Top NC State Football Recruit Chooses SEC Powerhouse
NC State’s 2025 football recruiting class still features just two four-star recruits. Despite some recent optimism around NC State head coach Dave Doeren and his team gaining traction in Jontae Gilbert’s recruitment, the momentum has shifted.
On Saturday afternoon, Jontae Gilbert, the highly-touted cornerback from Douglass High School in Georgia, announced his commitment to Georgia over other contenders like NC State, Georgia Tech, UCF, and Louisville.
“Georgia is highly competitive,” Gilbert told On3’s Chad Simmons after committing to the SEC powerhouse. “They have intense competition daily, and I want to be part of that…Georgia stands out, and that’s a big reason I chose them…Their fast-paced play and scheme suit me well, and it’s in the SEC.
“The best players are in the SEC, and I want to compete against the best.”
Standing at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, Gilbert is a four-star recruit ranked No. 141 nationally and No. 18 in Georgia according to the 247Sports 2025 Composite rankings. He visited NC State multiple times and had held an offer from the Wolfpack for over a year. If he had committed, he would have been NC State’s highest-ranked recruit for the 2025 class, and the third four-star addition.
Currently, NC State’s 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 51 nationally by 247Sports. The class includes two four-star recruits: Jerel Bolder, a wide receiver from Forest Hills High School in North Carolina, and Kentrell Rinehart, a running back from Westland High School in Ohio.
