murphreesboro, N.C. He ran for five touchdowns in the blow-out victory. Meanwhile, Holtz had the Wolfpack varsity in East Lansing, Mich., where he watched his running backs fumble the ball away six times in a 37-15 loss to the Spartans.

The middle of the next week, Adams and Brown were on the dress-out list for the Wolfpack’s game against Indiana. Both, in fact, would start that game at Carter Stadium, just to see if they could hang on to the ball.

They did. Brown rushed for 121 yards on 17 carries that day and held on to the starting job for the rest of his four-year career.

“There wasn’t much interest in Ted by other college scouts because of his size, but I wonder how tall he stands to them now?” Boswell asked during Brown’s freshman season.

Brown became the most productive running back in NC State and ACC history, setting the career rushing record of 4,602 yards that still stands today, nearly 30 years after he played his last game. He was the 1975 ACC Rookie of the Year, a four-time All-ACC selection and a consensus All-America in 1978. More importantly, he was part of the 1977 and ’78 teams that scored back-to-back bowl victories over Iowa State in the Peach and Pittsburgh in the Tangerine.

Of course, he got some help from the core of one of NC State’s greatest recruiting classes. Among the others who signed grants-in-aid in 1975 with Brown and Adams were a pair of linebackers named Bill Cowher and Kyle Wescoe.

Adams had a productive career with the Wolfpack, though he forever lived in Brown’s shadow. He was the team’s second-leading rusher in 1975, gaining 376 yards on 79 carries. He scored the Wolfpack’s only touchdown in a 13-10 loss to West Virginia in the Peach Bowl.

He ended up getting a medical redshirt in 1978, Brown’s senior year, after playing in just one game. He came back in 1979 in hopes of earning the starting tailback position. However, Dwight Sullivan and Wayne McClean were the featured backs that year on a defensive-oriented team that won the ACC Championship.

Sometimes, recruiting classes are made by signing all the big names. Sometimes, they are quite memorable thanks to less heralded recruits.

You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.

1975 NC State Recruiting Class
Name	Postion	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown
Rickey Adams	RB	6-1	198	High Point, N.C.
Steve Bainbridge	LB	6-4	207	Raleigh, N.C.
Ted Brown	RB	5-10	170	High Point, N.C.
Jim Bzdafka	DT	6-3	225	Maple Heights, Md.
Dave Carson	TE	6-4	200	Pittsburgh, Pa.
Don Carson	K	6-1	195	Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Bill Cowher	LB	6-3	208	Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mike Crabtree	WR	5-10	160	Virginia Beach, Va.
Terry Crite*	DB	6-2	180	Brevard, N.C.
Tom Ebner	DB	6-1	180	Dallas, Texas
Tom Fabiny	TE/DB	6-2	190	Youngstown, Ohio
Tim Gillespie	DL	6-4	235	Greensboro, N.C.
Jon Hall	DE	6-3	190	Warren, Ohio
Randy Hall	WR	6-1	172	Richmond, Va.
Brad Holt	OL	6-3	235	Beaver, Pa.
Reggie Jackson	OL	6-0	235	Chapel Hill, N.C.
A.W. Jenkins**	MG	6-2	210	Leland, N.C.
Mike Kraemer	QB	6-2	186	Narazeth, Pa.
Greg Lail	OL	6-3	245	Hudson, N.C.
Mike Nall	QB/DB	6-1	160	Akron, Ohio
Mike Owens**	MG	6-0	185	Thomasville, N.C.
Rodger Parker	OL	6-2	215	Belmont, N.C.
Kevin Plowman	DB-RB	5-11	185	Monroeville, Pa.
Frank Prior	C	6-3	227	Yardley, Pa.
Kevin Scanlon	QB	6-1	190	Beaver Falls, Pa.
Tom Van Arsdale	OL	6-4	225	Lakeview, N.C.
Scott Wade	RB	6-0	225	Nebo, N.C.
Kyle Wescoe	LB	6-0	225	Bethlehem, Pa.

North Carolina State University Athletics

TIM PEELER: Sometimes, Best Players Aren't Top Recruits

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