Cary's football team is set to feature UNC & NC State commits
Cary High School's football program was already set to feature one major recruit on its offense this season. Now it will have two.
Former Northwood High School (Pittsboro) tight end standout Gus Ritchey recently moved into Wake County and has enrolled with the Imps.
Ritchey, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound prospect, is committed to NC State University. HighSchoolOT stopped by a spring ball practice at Cary to see how is is adjusting to the new environment.
At Cary, Ritchey has joined Trey Blue, a huge offensive lineman who is committed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Blue is listed at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds. He plays left tackle at Cary and was an Honorable Mention HighSchoolOT All-State selection in 2023.
While Ritchey and Blue will be adversaries on future Fall Saturdays, they'll be side-by-side on Friday nights this fall. But the partnership will go beyond gamedays. On Mondays-Thursdays, to help each other accomplish their respective goals through practice.
"We'll have plenty of one-on-one sessions together," Blue said. "I see Gus as great competition for me. We went against each other at the 25 Showtime Camp at UNC and just going against him that time I saw myself improve a lot."
Ritchey, who also plays some edge rusher and has been recruited to do both. While he is going to be a tight end with the Wolfpack, he sees the ability to go against Blue as nothing but helpful.
"You're playing against the best offensive lineman in the state, going against that every day, it helps a lot with my edge skills as well, because you never know, I could switch in college as well," Ritchey pointed out. "He's a little bit bigger actually than most offensive linemen in college too."
Cary is coming off of a 1-9 season in which the Imps lost four games by six points or less.
However, by doubling its number of Power 5 players, it's hard to not imagine Cary having the ability to improve a couple of spots in the Southwest Wake Athletic Conference standings.
"It's going to be awesome," Blue said of the duo's potential on offense. "There are already calls that we have we can pull, double team, cross block. We already have that down."
"The running back is going to be happy this year," Ritchey pitched in.
It's not going to be a secret what Cary's plans in the running game will be, but it's still going to come down to teams having the required physicality to counteract the Blue/Ritchey force. Even if opponents choose to divert extra attention to where the duo lines up, that will still be advantageous for the Imps' possibilities on offense.
What Ritchey adds to the passing game is also going to open up that rushing attack. Ritchey was named Third Team HighSchoolOT All-State during his junior year at Northwood as he totaled 39 receptions for 845 yards and nine touchdowns.
There was a brief moment in time where Gus and Trey also would've been teammates in college. Ritchey originally committed to UNC on August 1 of last year and flipped his pledge to NC State just 11 days later. Blue committed to UNC about a month after Ritchey's flip, but was trending toward the Tar Heels the whole summer. At the time of Ritchey's first commitment, he was the second in-state player committed to the Tar Heels for the class of 2025, behind East Forsyth High School quarterback Bryce Baker. Instead, Blue took that title on September 17.
"It breaks my heart, but it's okay," Blue said with a smile when asked about Ritchey's flip to the Wolfpack. "I wanted to play with Gus because I know that duo is going to be unstoppable. But now that I know we can do it here in high school, I'm happy about it."
