1. How nice is it to have spring ball start in a few weeks and not have much drama?
NC State has to be near the top of the list of taking advantage of the COVID year even if it might cause a ripple affect on future Wolfpack teams. NC State has also benefitted from having a good group of college players, who had enough question marks to need to turn down entering the NFL Draft. The result is very few question marks other than getting players healthy for fall camp.
The three major areas on offense that will need to get addressed is figuring out the five best offensive linemen, who will take over at the outside wide receiver to replace Emeka Emezie and perhaps the most important aspect of the entire 2022 season, who can gain tough yards at running back when it is third down and short.
Timothy McKay, Dylan McMahon, Grant Gibson, Bryson Speas and Derrick Eason are easily the five most experienced linemen. McKay has the chance to make the biggest jump because the redshirt sophomore is a year younger than his grade, and has grown to 6-4 and 315 pounds. Pro Football Focus had McKay as the second best run-blocker behind left tackle Ikem Ekwonu. He could be a smooth replacement there.
Eason and McMahon had the lowest grades in run-blocking, so they have the most room for improvement.
Junior Jordan Houston and sophomore Demi Sumo-Karngbaye are the odds-on new one-two punch at running back. Houston’s ability to catch the ball out of the backfield will be clutch, but can the 51-0, 192-pounder grind up the tough yards between the tackles. Could that role fall to Sumo-Karngbaye, who is bigger at 6-0 and 210 pounds. Can this be the year that Delbert Mimms III finds an offensive role after starring on special teams coverage?
I know it’s easy to say, ‘Well, NC State struggled running the ball last year anyway.” I get that, but losing both Zonovan Knight and Ricky Person to the NFL Draft is a hit, and that doesn’t include Knight’s abilities at kick returner.
Sophomore wide receiver Porter Rooks is the obvious choice to take over at wide receiver. He’s proven to be a solid possession receiver and had 23 catches for 298 yards last year.
There is a glut of young receivers, but maybe it was telling that Maryland grad transfer Darryl Jones was added to the mix. If Rooks and Jones combine to get say 75 percent of Emezie’s production, that bodes well for the Wolfpack offense. Of that glut, sophomore Anthony Smith was put in the “Lets see if we can fool the defense and throw a bomb to him” role last year. He caught four passes, but is still unproven yet intriguing.
In terms of nit-picking on offense, it would also be nice if one of the three redshirt freshmen tight ends could emerge as a blocker, or redshirt sophomore Kam Walker. They are all listed between 245-250 pounds.
Other than health, there aren’t many questions about the linebackers. The “Big Three” of Payton Wilson, Drake Thomas and Isaiah Moore will get the majority of the snaps, and both Devon Betty and Jaylon Scott have proven themselves if called upon.
The secondary could use a third cornerback to emerge, but the two safety spots, nickel and starting cornerbacks are locked in. Two years ago, redshirt junior Teshaun Smith or possibly even redshirt sophomore Cecil Powell would be the obvious choices at backup cornerback, but injuries have taken a dent out of their NCSU careers. If they aren’t healthy enough, getting sophomore cornerback Aydan White’s confidence up is next in line.
NC State probably won’t find a kick returner until fall camp, but that is a major priority. Houston has eight kick returns over the last three years. Wide receiver Keyan Lesane handled kick returns in 2019 to mixed reviews and safety Tanner Ingle had four returns.
The Chandler Zavala appeal would change things along the offensive line, with him sliding back in at left guard. There have been many player eligibility cases over the years, and former athletic director Debbie Yow and current long-time compliance director Carrie Doyle usually hit home runs with the NCAA. There was a nice streak that involved wide receiver Travares Copeland, basketball guard Rodney Purvis, center Omer Yurtseven, power forward/center Ted Kapita and guard Braxton Beverly. Wing Terry Henderson didn’t his extra year, and maybe my memory has faded on other cases. But under the NCAA rules during that time, NC State got players eligible that didn’t have precedent on its side. That was impressive.
In terms of the appeal, usually it falls into two categories — new information has appeared or someone is trying to bully the NCAA. The Dave Doeren comments also surely got the NCAA’s attention.
What Yow was gifted at was having good relationships with key people at the NCAA, and it’s always a who you know business. Athletic director Boo Corrigan hopefully has those same kind of connections and can get Zavala a break.
What is clear, the NCAA has gotten out of the waiver ruling business with its new rules, and as you will soon read, there are little deterrents now for recruits to get as much money as each schools individual market dictates it.
2. The new buzz word in college athletics is clearly going to be “Collectives.”
The Athletic had a fascinating story about the future of college sports and how each college will need a “Collective.” The author of the story, which focused on Tennessee football, also appeared on Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman’s podcast, breaking down the situation.
Basically it delved into some serious game-changing topics:
• Two former sports agents who are Tennessee fans went from wanting to raise $10 million dollars to $25 million.
• They took care of several players on the current Volunteers roster, so then recruits can simply use them as references and it helps with NCAA rules that they aren’t just doing it for recruits (wink, wink).
• The two agents are meeting with recruits during the recruiting process, and landed seven of the nine recruits they targeted.
• Schools are not supposed to have a hand in the making NIL deals, but in some states, it is allowed and lawyers are definitely looking hard at it.
• This has become a way for fans and big money people to come together for a common goal — to help their favorite school land big-name recruits.
Some will say, good for the third-string quarterback that he can pull in six figures during the recruiting process if that is what the market dictates. That is also jarring.
Now, there are many other angles to all of this. Some will say this has always been the way, it’s just now open and on the table now. It’s also kind of amazing how much the open market is for players who might need two-three years just to get on the field.
It raises several new questions. Do Collectives now have more juice over a coach than any other entity? You have to think that coaches, who are pretty much super Type A in football circles, will not like some of this. For instance, say there is a Collective at Auburn and it’s clear some are not a fan of coach Bryan Harsin right now. Do they get back at Harsin by withholding potential NIL money for recruits, and therefore the recruiting classes suffer in the always tough SEC, leading to Harsin’s downfall? It’s one thing to have a booster club, but a booster club, in theory, wasn’t trying to talk to any recruits a school was seriously going after.
Another aspect of this, is will money start to dry up in others ways because fans or money people would rather donate to a Collective that absolutely is tied into recruits, and not donate to a booster club because helping improve facilities isn’t as exciting. That bears monitoring.
Will big name recruits wait longer than ever to get Collectives to bid against each other to land him/her? The frenzy for the recruit is a lot stronger in February than it would be if he/she wants to decide in March.
Working back to coaches and people from a Collective working on the same recruits. Coaches don’t have control over what a super fan money guy might say or do with a recruit. It won’t be pretty if a Collective guy pisses off recruits or his inner circle by doing something the coaches don’t like. Sort of “too many chefs in this recruiting kitchen.” That could be an explosive situation.
From all accounts the NCAA is absolutely hands off on all of this. The spirit of the NIL wasn’t for programs to weaponize recruiting money, but seven months later, that path is becoming clearer and clearer. It might not have been fully weaponized for the class of 2022, but now Collectives are gunning for 2023.
With players financially taken care of at a much younger age, will they also have the same drive moving forward. That part will be interesting as well as when athletes get officially labeled as employees. When that happens, who will be the first player to be a holdout? I kid, but not really.
3. The offers came out flying Thursday, which is usually a sign that coaches took a little vacation time and returned to work recharged.
Among the new offers:
Class of 2023:
Class of 2025:
Tight end Reid Mikeska is an interesting offer. His father played at Virginia under George Welsh and he know the Charlottesville area like the back of his hand. However, one source said he was born in Raleigh, which might help considering he has 25 scholarship offers.
NC State has to be near the top of the list of taking advantage of the COVID year even if it might cause a ripple affect on future Wolfpack teams. NC State has also benefitted from having a good group of college players, who had enough question marks to need to turn down entering the NFL Draft. The result is very few question marks other than getting players healthy for fall camp.
The three major areas on offense that will need to get addressed is figuring out the five best offensive linemen, who will take over at the outside wide receiver to replace Emeka Emezie and perhaps the most important aspect of the entire 2022 season, who can gain tough yards at running back when it is third down and short.
Timothy McKay, Dylan McMahon, Grant Gibson, Bryson Speas and Derrick Eason are easily the five most experienced linemen. McKay has the chance to make the biggest jump because the redshirt sophomore is a year younger than his grade, and has grown to 6-4 and 315 pounds. Pro Football Focus had McKay as the second best run-blocker behind left tackle Ikem Ekwonu. He could be a smooth replacement there.
Eason and McMahon had the lowest grades in run-blocking, so they have the most room for improvement.
Junior Jordan Houston and sophomore Demi Sumo-Karngbaye are the odds-on new one-two punch at running back. Houston’s ability to catch the ball out of the backfield will be clutch, but can the 51-0, 192-pounder grind up the tough yards between the tackles. Could that role fall to Sumo-Karngbaye, who is bigger at 6-0 and 210 pounds. Can this be the year that Delbert Mimms III finds an offensive role after starring on special teams coverage?
I know it’s easy to say, ‘Well, NC State struggled running the ball last year anyway.” I get that, but losing both Zonovan Knight and Ricky Person to the NFL Draft is a hit, and that doesn’t include Knight’s abilities at kick returner.
Sophomore wide receiver Porter Rooks is the obvious choice to take over at wide receiver. He’s proven to be a solid possession receiver and had 23 catches for 298 yards last year.
There is a glut of young receivers, but maybe it was telling that Maryland grad transfer Darryl Jones was added to the mix. If Rooks and Jones combine to get say 75 percent of Emezie’s production, that bodes well for the Wolfpack offense. Of that glut, sophomore Anthony Smith was put in the “Lets see if we can fool the defense and throw a bomb to him” role last year. He caught four passes, but is still unproven yet intriguing.
In terms of nit-picking on offense, it would also be nice if one of the three redshirt freshmen tight ends could emerge as a blocker, or redshirt sophomore Kam Walker. They are all listed between 245-250 pounds.
Other than health, there aren’t many questions about the linebackers. The “Big Three” of Payton Wilson, Drake Thomas and Isaiah Moore will get the majority of the snaps, and both Devon Betty and Jaylon Scott have proven themselves if called upon.
The secondary could use a third cornerback to emerge, but the two safety spots, nickel and starting cornerbacks are locked in. Two years ago, redshirt junior Teshaun Smith or possibly even redshirt sophomore Cecil Powell would be the obvious choices at backup cornerback, but injuries have taken a dent out of their NCSU careers. If they aren’t healthy enough, getting sophomore cornerback Aydan White’s confidence up is next in line.
NC State probably won’t find a kick returner until fall camp, but that is a major priority. Houston has eight kick returns over the last three years. Wide receiver Keyan Lesane handled kick returns in 2019 to mixed reviews and safety Tanner Ingle had four returns.
The Chandler Zavala appeal would change things along the offensive line, with him sliding back in at left guard. There have been many player eligibility cases over the years, and former athletic director Debbie Yow and current long-time compliance director Carrie Doyle usually hit home runs with the NCAA. There was a nice streak that involved wide receiver Travares Copeland, basketball guard Rodney Purvis, center Omer Yurtseven, power forward/center Ted Kapita and guard Braxton Beverly. Wing Terry Henderson didn’t his extra year, and maybe my memory has faded on other cases. But under the NCAA rules during that time, NC State got players eligible that didn’t have precedent on its side. That was impressive.
In terms of the appeal, usually it falls into two categories — new information has appeared or someone is trying to bully the NCAA. The Dave Doeren comments also surely got the NCAA’s attention.
What Yow was gifted at was having good relationships with key people at the NCAA, and it’s always a who you know business. Athletic director Boo Corrigan hopefully has those same kind of connections and can get Zavala a break.
What is clear, the NCAA has gotten out of the waiver ruling business with its new rules, and as you will soon read, there are little deterrents now for recruits to get as much money as each schools individual market dictates it.
2. The new buzz word in college athletics is clearly going to be “Collectives.”
The Athletic had a fascinating story about the future of college sports and how each college will need a “Collective.” The author of the story, which focused on Tennessee football, also appeared on Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman’s podcast, breaking down the situation.
Basically it delved into some serious game-changing topics:
• Two former sports agents who are Tennessee fans went from wanting to raise $10 million dollars to $25 million.
• They took care of several players on the current Volunteers roster, so then recruits can simply use them as references and it helps with NCAA rules that they aren’t just doing it for recruits (wink, wink).
• The two agents are meeting with recruits during the recruiting process, and landed seven of the nine recruits they targeted.
• Schools are not supposed to have a hand in the making NIL deals, but in some states, it is allowed and lawyers are definitely looking hard at it.
• This has become a way for fans and big money people to come together for a common goal — to help their favorite school land big-name recruits.
Some will say, good for the third-string quarterback that he can pull in six figures during the recruiting process if that is what the market dictates. That is also jarring.
Now, there are many other angles to all of this. Some will say this has always been the way, it’s just now open and on the table now. It’s also kind of amazing how much the open market is for players who might need two-three years just to get on the field.
It raises several new questions. Do Collectives now have more juice over a coach than any other entity? You have to think that coaches, who are pretty much super Type A in football circles, will not like some of this. For instance, say there is a Collective at Auburn and it’s clear some are not a fan of coach Bryan Harsin right now. Do they get back at Harsin by withholding potential NIL money for recruits, and therefore the recruiting classes suffer in the always tough SEC, leading to Harsin’s downfall? It’s one thing to have a booster club, but a booster club, in theory, wasn’t trying to talk to any recruits a school was seriously going after.
Another aspect of this, is will money start to dry up in others ways because fans or money people would rather donate to a Collective that absolutely is tied into recruits, and not donate to a booster club because helping improve facilities isn’t as exciting. That bears monitoring.
Will big name recruits wait longer than ever to get Collectives to bid against each other to land him/her? The frenzy for the recruit is a lot stronger in February than it would be if he/she wants to decide in March.
Working back to coaches and people from a Collective working on the same recruits. Coaches don’t have control over what a super fan money guy might say or do with a recruit. It won’t be pretty if a Collective guy pisses off recruits or his inner circle by doing something the coaches don’t like. Sort of “too many chefs in this recruiting kitchen.” That could be an explosive situation.
From all accounts the NCAA is absolutely hands off on all of this. The spirit of the NIL wasn’t for programs to weaponize recruiting money, but seven months later, that path is becoming clearer and clearer. It might not have been fully weaponized for the class of 2022, but now Collectives are gunning for 2023.
With players financially taken care of at a much younger age, will they also have the same drive moving forward. That part will be interesting as well as when athletes get officially labeled as employees. When that happens, who will be the first player to be a holdout? I kid, but not really.
3. The offers came out flying Thursday, which is usually a sign that coaches took a little vacation time and returned to work recharged.
Among the new offers:
Class of 2023:
Class of 2025:
Tight end Reid Mikeska is an interesting offer. His father played at Virginia under George Welsh and he know the Charlottesville area like the back of his hand. However, one source said he was born in Raleigh, which might help considering he has 25 scholarship offers.
