NC State Will Face New Pirate Faces at the Skill Positions

Even though NC State played East Carolina on the final regular season game, their will be a lot of Pirates on the field that the Wolfpack didn’t face off against in the 58-3 beatdown last year.

For starters, Quarterback Holton Ahlers didn’t play against NC State back in December due to injury. Ahlers is a dual threat quarterback that threw for 1,785 yards as a True Freshman in 10 games, but only started in 5 of those. Despite the limited playing time, Ahlers led the Pirates in rushing with 592 yards (5.0 yards per carry) and 6 touchdowns. While his completion percentage of 48.3% leaves much to be desired, his touchdown to interception ratio for a True Freshman was tremendous, throwing 12 touchdowns, with only 3 interceptions.

Wolfpack Head Coach Dave Doeren referenced his familiarity with Ahlers at his weekly press conference, because he offered him a scholarship back in the summer of 2016.

Doeren also spoke highly of the Pirate’s Wide Receiver corps at the press conference.

Sophomore Blake Proehl will be starting tomorrow, but didn’t play against NC State last year due to injury. Proehl is the son of former Carolina Panthers  and All-ACC Wake Forest receiver Ricky Proehl. He had 29 receptions for 329 yards and a touchdown

He also referenced the fact that the Pirate’s two slot receivers, Senior Deondre Farrier and Redshirt Freshman Tyler Snead, didn’t face them last year as well. Farrier had 30 receptions for 372 yards and 2 touchdowns in only 7 games, and is the leading returning receiver.

Doeren also gave kudos to Junior Darius Pinnix, who played in 9 games last year, but not against the Wolfpack

“And then the running back Darius Pinnix who’s a big back that was used as a guy in their backfield last year and a lot of ways — he was a wildcat quarterback for them.”

Pinnix rushed for 222 yards (4.0 yards per carry) and 3 touchdowns in 2018.