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Pack in the Pros

Did Jaylen Samuels solidify his roster spot with performance vs. Titans?

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6 years ago

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Former Wolfpacker, Jaylen Samuels, had a big day on Saturday for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Samuels tallied 77 yards on 15 touches and had a 20 yd touchdown reception called back for holding.

It was more of what Pack fans witnessed during Samuels’ career in Raleigh. Now he’s showing his versatility, high in-game IQ, vision and elusiveness at the game’s highest level.

With all that said, Samuels is still just a rookie and he’s still fighting for a roster spot. So, did this performance finally earn it?

Part of what makes the rookie special is his ability to understand multiple positions and high-level offensive concepts. There is a reason he’s always in the right place at the right time, and a reason the ball tends to find him.

Just take a look at the excerpts from the PennLive article about Samuels’ growing his role by learning WR concepts for the Steelers.

“If you’re in the offense I feel like you should learn every position unless you’re an O-lineman or something,” Samuels said. “That’s just how I feel.”

That ‘feeling’ has helped him stay open-minded about being used just about anywhere on the field. The Steelers are starting to understand that and have started finding new ways to increase his role.

“Yeah I mean they’ve still been using me kind of the same way, still split out a little bit, using me as a receiver but also still giving me the ball in the backfield,” Samuels said. “So my role has kind of increased a little bit as I got more comfortable with the stuff I was already doing.”

And it’s not just the coaches who are excited about what he’s doing. Jaylen’s teammates are starting tonotice how valuable he could be to their offense. Here is what Ben Roethlisberger told 247 after Saturday’s game.

“There were some plays called specifically for him. And then there were just times where he was open, whether it was a check down or just finding him. I like that he gets out quick. When he doesn’t have a blitz to pick up, he’s getting out to where he needs to be, and I’m really encouraged by it. [Running routes] is something we ask our halfbacks to do, and when he lines up out there, he runs routes hard, and he got rewarded for it.”

Despite all the success he’s seen this preseason, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t quite ready to crown him. However, if you read between the lines here, there is the feeling that the Steelers staff likes what they see from the rookie and are going to push him as far he can go.

Here is what Tomlin told 247 sports about Samuels.

“I think he’s increasingly getting more consistent in terms of what we expect from him. He’s got a skill set that is good in some areas and that is very varsity and consistently varsity. Some areas in his game that he has to continue to grow. He’s finding more consistency in those areas that he needs to grow as he should and we’ll continue to take him through the process as we will all the others. I like his overall attitude in terms of the challenges that we are presenting to him in terms of areas that he needs to work. He caught a lot of balls, and he was a third down type back at N.C. State. We’ll challenge him in some other ways that might be somewhat new to him.”

From the way Tomlin ended that statement, it seems as if Samuels’ roster spot should be pretty secure at this point, but don’t count on him to throttle down after a few good performances. It seems as if Jay Sam is just getting started.

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Pack in the Pros

Former NC State Punter Trenton Gill Signs with Denver

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3 days ago

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May 16, 2024

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Former NC State Punter Trenton Gill has signed with the Denver Broncos after he was released by the Bears this offseason.

Gill was drafted by Chicago in the 7th round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and has averaged 46.1 yards per punt through his first two NFL seasons.

Heading into the 2024 season, Gill will compete with Riley Dixon for the starting Punter job. Dixon was the Broncos’ starter in 2023, averaging 46.3 yards per punt.

Gill’s career average of 45.8 yards per punt in college is the best in NC State history. In 2019, Gill averaged 47.6 yards per punt, which led the ACC, and earned him a spot on the All-ACC Third Team. In 2021, he was on the All-ACC 1st Team. All 3 of his seasons as NC State’s Punter rank in the Top-6 in school history for best punting average in a single season.

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Pack in the Pros

Former NC State G Lorenzo Brown Named to All-EuroLeague 2nd Team

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4 days ago

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May 14, 2024

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Former NC State Guard Lorenzo Brown was named to the All-EuroLeague 2nd Team.

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Lorenzo Brown, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

After injuries sapped Lorenzo Brown of his best form during the regular season, the Maccabi playmaker snapped back to health just in time and, as one of the stars of the postseason, has been recognized by the voters his second consecutive All-EuroLeague Team selection. Brown was the MVP of the Play-In Showdown after he erupted for 29 points on 7-for-8 three-point shooting – both Maccabi postseason records – plus 5 assists against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz to send Maccabi to the playoffs. He then led the Israeli champs with 17.2 points and 5.8 assists for a PIR of 19.2 in the five-game series against Panathinaikos. Brown ranked third in scoring for the playoffs, with 17.2 points per game, and was third for the full season in assists with 6.1. (Link)

This is the 2nd time that Brown has earned All-EuroLeague status, earning 1st Team honors in 2022-23.

Brown plays for Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in Israel, and this was his 2nd season with the squad.

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Pack in the Pros

NC State is Tied for the 2nd Most Defensive Tackles in the NFL

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1 week ago

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May 9, 2024

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ProFootballFocus released this infographic this week, revealing which College Football Teams had the most Defensive Tackles on NFL rosters, and NC State was tied for 2nd with 7.

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Defensive Tackles on NFL Rosters who Played at NC State

B.J. Hill – Bengals (2018-23) – Career Stats: 285 Tackles, 22 TFL’s and 20.5 Sacks
Justin Jones – Cardinals (2018-23) – Career Stats: 219 Tackles, 34 TFL’s and 12 Sacks
Alim McNeil – Lions (2021-23) – Career Stats: 112 Tackles, 15 TFL’s and 8 Sacks
Kentavius Street – Falcons (2019-23) – Career Stats: 89 Tackles, 17 TFL’s and 7.5 Sacks
T.Y. McGill – 49ers (2015-23) – Career Stats: 45 Tackles, 10 TFL’s and 5.5 Sacks
Larrell Murchison – Rams (2020-23) – Career Stats: 37 Tackles, 5 TFL’s and 2 Sacks
Cory Durden – Rams (2023) – Career Stats: 3 Tackles

All 7 of the above players played regular season games for an NFL team in 2023. We will have to see how many of the 7 make 53-man rosters this Fall.

Junior Wolfpack Nose Tackle Brandon Cleveland tweeted with confidence that he will be #8 sometime soon.

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Mike Tomlin’s Thoughts on the Steelers Drafting NC State’s Payton Wilson

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3 weeks ago

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April 29, 2024

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Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin was ecstatic that NC State Linebacker Payton Wilson was available for Pittsburgh to pick up with the 98th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.

“We had to get comfortable with his medical and we brought him in on a pre draft visit. We allowed our medical experts to really get a good evaluation of him. We talked to him about his injury history. We were at a place of comfort. And so from that perspective, man, we’re really excited about having him.” (Link)

“Man, we’re really excited about Peyton. When we turn his tape on, we see him making all the type of plays you need linebackers to make. He’s a volume tackle player. He makes plays in the passing game from a coverage perspective via interception and pass breakup. He gets after the quarterback in the blitz game. He’s got a very well-rounded skillset. He’s a fluid mover. He can run. Had an opportunity to lay some real up close eyes on him down there in Mobile at the Senior Bowl, we’re thankful we had an opportunity to get him. He’s got all the hardware that comes with some of those things that I described being a Butkus Award winner and so forth. We had to get comfortable with his medical and we brought him in on a pre draft visit. We allowed Our medical experts to really get a good evaluation of him. We talked to him about his injury history. We were at a place of comfort. And so from that perspective, man, we’re really excited about having him.” (Link)

“I think you could characterize it as surprised. I mean, he is an award-winning linebacker, Butkus Award winner. Had an opportunity to get really familiar with him down in Mobile as well. But the linebackers themselves weren’t coming off the board at that juncture. So sometimes they make runs on positions at different times and it hadn’t been a lot of linebackers to that point. I think what he was number five or so.” (Link)

“We’re really excited about Payton. When we turn his tape on, we see him making all the types of plays you need linebackers to make. He’s a volume tackle player. He makes plays in the passing game from a coverage perspective via interception and pass breakup. He gets after the quarterback in the blitz game. He’s got a very well-rounded skill set. He’s a fluid mover. We had to get comfortable with his medical, and we were. We brought him in on a pre-draft visit to allow our medical experts to really get a good evaluation of him. We talked to him about his injury history. We were at a place of comfort, and so from that perspective, we’re really excited about having him.” (Link)

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