NC State had a disappointing 4-8 campaign this year, going 1-7 in the ACC in the worst season head coach Dave Doeren has had since his first with the Wolfpack. With NC State’s season finally over, let’s take a final look at this season and how things went wrong.
Offensively Challenged
Coming into this season, fans expected a decline after back-to-back nine-win seasons. The offense lost starters at quarterback and running back, two wide receivers and the best center in the nation. With three potential options under center and a solid running back recruiting class along with depth at wide receiver, no one expected NC State’s offense to rank 106th in scoring and 98th in yards per play.
The problem with the offense started at quarterback. After redshirt sophomore Matthew McKay led the quarterback competition from spring to fall camp, he was named the starter and looked fine in nonconference play. Against his first real competition, McKay went 23 of 48 for 207 yards and a touchdown in a road loss against West Virginia. Fans howled for backups redshirt freshman Devin Leary and redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman, and eventually Hockman was handed the keys on the road against Florida State. Hockman went 21 of 40 for 208 yards and a touchdown in yet another road loss. After so-so efforts against Syracuse and a terrible first quarter against Boston College, Doeren finally turned to Leary, who went 15 of 33 for 259 yards and three touchdowns.
That turned out to be Leary’s best performance of the year, as it became clear that none of the three quarterbacks NC State played were much better than the others. All of them struggled when their first reads weren’t there, all of them struggled with deep ball accuracy and each of them had their own quirks. McKay was the most tepid and risk-averse, Hockman too much of a gunslinger and Leary prone to bad turnovers. That the Wolfpack couldn’t field a quarterback ready to be a starter falls on the coaching staff, either recruiting, player development or both.
In hindsight, McKay may have been the best man for the job for NC State, given its terrible turnover margin in the games after he was benched. The Wolfpack entered the Florida State game with a plus-3 turnover margin and ended the year at minus-13. The carelessness the Wolfpack had with the ball cost it multiple games this season. That has to be cleaned up for next season.
What’s most troubling about the quarterback situation is how Leary regressed in his final game against UNC. The redshirt freshman put forth his worst performance of the year, with seven completions on 20 passes and two interceptions against one touchdown. The quarterback position was a question mark going into this season, and with McKay transferring, it will be an even bigger one next year.
Running back was a definite bright spot for the Wolfpack, as freshmen Zonovan Knight and Jordan Houston had great freshman campaigns. The duo combined for over 1200 yards rushing and seven touchdowns, despite nagging injuries bogging Knight down. Those two were really the only bright spots for the entire offense, as the wide receiver position turned out to be the most surprising disappointment of the season. Junior receiver Emeka Emezie and redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas had so-so seasons, neither one able to fill the shoes of Harmon or Meyers. All-ACC honorable mention junior tight end Cary Angeline had a solid season but wasn’t targeted nearly enough. With Finley, the pass only needed to be in the receiver’s area code and someone would make a play on it. The same wasn’t true for this year’s corps, even when accounting for bad QB play.
Next men up?
Injuries were the elephant in the room, and the hits started even before the beginning of the year. Projected starting left tackle Tyrone Riley was lost for the year before the first game, while against ECU, junior wide receiver C.J. Riley tore his ACL and senior cornerback Nick McCloud suffered an injury that kept him out of every remaining game minus Clemson. Sophomore running back Ricky Person Jr. and graduate defensive end James Smith-Williams each missed five games due to injuries. And at different points in the season, NC State lost junior cornerback Chris Ingram, redshirt freshman cornerback Taiyon Palmer, sophomore cornerback Teshaun Smith, redshirt junior tight end Dylan Autrenrieth and redshirt junior offensive tackle Justin Witt to season-ending injuries.
Losing to these teams forced a bevy of young players into action. Knight and Houston emerged in the backfield and freshman offensive lineman Ikem Ekwonu had a great year at left tackle. On the defensive side, redshirt freshman linebacker Payton Wilson, freshman linebacker Drake Thomas and sophomore safety De’Von Graves stepped up to the plate. Wilson established himself as an up-and-coming leader of the defense, leading the team with 69 tackles. Coming off a second ACL injury, he flew around the field, making plays everywhere.
In the secondary, Graves began the year as a replacement for redshirt senior Jarius Morehead in passing situations, but injuries forced him to assume the role of the defense’s top corner in the second half of the year. Graves is in line to start the rest of his career at safety and looks to be one of the best the Wolfpack has in coverage. One consequence of having such a young roster is a lack of discipline and that was evident in the poor tackling from the defense as the season went on.
Looking Forward
After a truly terrible year, there’s a lot to look forward to next year. NC State loses only three starters, all of which coming from the defensive side of the football. The Wolfpack add a solid recruiting class, nine players who missed significant time due to injuries and two transfer players who should immediately become contributors. Junior defensive end Jeffrey Gunter, who had 14 TFLs and five sacks for Coastal Carolina, could start at end for the Wolfpack, and junior linebacker Levi Jones, a former four-star recruit, will push Payton Wilson at the buck position. After transitioning to his 3-3-5, new defensive coordinator Tony Gibson should bring new life to a regressing NC State defense. With all the promise on defense, there’s a lot of pressure on the offensive side of the ball. Co-OCs Des Kitchings and George McDonald will have to put up or shut up next year if the two-man coordinating effort makes it through Doeren’s coaching changes. NC State needs to find a quarterback yesterday, and McDonald’s wide receiver corps needs to return to form.
