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MJ Morris and Thayer Thomas Met with the Media After #24 NC State’s 22-21 Win Over VT

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Freshman Quarterback MJ Morris and Senior Wide Receiver Thayer Thomas met with the media after #24 NC State’s 22-21 win over Virginia Tech last night. You can watch it here, or check out the BULLETED breakdown below.

Quarterback MJ Morris

  • There was a lot of things going in my head [beginning of 2nd half], but the 1 thing I tried to focus on was just doing my job for the team.
    • Just encourage everybody to do what they got to do because if we just do our job then everything’s gonna take care of itself.
    • The O-line, I told them you’re doing a great job up front.
    • I kept on telling the receivers, I’m gonna keep giving them the ball, you just got to make plays.
    • And then it just took off from there.
    • We had a whole different energy coming out of half.
    • We just got a whole lot of love for each other.
      • We’ve got a whole lot of faith and we knew that we were never going to just lay down to anybody. So that was the conversation we had.
  • He did. [Cyrus Fagan called him Superhero when he was leaving the room] He did call me that.
    • I don’t know if I feel too much like a superhero, but I do feel really great right now.
    • I feel like a kid in a candy store. I’ve never had this feeling before.
      • 1st college game, I feel like I got hit by a freight train out there my body hurts so bad.
      • But I do feel great. I feel happy for this team. I’m really happy for myself. You know, we put a lot of work in to get here.
  • I was just making the right decisions.
    • Just taking what the defense gave me, just going through my pre-snap sequence, find out what the defense was doing and what I was coached to do.
  • Just the adrenaline in my body was through the roof [when he went into victory formation at the end].
    • To see that score and that we had came back from down by 18, we kept fighting every play.
      We go out there, risking our bodies, just going out there doing what we’ve got to do to win.
    • We’re all just extremely happy, all extremely joyful.
  • He [Devin Leary] tells me the same thing every game, every practice, every time I see him.
    • He says ‘As a Freshman you’ve just got to protect the ball and go out there, have fun and just play fast.’
    • He said ‘Don’t think too much when you go out there because thinking’s gonna get you in a bad place. Go out there, see what you see, do what your coaches want, go out there and ball.’
    • I love Devin Leary to death. He treats me like his little brother and I see him as a big brother.
    • Just trying to pick his brain on little stuff every day.
    • Hearing what he has to say just makes me a better player, even though I’m young. Just trying to get to where he’s at one day.
  • I feel like the thing I improved most [in the last year] was definitely being more vocal as a Quarterback and as a leader.
    • Even though I’m younger, I still try to bring out those leadership ways and be more vocal to the team.
    • I know how the team’s gonna react off my energy and if my energy is low then everybody else is probably gonna be low. So I just tried to keep the best energy out there.
    • And then the 2nd thing is really from the coaches, just learning defenses and learning how to process defenses.
      • I know I still have a lot more work to do. There’s just sometimes out there where I was unsure.
        • But just taking the little things that they give me each day, just learn out there, just go out there, just know what I’ve got to — find the Free Safety, trying to see what the coverage is from there.
        • So I already know where I’m going with the ball, just making my game one step faster. Those were things I improved from most from high school.

Wide Receiver Thayer Thomas

  • To be honest with you, I haven’t even like this whole season, taking really many reps with [MJ Morris] him at all.
    • So during the bye week, they really interchanged the Quarterbacks just to get a feel, try to build as much chemistry as we can in a short week.
    • It’s just a blessing that he went out there and played the way he did, especially in the 2nd half.
    • Looking forward to his future, for sure. Really great player.
  • You can go back the last 3 years and I just I feel like every time we played home, we’re in the game.
    • We have a chance to win.
    • Even going back 2020 at Pitt, I feel like our backs were against the wall. No timeouts.
      • I don’t I don’t think we had a timeout in that last drive that we scored.
    • We just come together as a group and I think that when we’re as close as we are, that really helps you win games when it comes to 1 possession games and when it comes to the 4th quarter.
    • We just know that we’re going to win just based on how close we all are and the chemistry we have as a team.
    • Not just like offense chemistry, defensive chemistry, like we generally love each other, like both sides of the ball and we don’t take that for granted.
  • Gibby [Grant Gibson] usually doesn’t cuss. He usually doesn’t scream at us. He’s very quiet.
    • But when he says something, people listen, and he started cussing us out on the sideline.
    • It was in the second half that he came over and called the offense up, and he was getting on us pretty well.
    • When he did that, I sort of knew that we needed to pick it up.
    • That’s what I feel sparked us. And that really helped us turn it on.

Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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NC State Football

Former NC State Running Back Jordan Houston Signs with Marshall

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Former NC State Running Back Jordan Houston has officially transferred to Marshall for his final year of eligibility. NC State played Marshall this past season, but Houston didn’t play against the Thundering Herd, because he had already opted to redshirt the remainder of the season.

After playing in three games this past season, Houston opted to redshirt the remainder of the season (despite the fact that he was the starter at the time), giving him the ability to transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.

Houston played in 51 games for NC State over 5 years on the field, rushing for 1,392 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and 6 touchdowns. He also caught 60 passes for 398 yards and 1 touchdown.

Houston was a 3-Star prospect in NC State’s 2019 recruiting class out of Flint High School in Oakton, Virginia.

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NC State Football

Philip Rivers will Finally be Enshrined in the NC State Hall of Fame in April

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Wolfpack legend Philip Rivers will finally be inducted into the NC State Hall of Fame on April 20th!

Rivers was elected into the Hall of Fame back in 2013 (2nd year of the NC State Hall of Fame), but he has deferred his enshrinement over the years due to time constraints.

 

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Rivers pretty much owns every NC State record for Quarterbacks, and still has the most Career Passing Yards and Passes Completed in ACC history, and he ranks 3rd in Touchdown Passes. Rivers was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, and the ACC Player of the Year in 2003.

You can buy your tickets here.

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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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