Expectations high for NC State football. Is the Wolfpack ready to step up this season?
High expectations at N.C. State are nothing new. Wolfpack nation usually foams at the mouth ahead of the next season after an above .500 finish the year before.
The Wolfpack went 8-4 in 2020, not the best year ever on the gridiron, but a respectable season nevertheless. But coach Dave Doeren returns 20 starters in 2021, 10 on defense, and key players on offense like quarterback Devin Leary, to make fans in Raleigh feel like maybe this is their year.
The usual roadblocks are there — Clemson is back on the schedule, as well as North Carolina — but the Wolfpack gets both of those games at home. An early season trip into SEC country (Mississippi State) looms, but N.C. State is confident, based on experience and offseason training, that this year is different.
“We’ve been through so much,” center Grant Gibson said. “A few years ago we went 4-8 and I can tell you that was a rough year for us, honestly. We went 4-8, last year we went 8-4 and now I feel like we are ready to take the next step. We’ve put in so much work and worked so hard, we believe that this is our year.”
Gibson, a redshirt junior from Charlotte, didn’t bat an eye when talking about the potential of the 2021 team, even tossing around the “G” word.
“So this N.C. State team that I’m on right now, this team is great,” Gibson said. “Just the guys that we have that have played that are going to come back, but also we’re close as a group. I think this team that we have, we’re so tight knit. Last year really brought us all together just with all the events that happened. I think the guys that we have that came back are going to be huge for us this year.”
Offensively, that starts with the return of Leary, who only played four games in 2020 after breaking his leg against Duke in October. In his two starts last season, he led the Pack to road wins over ranked Pittsburgh and Virginia.
With an entire offseason to work under offensive coordinator Tim Beck, Leary should have a full grasp of the offense. With every running back and wide receiver back from a year ago, Doeren and the staff can expand on different areas to improve, as opposed to doing more teaching this season.
“I think for your team, that piece is really critical, for them to know who the shot caller is, for him to be able to lead the team throughout the summer like Devin has,” Doeren said. “All the things that they do without coaches present, it’s a big part of I guess you would say putting yourself ahead of the game from other teams that are still trying to figure that out.”
A different spring
Gibson can pinpoint the exact moment he knew this 2021 team was different. After falling to Kentucky in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, N.C. State went through winter workouts as usual. As soon as it was time for a real practice, Gibson saw this bunch had a different approach.
“The first day of spring ball,” Gibson said. “We’re so close, the offense will coach up the defense. When we’re out there we are trying to compete, but we understand that as a team we have to get better. That was the day I was like, ‘OK, this team is going to get better.’ ”
Gibson pointed out how guys are battling to get on the field. This might be one of Doeren’s deepest teams since he has been in Raleigh. That kind of depth will make fall camp one of the toughest within each group, with so many players looking to grab a starting spot. Those 20 returning starters, their spots aren’t written in stone.
“I think just because there’s returning starters doesn’t mean there’s not competition for those jobs. There is,” Doeren said. “And we’ve brought in some transfers that are good players that were starters at their school. They want to start for us, too. As a coach, you recruit, you develop, you retain these guys, and they just can’t wait to play games. Well, it’s now time to practice to see who gets the right to play the most in those games. So we’re excited to go watch that happen, see these guys compete and get ready to do it.”
Doeren must replace one starter on the offensive line, his tight end and NFL draft pick Alim McNeil at nose tackle on defense.
What a healthy Leary has to work with, the offense potentially has the ability to score with any team in the ACC.
“Yeah, I think it (returning starters on offense) helps me out tremendously. Like you said, being able to have so many guys back in the receiving corps, running back, our offensive line, everyone has great experience where it just makes my job that much easier,” Leary said. “I mean, Coach always said, ‘Just be the point guard of the team, distribute the ball, make everyone else make the plays for you.‘ Being able to have everyone back is very helpful.”
An elite defense
Linebacker Payton Wilson, the leading tackler in the ACC a year ago, didn’t shy away from the expectations for his team, especially on his side of the ball.
With 10 starters back, N.C. State’s defense will be more experienced and battle tested than ever. Having played so many snaps and shown flashes last year, Wilson knows the chance is there for them to be one of the best Wolfpack defenses in a long time.
“We want to be the best,” Wilson said. “I think we can be the best defense in the ACC, if not the nation. Being plagued with injuries is something that hurt us in the past, but it was a blessing because guys who are now juniors were stuck out there as freshmen and now have playing experience.”
Wilson was one of those players thrown into the fire as a redshirt freshman in 2019, when the team finished 4-8. He learned that season that “talent isn’t enough” to get by. He has since become a student of the game, along with the rest of the veteran guys who had to learn on the fly.
Now they know what to do and, most importantly, what needs to be done. Clemson, a divisional foe, has long sat on the throne atop the ACC. The Tigers come to Raleigh on Sept. 25, an early chance to see if the Pack is all talk or ready to take that next step. The Pack will find out if it is contenders or pretenders pretty early on in the season.
“Living up to that expectation, it’s not pressure,” Wilson said. “It’s more excitement. We want to be there, we want to knock the big man off the table.”
