New N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried spoke for the first time Wednesday night with N.C. State commit Tyler Harris and his father Torrel.
Tyler, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward from St. Benedict’s Prep, was busy with a workout and was unavailable for comment but Torrel said the conversation went well and Tyler remains committed to N.C. State.
“We picked them and I want to give them every opportunity to see how Tyler can fit in at N.C. State,” Torrel said.
He said Gottfried planned to study film of Tyler and then would come up to Long Island to visit with him in the next two weeks.
“He wants to come up and visit Tyler,” Torrel said. “He doesn’t know much about his game. He did a lot of of games at Tennessee [for ESPN] and he said, ‘If you’re anything like your brother Tobias [in terms of hard work], you’re gonna be special.'”
Tobias plans to test the NBA waters after his freshman season but has not hired an agent.
Torrel said he knows Mike Gottfried, Mark’s uncle, from his time at Murray State. Torrel was a grad student and Mike was the head football coach.
“We’re going to still commit,” Torrel said. “We have got some family relationships [with Mike]. Me and his uncle Mike are very close.
“And Mark always had good things to say about Tobias.”
