NC State’s Charley Wiles is back at Virginia Tech. How does he feel about THAT?
Charley Wiles promising this trip isn’t about him.
As much as he tries to deflect, you can’t downplay N.C. State’s trip to Blacksburg on Saturday as a homecoming for Wiles, the Wolfpack defensive line coach.
Before he came to Raleigh, Wiles spent 26 years at Virginia Tech where he coached the defensive line, the same position he now holds at N.C. State. Wiles was just as much a staple on the Hokies’ staff as former coach Frank Beamer and longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster, who retired after the 2019 season.
The new defensive coordinator, Justin Hamilton, who played under Wiles at Virginia Tech, decided it was time for someone different. So Wiles was out. No hard feelings, Wiles insists. Maybe it was time for a change. So Wiles made a transition from Blacksburg to Raleigh, settling into his new assignment, made easy by the fact he recruited the Carolinas and had relationships with some of the players on his new team, many of whom he tried to recruit to Blacksburg.
How important was Wiles to Virginia Tech? He’s one of just two people to receive a lunch pail from Foster, a longtime symbol of the hard-hat mentality the Hokies’ defense under Foster was known for. Wiles has the lunch pail in his office at home. Someone at N.C. State suggested he bring it to Blacksburg this weekend, but he won’t do that. Again, it’s not about him, it’s about the players.
“Mixed,” Wiles said when asked his emotions on returning to Lane Stadium. “It’s player driven. No doubt this is about our players. It’s about N.C. State, our football team and it’s about Virginia Tech and their players. It’s certainly not about coach Wiles.”
Wiles did admit he would be “totally different” if Beamer were on the other sideline. Wiles played for Beamer at Murray State before reuniting with his coach at Virginia Tech in 1996. Another silver lining is the place won’t be packed, not your typical night game in Blacksburg. That would surely stir up some emotions. But it won’t be the site Wiles remembers, it will be a little more subdued. Besides, he’s there to coach and not get caught up in nostalgia.
He says he has no regrets with how things went down. He moved to Raleigh on April 6 and took a brief trip back in June.
He says the culture at N.C. State suits him, and it helps that he had a relationship with at least three players who considered going to Virginia Tech “very hard” while he was there.
Wiles had to learn what they were doing defensively at N.C. State, but he still teaches the same way he has for decades. During his time at Virginia Tech, the Hokies’ defense registered 893 sacks, the highest total in the nation over that span. Twenty six different players earned All-Conference honors under Wiles and he coached five All-Americans. When he arrived in Raleigh, his reputation preceded him.
“They kind of knew me a little bit, and that gives you a good feeling,” Wiles said. “That helped us speed the process up, that we had a little bit of trust already there, and we continued to build that every day.”
Last week, N.C. State’s defense had six sacks, two coming from defensive end Daniel Joseph. Wiles played seven defensive lineman in his rotation, four of whom were playing college football for the first time.
“We have some depth on the defensive line,” Wiles said. “That was the plan, to play numbers so we could stay fresh. We played hard, that was the number one thing. We did play with great effort and that covers up a lot of things.”
Offensive linemen bond over wrestling
Sophomore offensive lineman Ikem “Ickey” Ekwonu and senior guard Joe Sculthorpe came to N.C. State with one thing in common: they were both accomplished wrestlers in high school.
Schulthorpe won the 3A heavyweight title as a sophomore at Topsail High School, and was state runner up as a junior. Ekwonu was also a heavyweight competitor at Providence Day in Charlotte.
Schulthorpe laughs now when he thinks about the pair of 300 pounders having to lose weight in order to get down to 285 to wrestle in high school. What’s no laughing matter are the skills that translate from the mat that makes a good offensive lineman.
“Offensive line is a very contact-heavy sport, going against a man with his body positioning,” Schulthorpe said. “Center of gravity, hand sliding, positioning of your head. Really, that’s what wrestling is. Wrestling is balancing, getting that hand positioning. It teaches you how to throw your weight in the right way.”
The N.C. State offensive linemen threw their weight against Wake Forest, with the team rushing for 270 yards, their highest total in 28 games.
Ekwonu was selected as one of the ACC Players of the Week performers after his showing against the Demon Deacons. His wrestling background helps him deal with what others might consider pressure to perform.
“The sport of wrestling is one-on-one, man-on-man,” Ekwonu said. “Everything you do on that mat is seen by everybody. Growing up like that I kind of felt like pressure in situations like that fade away. Also, it’s really easy not to feel pressure when you’re confident and I’m confident in the guys around me.”
Schulthorpe and Ekwonu have swapped wrestling stories since arriving at N.C. State, and may have had feats of strength to see who still had it.
“We play around in the locker room sometimes,” Schulthorpe said. “Just to kind of relive the glory days.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 11:38 AM.