No. 16 NC State football returned to its regularly scheduled program in its dominant 55-3 victory over the Charleston Southern Buccaneers. Through two weeks of the 2022 college football season, some takeaways for the Pack have presented themselves; some needing to be addressed sooner rather than later and others serving as promising outlooks for the rest of the year.
Hunt for a WR1
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from week two’s domination of the Bucs, NC State is still without a clear leader in its receiving room. Spreading the ball among 14 unique targets, with the day’s reception leader being redshirt freshman wideout Julian Gray, redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary can’t seem to find a reliable No. 1 to feed the ball to.
Heading into the year, high expectations were set for junior wide receiver Devin Carter to fill Emeka Emezie’s role as the go-to guy when the Pack needs a reception. So far, with his four catches for 54 yards across NC State’s two contests, Carter has looked less than stellar at creating separation and providing Leary with a red zone threat.
Other veteran options in the receiving room such as graduate student Thayer Thomas, junior Keyon Lesane and graduate transfer Darryl Jones have also struggled to find their footing.
While sharing the love may be working in the Pack’s favor for now, lacking a reliable receiver will hurt NC State’s passing game against more challenging opponents later in the year. If Leary isn’t able to develop a higher level of confidence with his veteran guys or even a breakout star by week five, Pack football is in for a long afternoon in Memorial Stadium.
Scheduled Delivery
After coming out flat against East Carolina, Leary delivered a great performance against Charleston Southern. Tossing for 238 yards and four touchdowns on a 64% completion rate, along with a pair of rushing touchdowns, NC State’s coveted signal caller looked like the player he was a year ago.
Saturday’s outing from Leary tied NC State’s all-time record for touchdowns accounted for by a single player, and the redshirt junior served as a human highlight reel. From bouncing off defenders left and right in a 12-yard touchdown rush to sending a beautifully placed ball to the back of the endzone on a 24-yard completion to junior running back Jordan Houston, Leary was dialed in all afternoon.
Promising Secondary
As expected in a 55-3 rout of an FCS program, NC State’s defense showed out against the Buccaneers. The defensive backs led the way among Wolfpack tacklers, with graduate corner Derrek Pitts Jr. and senior safety Tanner Ingle totaling eight and five tackles respectively.
Graduate safety Cyrus Fagan and senior nickelback Tyler Baker-Williams also strung together a pair of promising performances. Fagan ended the afternoon with four tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup while Baker-Williams went for two total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack, an interception and a forced fumble. Building on his promising performance from week one, Baker-Williams has established himself as a turnover machine in the nickel.
Joining the senior nickel in the turnover party Saturday was redshirt freshman safety Jalen Frazier, who held claim to the only other interception of the day. Serving as Ingle’s backup at safety, Frazier hasn’t seen much playing time in his tenure with NC State. However, with key contributions in the minutes he is allotted, Frazier could be building a case to see more time in clear pass-coverage situations to play in tandem with Ingle’s pass-rushing ability.
“They are who we thought they were”
No matter the circumstance NC State has faced so far, one thing remains true: the linebacking core is one of the best in the nation. Through two weeks of the season, the defense has dealt with the offensive putting them in undesirable situations and pieced together a complete 60-minute performance to keep an opposing offense to only three points. Much of the success from both outings can be attributed to the men in the middle.
Sophomore linebacker Devon Betty, along with junior linebackers Jaylon Scott and Drake Thomas, kept consistent pressure on Bucs quarterback Ross Malmgren throughout the matchup. The three combined for two tackles for loss and four QB hits, impressing in the absence of redshirt junior linebacker Payton Wilson and without much help from graduate linebacker Isaiah Moore.
Despite the combined talent of NC State’s big three taking all the attention in the preseason, Betty, Scott and Baker-Williams in the nickel have stepped up to add depth to the Pack’s abundance of talent from its starters. It’s a long season and for a position group as injury-riddled as NC State’s linebackers were a year ago, depth will be a key factor in a potential late-season push for the top spot in the Atlantic.
