Family tragedy keeps NC State assistant coach away from Virginia Tech game
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- NC State defensive coordinator DJ Eliot will miss the Virginia Tech game Saturday.
- Charlton Warren will call defensive plays; Isaiah Moore will assist with linebackers.
- Drue Eliot was diagnosed with pediatric cancer in 2020.
N.C. State was without its defensive coordinator Saturday when it lost 23-21 to Virginia Tech at Carter-Finley Stadium.
DJ Eliot, also the linebackers coach, did not coach the defense following the death of his eldest daughter, Drue. She was diagnosed with pediatric cancer in the spring of 2020, while he was an assistant at Kansas. He is away from the program.
The Eliot family has received an outpouring of support on social media from college football fans across the country.
Co-defensive coordinator Charlton Warren called plays in Eliot’s absence, a team spokesperson told the News & Observer. Warren is also in his first season with the Wolfpack but served as the co-defensive coordinator at North Carolina (2022-24) and Air Force (2008-11).
N.C. State alumnus and assistant linebackers coach Isaiah Moore helped with the position group.
Under Eliot, the Wolfpack defense ranks No. 7 in the ACC for run defense (123.8 yards), No. 15 in passing defense (290.3) No. 14 in scoring defense (29.3 points) and No. 15 in total defense (414). The Pack, however, ranks No. 5 in red zone defense, allowing opponents to score on 78.6% of their trips.
Earlier this week, Brandon Cleveland expressed support for the new coordinator.
“We believe in Coach Eliot. We just gotta stick to it and just keep fine tuning,” Cleveland said. “Obviously, it’s the first year with him, so [there’s] gonna be wrinkles here and there, but we’re very confident in him.”
Eliot, from Edmond, Oklahoma, is married to Miekel Marsh Eliot. They also have a son, Dawson, and daughters Page and Reace. He was hired in December following the departures of Tony Gibson and Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay.
“I don’t even know how to explain the emotions or the thoughts that go through your mind,” Eliot said during an interview following Drue’s diagnosis. “It’s nothing that you ever expect to hear and you don’t really have a plan for it. So when we got the news that Drue had cancer, we were devastated, all of us. And you really become a lot closer. Our family is definitely a lot closer now than we were because we’re all going through this together. We had to get a plan in place and attack this cancer and that took some time.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM.
