Shipley's Decision Underscores State Recruiting Challenge

Will Shipley's parents both graduated from NC State. So did several other members of his family. He grew up dreaming of playing at Carter-Finley Stadium. But when it came time to commit to a college, he chose Clemson because of the one thing the Wolfpack couldn't give him

Rob Kinnan/USAToday sports

If ever there was a recruiting battle for a top in-state football talent set up for NC State to win, this was it.

Not only are Will Shipley's parents both Wolfpack alumni, but so are more than 20 other members of his family. As a youngster he dreamed of playing at Carter-Finley Stadium. He's even talked about majoring in engineering.

And yet despite all those advantages, the five-star legacy from suburban Charlotte and No. 1-rated all-purpose back in America chose Clemson over State because it was able to give him the one thing coach Dave Doeren and his staff realistically couldn't.

"It gives me an opportunity to win national championships and create relationships with guys that are very similar to me, you know that will carry on through the rest of my life," Shipley told SI's All Clemson shortly after announcing his commitment on Tuesday. "And you know that our kids will be growing up together playing Pop Warner football and you know, the people at Clemson are the type of people that I want to do that with."   

Shipley's decision to play for Tigers and the reasoning behind it articulates the enormous challenge facing Doeren and the Wolfpack every time they go up against their ACC Atlantic rival—not to mention other regional college football powers such as Georgia and Alabama—for a top prospect.

It's tough to become an elite program when elite players such as Shipley would rather play for established national championship contenders rather than programs still struggling to break through.

It's a similar conundrum to the one faced by new college graduates when they are told by prospective employers to go out and get some experience before they can be hired for a job.

How do you get experience when nobody wants to hire someone without experience?

It's not Doeren's fault that Shipley became the big one that got away on Tuesday, although there are some out there that have already jumped on that narrative.

Let's face it, if not for Shipley's family connection to State there's a good chance he might never have given the Wolfpack the time of day in the first place. 

So what where does that leave Doeren? Or any other coach at a program trying to crack the top tier of college football, for that matter?

One answer is to beg athletic director Boo Corrigan for the funds to build comparable facilities to the amusement park-like complexes constructed by the Clemsons of the world.  

Since that's not going to happen, the only option is to continue stockpiling the lower-rated prospects they're already attracting and helping them develop into elite performers the way the Wolfpack did with first-round NFL draft picks Bradley Chubb and Garrett Bradbury, while continuing to shoot for the moon in hopes of hitting the lottery for elusive five-star program-changers like Shipley.