Lineup changes help Wolfpack defense against Wake Forest

After promising to evaluate everything during N.C. State’s week off, coach Dave Doeren made some changes to the starting lineup on defense for the Wake Forest game.

Linebacker M.J. Salahuddin and strong safety Shawn Boone made their first starts of the season and nickel back Niles Clark played more in Saturday’s 35-17 road win over the Demon Deacons.

The Wolfpack defense played its best ACC game of the season holding Wake Forest to 271 yards of total offense and registering seven sacks.

Doeren said he wanted to rotate more bodies at middle linebacker and nickel to keep fresh legs on the field. Linebacker Jerod Fernandez and nickel Dravious Wright both shared the reps with Salahuddin and Clark.

“We felt like those positions have gotten fatigued and lost focus at times,” Doeren said.

Salahuddin was a regular starter in 2013 but missed all of the 2014 season with a knee injury. He’s 14 months removed from surgery and getting closer to 100 percent, Doeren said. During the week off, Doeren noted that Salahuddin, a fourth-year junior, would get more playing time.

Salahuddin was one of the game captains and had two tackles in his first start since Nov. 2, 2013. Doeren said a groin injury slowed the junior linebacker down in the second half.

Fernandez, who had only 22 tackles in the first six games, had four tackles on Saturday before injuring his right leg late in the third quarter.

N.C. State’s training staff attended to Fernandez on the field and put an air cast on his right leg. The injury at first appeared serious. After the game, Doeren said the X-ray was negative and that the initial diagnosis was a sprained ankle.

Jones led the team with four interceptions in 2014 and finished his freshman season with a flourish. He has struggled in pass coverage in the first half of this season, leading Boone, a sophomore, to get his first career start.

“We didn’t rotate a lot at strong safety last year but seeing Josh making some mistakes felt like Boone had earned that right to get in there and play some,” Doeren said.

Boone and Jones both finished with three tackles, and Boone added a sack.

This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 10:12 AM with the headline "Lineup changes help Wolfpack defense against Wake Forest."