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Ahlers Grabs East Carolina Offer

D.H. Conley duel-threat quarterback Holton Ahlers snagged an ECU offer on Wednesday.
D.H. Conley duel-threat quarterback Holton Ahlers snagged an ECU offer on Wednesday.
Rivals.com

The Pirates remain hard at work on the recruiting front both for this year’s class and for the future. East Carolina has just extended an offer to local 2018 quarterback prospect Holton Ahlers from D.H. Conley High School who the Pirates have been keeping tabs on for some time now.

The 6-4, 225 pounder passed for 2,457 yards last season and ran for another 1,142 with 42 total touchdowns in 2015. Ahlers currently holds offers from N.C. State and ECU with other offers close to being announced.

The Greenville left-hander took Conley to the third round of the high school playoffs last season before falling to local Greenville rival J.H. Rose in a 49-47 shootout to Southern Durham. Ahlers described what happened.

“We were up by seven at the half. Then they got a kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half.. It was kind of a shootout where it was going to come down to whoever had the ball last and we got the ball with about a minute to go and got down to about the thirty-yard line,” Ahlers recalled, "We were about ready to kick a field goal and we got a false start and then it was a little out of our kicker’s range. It was the farthest our school has ever made it. We have almost all of our offense returning this year. All of our receivers return."

Ahlers was offered by the prior ECU staff as well under Ruffin McNeill and Ahlers took time out on Wednesday to talk about his recruitment and getting the ECU offer as just a rising junior.

“They just called my coach, Coach Connor and told him that they were pleased with how I performed there at the 7 on 7 last week and that they were going to pull the trigger on an offer,” Ahlers told PirateIllustrated.com, I’ve actually got to call Coach Mo tonight.”

Marshall is also heavily involved as well as a few others who are giving the Greenville product ample consideration like Penn State, Duke and North Carolina, so we asked him to give us a lay of the land on his current recruitment. Ahlers is headed to Virginia this weekend.

“Probably the closest to the next offer would be Virginia Tech. I went there on a visit two weeks ago. I had gone to Tennessee the day before and the following day I went to Virginia Tech. I had a good time and it was the first time going there and meeting the new coaching staff. I liked that a lot," said Ahlers, "Tennessee was amazing. Their facilities are probably the best in the country because they’re “Tennessee". That’s an SEC school, so that’s definitely one. My brother is actually named after Payton Manning, so that’s one I want to look at for the future if they pull the trigger on an offer.”

The Vikings signal caller is still growing and he described his skill set as a quarterback to PirateIllustrated.com.

“I get compared a lot to Tim Tebow just because of my size and because I’m a lefty and how hard I run the ball,” said Ahlers, "I’m a hard runner and I’m not just going to slide every play. I’m smart about it, but if I can get a couple of extra yards, I’m going to do it. In throwing the ball, I’m really working on my accuracy a lot right now. I’m known as a duel-threat quarterback because I can make plays on the run, but I can stay in the pocket and make throws if I have to."

The D.H. Conley star was really glad to get the East Carolina offer from the new staff under Scottie Montgomery.

“It’s definitely cool because it’s my home town and stuff. The last staff offered me and I had a feeling this new staff would too. I thought it might be later, but it was just a matter when down the road one day. I was really expecting it to be later, but the earlier the better and they’re definitely one of my top ones right now,” Ahlers told PI.

“I probably have the best relationship with the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at N.C. State, Coach Drinkwitz. I probably talk to him on almost a daily basis. Probably three or four times a week. It’s so early in the process with ECU that I’ve probably thought about their coaches just once or twice. I’m going to call them tonight and try to get a better feel for them. I’ve heard that you’ll know when you know, but the latest is probably going to be just before my senior year. My senior year I want to focus on the season and not where I’m going to college.”

Ahlers is set for another big seasons for the Vikings. More as events warrant here on PirateIllustrated.com.

HOLTON AHLERS HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

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