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What we learned from the NC State Football Spring Game

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The NC State Spring Game took place this past Saturday, but thanks to ACCN opting to show lacrosse, fans missed a huge chunk of the beginning and the end. If you want to watch the full game, we have it right here.

As with any spring game, it’s a time to get a lot of questions answered about the upcoming season. Here were some of our biggest questions coming in, and how we feel about it after watching the game.

Is Leary ready?

Any time a player has a serious injury, there are going to be questions about whether or not they’ll be able to fully recover.

Leary started off strong last season and looked like he was going to be the next great NC State quarterback. However, a fractured fibula derailed those plans. Leary has since has time to recover, but will he be the same guy he was at the start of 2020?

After watching the game, we’d have to answer ‘Yes.’ Leary looked great. You’d never know he was coming off such a serious injury. He looked mobile, he looked poised and he looked…himself.

The redshirt sophomore signal-caller was on point from the get-go and finished 12-23 for 175 yards and 2 TDs, including a 58-yard strike to Porter Rooks.

Now, it wasn’t perfect, he threw an INT and had some missed throws early in the game, but as he settled in, he looked great. His progressions, his understanding of the system and his big arm all showed, giving Pack fans some confidence that he’ll be able to get back to where he was when he got hurt last season.

 

What does the defensive depth look like?

With Payton Wilson and Drake Thomas sitting out, still somewhat recovering from offseason surgeries, who will step up?

Two of NC State’s best players on defense aren’t suiting up and that’s fine. We don’t need to rush anyone back for a Spring Game, but it did give us a chance to see who will step up.

Two guys you had to be pleased with was freshman 3-star LB Cayden Fordham who had a 14 yard INT return for a TD and Jordan Poole who was praised by Doeren after the game for his effort.

 

 

What about the running back depth?

It’s hard to imagine a situation where NC State is going to have depth problems at RB, but again, this is NC State.

With Ricky Person Jr and Bam Knight both sitting, we got to see what Delbert Mimms III and Demarcus Jones II could do. We also got to see Jordan Houston get a more featured role, and while Mimms and Jones didn’t really get it going, Houston did. The sophomore got a nice amount of run last season but is expected to see an uptick in usage this year. His 49 yards and TD led all RBs and should instill confidence that NC State will be well-manned in the backfield this season.

How did the backup QBs look?

With Hockman gone, Ben Finley is the new #2 and he looked decent. While his numbers won’t jump off the stat sheet, Finley went 10-20 for 154 yards, and did not throw a TD on the day, but he did look a lot more poised in the 2nd half.

Meanwhile, 4-star freshman Aaron McLaughlin didn’t see a ton of action, going 0-3 on the day.

Both of these guys have high ceilings, but need time to mature. If Leary can stay healthy, we won’t see too much of either guy this season, giving them the time they need to get ready when their number is called.

 

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Papajohn
Papajohn
2 years ago

Hard to take much from this one. Glad no one got hurt.

NC State Football

DJ Burns Had a Word for Wolfpack Fans After Winning the ACC Championship

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When NC State’s DJ Burns was giving his acceptance speech after receiving the 2024 ACC Tournament MVP Award, Burns had the following quote to say when asked what he wanted to say to the fans.

“I’m going to keep it real simple. Thank you to the ones who’ve been consistent throughout the ride, and welcome back everybody else.”

Burns’ words struck a chord.

Throughout much of this season, it was embarrassing to see all the empty seats in PNC Arena.

As the Wolfpack lost 7 of their final 9 regular season games, it was clear that this team wasn’t just losing games, but they were also losing much of the fanbase.

It’s clear from Burns’ words that the empty seats were noticed, and so were the words of fans online.

NC State finished the regular season 10th, and much of the fanbase was frustrated, and rightfully so.

But, frustrated doesn’t have to mean giving up.

‘Never giving up’ is kind of supposed to be NC State’s thing.

The words of Jimmy V reverberate throughout the history of NC State basketball.

This team didn’t always put W’s in the Win column this season, and it wasn’t always an easy watch, but never for a moment were these players not playing as hard as they could for their school, one another, and their coach.

They never gave up.

Fans have a right to be frustrated, but you can still show up for a team, even when they struggle, because that’s what loyal fans do. When players wear a jersey with NC State across the chest, and they don’t give up, their fans shouldn’t either.

NC State fans aren’t known to be fair weather fans. Let’s not get in the business of leading our players to think we are.

But, like Burns said, whether you’ve been along for the ride all season or not, it’s time to hop on.

 

 

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NC State Football

WATCH: PackInsider’s 2023 Sean Brown Highlight Reel

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This past season was a breakout season for Junior Safety, now turned Linebacker, Sean Brown.

This past season, Brown started in 11 of the 13 games that he played in, and ranked 3rd on the team in tackles (66) and pass breakups (5). He also had 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions and 1 forced fumble. Brown’s PFF Grade of 63.7 ranked 13th on the team. His Tackling Grade of 86.6 ranked 2nd on the team behind Payton Wilson.

As you will notice in our Highlight Reel ABOVE, Brown lived in the box, and is a very ferocious tackler. He will fit right in at Linebacker next year for the Wolfpack.

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NC State’s Aydan White Has All-American Aspirations on His Mind

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NC State fans are extremely happy that Senior Cornerback Aydan White decided to return to Raleigh for his final year of eligibility, rather than remaining in the Transfer Portal.

White is happy he’s back as well.

“I’m just happy to be back at NC State,” said White. “It’s a good group of guys here. Just want to keep building on what we have in this defense and offense, and be the best team we can be.”

It’s hard for White to believe that he’s an old man on the Wolfpack’s football team now.

“It’s crazy just thinking about how my time has flown,” said White. “I’m now the guy that drops Freshmen off at Wolf Village, when I used to be that guy that was picked up from Wolf Village to go to practice. Definitely just trying to encourage them and get them on the right path.”

Not only could White have remained in the Transfer Portal, but he also could have left for the NFL Draft, but after hearing from NFL Scouts, he determined he still had unfinished business to take care of.

“They want to see more on-ball production. Last year I had a drop off in on-ball production. The PBU’s are good, but they want interceptions, making a play on the ball more. Being more sticky around the ball,” said White. “Just being in that position to make that play, because when you get to the league, those guys are bigger, faster and stronger, so if you can make it here, it will translate to the higher level.”

When asked on Thursday what the next step was for him as a Senior, after already proving so much, he kept his responses simple and concise.

“Keep stacking accolades. Getting better,” said White. “Helping the secondary. All-American.”

NC State’s Football program has produced an All-American in 4 consecutive seasons, with Linebacker Payton Wilson being the most recent.

2020: DT Alim McNeil – PFF (1st) AP (2nd)
2021: OT Ikem Ekwonu – Consensus 1st Team
2021: KR Zonovan Knight (CBS Sports)
2022: PK Christopher Dunn – Consensus 1st Team
2022: LS Joe Shimko – AFCA (2nd)
2023: LB Payton Wilson – Unanimous 1st Team

Could White make it 5 years in a row?

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NC State’s Wesley Grimes Feels Good Being Back Home

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When Wake Forest Wide Receiver Wesley Grimes announced he was transferring to NC State on December 8th, he was committing to come back home.

Before playing his first two years of college football at Wake Forest, Grimes was a 4-star prospect at Millbrook High School, right down the road from NC State in Raleigh. ON3, 247Sports and Rivals all ranked Grimes as a Top-250 prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, with Rivals ranking him as the #36 overall player nationally, the #4 Wide Receiver, and the #2 player in the state of North Carolina.

For Grimes, Raleigh is home.

“It feels great. I feel real comfortable. I’ve trained in this facility a lot,” said Grimes. “I’ve worked out here a lot. I’m used to a lot of the stuff around here. So playing here feels like home.”

Home is a place, but home is also people. Grimes isn’t just coming home to a place on a map that is familiar. He’s also coming back to people he grew up playing football with, dating all the way back to 4th and 5th grade.

“It feels great (playing with Noah Rogers). It’s not just Noah. I played with Coelson (Fields) in Pop Warner. I played with Lex (Thomas) in Pop Warner,” said Grimes. “Just a bunch of guys I played with around Middle School age, 5th grade…4th grade. I played 7-on-7 with Keenan (Jackson). I knew of Terrell (Anderson). We’re all close. Being back with everyone is a good feeling. When you play with your brothers, it’s a fun time again.”

Maybe the most noteworthy connection Grimes had was with Noah Rogers, who like Grimes, just transferred back to Raleigh (from Ohio St.). Grimes played for Millbrook, and Rogers played for Rolesville, but the connection went back way further than that.

“Noah (Rogers) and I started playing Pop Warner together in 3rd or 4th grade. We played against each other. I played for Cap City and he played for North Raleigh,” said Grimes. “7th grade year we went to Disney, and got close. We started training in Covid a lot together, and got real close. In High School we played against each other. We’ve always been competing, getting each other better.”

Check out the highlight reel of Grimes and Rogers that went viral a few years back.

In the end, some of the players Grimes had connections with went to NC State, while others, went elsewhere, like himself. Nonetheless, like Grimes, they all found their way back home.

“Out of high school, we definitely talked about it a little bit, but we all went our different ways,” said Grimes. “We were all at different times, and we decided to go our separate ways, but in kind of a full circle moment, we all ended up in the same place, and it all worked out for the better.”

 

 

 

 

 

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