How NC State’s defense can get better without its best player

N.C. State had a great player, defensive end Bradley Chubb, last year but not a great defense.

Statistically, the Wolfpack defense was just average in 2017. The challenge this season is to improve without its best player — and the ACC’s best defensive player — and seven other starters.

The first step: Go back and watch every game from last season and identify the mistakes.

“You just have to go to the film and fix it,” junior safety Jarius Morehead said.

Such is the simplistic beauty of football. You watch and learn. The film doesn’t lie.

“A lot of times, we were in position to make the play,” co-defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable said. “Now we just have to make those 50-50 plays.”

N.C. State was near the middle of the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in scoring (No. 50) and total defense (No. 58). With Chubb, and three other starters on the line who wound up as NFL draft picks, the Wolfpack was strong against the run (No. 26) but weak against the pass (No. 104).

Two of N.C. State’s better NCAA rankings came in red-zone defense (No. 38) and takeaways (No. 44).

Chubb led the ACC, and ranked second in the country, with 25 tackles for loss, but no one else on the team had more than 8.5. Chubb’s 10 sacks led the ACC, but no one else had four. So the path to improvement isn’t necessarily to replace Chubb’s sterling numbers but rather to play better collectively.

“Everybody has to do their job,” senior defensive end Darian Roseboro said.

And that might actually be easier this season with the experience N.C. State has back. Eight starters have to be replaced, including the entire front seven, but eight of the 11 players expected to fill out the depth chart for the James Madison opener next Saturday played extensively last season.

Three of the expected starters on the defensive line got valuable reps last season. Linebacker Germaine Pratt was probably second only to Chubb in big plays last season (he actually scored two touchdowns). Three of the five expected starters in the secondary are back from last season.

That experience could make a significant difference for the secondary. It wasn’t unlike the on-the-job learning former standout safeties Earl Wolff, Brandon Bishop and Josh Jones went through.

“Understanding where we need to improve, I think that has definitely helped us,” senior free safety Dexter Wright said.

Veteran coach Ted Roof was hired in the offseason, when the NCAA expanded the number of full-time assistants on the staff, to help improve the secondary. Roof, who was Duke’s head coach from 2003 until ’07, is the co-defensive coordinator (with Huxtable) and the safeties’ coach.

Roof, who was Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator last season, said he went back and watched every defensive snap for N.C. State last season. Roof was impressed.

“They’re smart players,” Roof said. “They’ve been well-coached. It’s just a matter of refining the technique and not just understanding where to go but how to do that at full speed.”

Some of the lumps N.C. State’s defense took last year will help this year.

“There is no teacher like experience,” Roof said. “It’s an old saying, but, man, is it ever true.”

Injuries were a problem for N.C. State’s secondary last year. Wright injured his groin in the season-opener and wasn’t healthy again until the last game of the regular season.

Second-string nickel Freddie Phillips tore an Achilles tendon in the opener. Starting cornerback Mike Stevens missed the first four games with a knee injury. Backup cornerback James Valdez was lost for the season to a knee injury in the second game. Huxtable needed Scotch tape and bubble gum to keep the back end of the defense together.

A lack of depth meant more snaps than the young starters could handle. The safeties, in particular, wore down as the season went on.

By the end of October, teams figured out a way to run. Notre Dame piled up 318 rushing yards, Clemson followed with 224, and Boston College had 236. N.C. State lost two of those three games.

“With the injuries, and the big plays that were given up, a lot of times we were the weak link,” Wright said of the secondary.

The defense was giving up big running plays in that stretch. Notre Dame’s Josh Adams hit a 77-yarder, Clemson’s Tavien Feaster an 89-yarder and BC’s A.J. Dillon a 66-yarder — all TD runs.

When Morehead goes back and looks at the film, he doesn’t like what he sees.

“Especially on run fits, I feel like I could have made plays I needed to,” Morehead said. “Coming into camp, that was my main focus.”

Huxtable, who is in his sixth season at N.C. State, said big plays were a problem last season. The Wolfpack gave up 56 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or more, which ranked No. 55 in the FBS (according to cfb.stats.com). The 10 plays of 50 yards or more ranked No. 88.

Huxtable said Pratt, Morehead, Wright and Roseboro have emerged as leaders. They’re eager to take what Chubb, and a trio of NFL draft picks on the line, did last season and take it a step higher.

“Chubb, B.J. (Hill), Airius (Moore), Shawn Boone, you know, that was their defense last year,” Huxtable said. “I think these guys see they’re gone and say, ‘It’s our opportunity now.’ ”

This story was originally published August 25, 2018 at 4:11 PM.