Out of all the returning talent and experience finding its way into NC State football’s roster for the upcoming 2022 season, one position group stands out among the rest. This year’s Wolfpack linebacking core has the potential, drive and health to be one of the best second levels in the country.
For those not familiar with the Pack’s big three linebackers already, redshirt junior Payton Wilson, graduate student Isaiah Moore and junior Drake Thomas have each shown themselves to be elite talents in the conference, just at different times.
Wilson was the first to show that he has what it takes to be considered an elite threat in the second level. In a spectacular 2020 campaign, Wilson amassed 108 total tackles, a conference-best and enough for the fourth most in the NCAA that year. On top of his ball-stopping ability in the open field, Wilson is no stranger to creating pressure on the opponent’s side of the line of scrimmage as well, totaling 11.5 tackles for loss in that previously mentioned 2020 season.
To the misfortune of the 2021 NC State football team and himself, Wilson suffered a season-ending injury in the Pack’s first road game of the year. The redshirt junior has become no stranger to injuries over the course of his football career, but with almost a full year of recovery time leading up to a week one matchup in Greenville, North Carolina, Wilson is feeling completely healthy.
“Payton is 100 percent,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “He feels great. He is excited. I’m happy for him. I thought last year would be the last time I coached him, and so I think he’ll tell you that it wasn’t fun going into what he did, but he is in as good of a place as he has been mentally right now, so I’m excited for what he can bring to the field for us this year.”
In Wilson’s extended absence in the 2021 season, the first individual to step up and fill the void left behind in the middle of the field was Moore. Stepping up immediately, Moore put up a seven-tackle performance against Mississippi State. Week two’s output and a less dominant individual performance in week three against Furman, largely due to an NC State rout of the Paladins, would be the lowest points of Moore’s time on the field in 2021, putting up at least eight tackles in each of the three games until he went down with an injury of his own in week seven at Miami.
“[The injury] definitely humbled me tremendously,” Moore said. “I put a lot into last season, and I put a lot of hopes and dreams into last season, and to have it taken away from me was tragic, humbling and emotional. It definitely reignited a passion about how much I love the game and how much I really, really want this to be my life career. It’s just continuing to spark, and I plan to use that as my fuel this season.”
Hitting his stride the latest of the big three a season ago, Thomas stole the show right away after filling the gap in the middle of the field. Leading the 2021 squad in tackles, the junior earned himself a spot as a member of the first-team All-ACC squad, voted in by both the official league team and the AP voters. Thomas was asked to do the most out of the linebacking group in the 2021 season, moving all over the field in a plethora of both blitz and coverage packages, and he stepped up to the plate in the biggest way possible.
“I’ve played on the field from all three linebacker positions now: Mike, Will and Sam,” Thomas said. “Going into Louisville week when I had to fill in for Mike, I hadn’t played Mike in two years, maybe since my freshman year spring, something like that. It was a little bit new. Every single thing that I’ve had to do, whether it was switch positions and adjust or whatever, it’s made me that much better of a player and a person. Just having to adapt, continue to push forward and do whatever I can do to get the defense going and play the best of our ability.”
Wolfpack fans, knowing what they know now about the individual ability of all three of these guys, should be over the moon at the thought of seeing Wilson, Moore and Thomas on the field at the same time against ECU in week one. Questions surrounding a unit with so much talent would normally center themselves around the preparation and setting aside the hunt for individual greatness for the betterment of the team. For this group, however, the win takes precedent. That being said, a little friendly competition never hurt anybody.
“There’s a competition between us three every time we step into the building every single day,” said Thomas. “Whether it’s workouts, practice or game, It’s a race to the ball. We’re trying to make plays. We push each other to get better. We want the best for each other every single day in everything that we do, but it’s also a competition. That makes me so much better of a person and a player.”
That competition between All-ACC caliber players has the potential to create a unique synergy between individually great linebackers.
“We just try to be the best us that we can be individually, and I think that just we played with each other long enough we know each other well enough that we know how to feed off each other,” Moore said. ”I know there have been games [where] Payton has the hot hand and [we say] ‘OK, we’re gonna force everything to Payton.’ Hey, if I have a hot hand we’re gonna force everything inside to me. If Drake had the hot hand, we’d force everything to Drake, you know, so just kind of a feel of the game, how things go.
“Often the biggest thing you’ll see about us is that we make the plays we’re supposed to make, you know, we play within the system. None of us try to do anything outside of our jobs. I think that’s what makes it so good.”
Barring another year of unfortunate season-ending injury after another for this Wolfpack linebacking core, things are shaping up to be the most exciting second level of defensive football that NC State has ever produced. If the combination of these three players can perform anywhere close to their individual peaks when they finally all take the field together again, opposing offenses on this year’s schedule will be living on a prayer to keep the ball out of their paths.
