CHARLOTTE, NC -- A member of the “Final Five” at the Charlotte Nike Football Camp, Durham (N.C.) Hillside offensive tackle Emanuel McGirt was one of the most talented offensive tackles in attendance among the more than 240 attendees at the event.
Duke, NC State, North Carolina battle for 3* OT Emanuel McGirt?
The big offensive tackle also has one school from which he would like to receive an offer.
Ranked as a consensus three-star prospect, the 6’6, 270-pounder is considered the No. 75 offensive tackle nationally and the No. 25 player in the state of North Carolina in the 247Sports Composite rankings, but 247Sports has McGirt as a four-star prospect, the No. 34 tackle in the country, and the No. 14 player in North Carolina.
With offers from 11 schools, including Duke, East Carolina, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and West Virginia, McGirt has plenty of college options.
After the event in Charlotte, McGirt spoke with SB Nation Recruiting and said that there are six schools currently standing out for him -- Miami, Tennessee, South Carolina, Duke, NC State, North Carolina.
Several of those schools have already received numerous visits from the Hillside lineman, as he is intimately familiar with Duke, NC State, and North Carolina.
Though McGirt said that he followed all three schools when he was younger, he did admit to being a Duke basketball fan when he was younger. He’s had a chance to attend several Blue Devil practices and said that he has a good relationship with the coaching staff there, including offense line coach John Latina.
The recent success under head coach David Cutliffe hasn’t necessarily helped the Blue Devils out that much, however.
“Duke has always been a possibility because of the academics. I know that I can succeed there academically and athletically, so them winning is just a plus, I guess you could say,” McGirt said.
As for the rival Tar Heels, McGirt has family connections to North Carolina because he said that his whole family went there. Though he said most of his family would support a decision to attend Duke, his sister is the one exerting the most pressure towards attending her alma mater.
And there are plenty of aspects of the program that stand out to him, including the coaching staff, players, academics, and facilities.
During the spring, McGirt believes that a Florida offer could come his direction, as the coaching staff is set to visit Hillside during the evaluation period. He said that if the Gators do offer, they would immediately jump into his top five.
The Hillside product plans on narrowing his focus at some point during the summer in advance of a decision before his senior season starts. Before he makes a pledge, he’d like to visit Tennessee and South Carolina, two of the schools in his top six that he has not yet had a chance to see, as well as Miami.
