N.C. State mines Georgia

With all the success N.C. State has had recruiting in Georgia, you'd think the campus was in Roswell instead of Raleigh.

Seven recruits from Georgia - including offensive linemen Duran Christophe of Woodstock, Deion Roberson of Tucker and Camden Wentz of Marietta - have sent letters of intent that have arrived at N.C. State.

The Wolfpack won't even have that many signees from the state of North Carolina. Couple Tom O'Brien's recruiting in Georgia with basketball coach Sidney Lowe's Georgia success (J.J. Hickson plus signees Lorenzo Brown and Richard Howell), and you see that Georgia is critical for the whole N.C. State athletics department.

Recruiting Georgia heavily is a smart move for N.C. State in both sports. According to a U.S. census estimate, Georgia had a population of 9.3 million and North Carolina had a population of 8.8 million in 2006. But Georgia has just two Football Bowl Subdivision schools, while North Carolina has five.

Georgia isn't far from Raleigh and has a lot of good football players who can't be accommodated by the Georgia Bulldogs or Georgia Tech. A bunch of them signed with N.C. State on Wednesday. - Ken Tysiac