The top storyline for NC State football at this year’s fall camp is replacing a whopping eight starters from last year’s defense. Multiple position groups lost all of their starters from last year, including the defensive line and linebacking corps.
The secondary is in better shape in that regard, with multiple experienced defensive backs returning. Chief among them is Nick McCloud, who logged seven starts, 34 tackles, seven pass breakups and an interception last year.
McCloud is the team’s No. 1 corner with Mike Stevens and Jonathan Alston graduating, and is ready to expand on the leadership role he started to assume last season.
“I feel like I was in a leadership role last year,” McCloud said. “I didn’t play as much, but I’m already ready for it, and then just trying to bring on everybody else this year.”
The cornerback group is not devoid of attrition, as Stevens and Alston logged 19 starts between them last season. However, McCloud feels he and his fellow corners are well positioned to replace the two outgoing seniors.
“Of course we’re going to miss them, their leadership, their experience,” McCloud said. “But I feel like we’ve got guys ready to step up in the cornerback room.”
NC State head coach Dave Doeren knows how valuable previous game experience can be for players, particularly ones tasked with leading a unit undergoing a dramatic rebuild.
He will lean on McCloud to be one of the top players on the defensive side of the ball for the Wolfpack this year.
“The first thing you like about Nick is how he processes the game,” Doeren said. “How important it is, how he goes about his business, his preparation, his work ethic. There’s things in his game he’s working hard on right now. He’s getting to go against great wideouts every day. You can’t replace experience, and I think that’s the one thing for him. He’s got some valuable game reps.”
If McCloud and the rest of the Wolfpack secondary can perform well enough to back up what should be a dynamic offense, it could be a special season for the Wolfpack.
“I feel like we’re going to be really good,” McCloud said. “We didn’t play up to par like we could last year. But I feel like this year we’ve got a lot to prove because we’ve got a good offense, so everybody’s talking about our offense. So I feel like we come out there with a lot to prove, ready to compete everyday in practice, so that’s going to make us a lot better.”
The loss of so many talented players from the front seven, including 2017 ACC Defensive Player of the Year Bradley Chubb, will make it even more important for the Wolfpack’s secondary to take a step forward this season.
“You’re only going to be as good as your secondary anyway, no matter how good your front seven is,” McCloud said. “So we’ve got to step our game up a lot.”
As McCloud prepares for that increased leadership role this year, he can lean on the lessons he absorbed from Chubb, Stevens, Kentavius Street, B.J. Hill and other upperclassmen leaders on last year’s defense.
“Just how they attacked everyday,” McCloud said. “They came in every day with a purpose and got better in practice. Came back to the [Murphy Center] late at night and got better. Got ahead on the film.”
McCloud will face a tall task as NC State’s top corner, shutting down some elite wide receivers in the ACC, along with a visit from one of the best passing attacks in the country with West Virginia on the Pack’s non-conference slate.
“I feel like it’s a challenge every week,” McCloud said. “Just like it’s a challenge every day out here, it’s a challenge every week. That’s why I like the guys we go up against, they prepare us for the season really well. But it’s going to be a challenge every game playing in the ACC.”
Fortunately for McCloud, he’ll get plenty of practice going against top receivers. NC State boasts a third-year starting quarterback in Ryan Finley who should be one of the best in the country, and one of the nation’s best pass-catching trios in senior Stephen Louis and juniors Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers. Going against those three in practice will help prepare McCloud and NC State’s other corners for what they’ll face on gameday.
“We’ve got the best passing attack in the nation,” McCloud said. “So of course you’re going to get better everyday going against guys like that.”
While NC State has a tall order replacing the kind of production it got from its defensive front seven last season, having a defensive backfield led by McCloud will only make that task easier.
