A few closing thoughts on the football depth chart and the upcoming season:
• Head coach Dave Doeren, in general, is not one to give false hope or conversely undersell expectations. Generally what you hear from Doeren about his team is what he truly thinks, and one could not help but notice Monday that Doeren seemed concerned about the mistakes being made in scrimmages and practices, so that is something to watch. With youth littered throughout the depth chart, can NC State keep the blown assignments, pre-snap penalties, etc., to a minimum?
• We obviously were not surprised that redshirt sophomore Matthew (the preference over Matt) McKay won the starting job. We were mildly surprised that NC State went ahead and announced it even though we had learned (and reported in last week's War Room) that a decision had been made shortly after preseason camp ended.
That said, there is no denying that redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman was coming on strong in the competition, and Doeren even so much as admitted it during his Monday press conference. McKay will not have a short hook, but in many ways the competition feels like it could still be ongoing.
• Unrelated to quarterback, but this is a good time to shoot a reminder that what you see on the depth chart Monday is not always how the lineup looks Saturday.
• One advantage McKay brings to the table is his athleticism, and that could especially be an asset with this particular group of running backs. The two freshmen — Jordan Houston and Zonovan Knight — are home-run hitters, and sophomore Ricky Person Jr. is big-play capable himself. (Not to mention we know that redshirt freshman Trent Pennix has a good 40-yard dash time.)
Adding a running threat in the backfield like McKay with those tailbacks could create some more space for more explosive plays.
• In case you missed earlier from our exclusive interview with Doeren, the two big goals this season for both sides of the ball: more explosive plays on offense and more takeaways on defense.
• One aspect of redshirt freshman Derrick Eason’s move to offensive tackle that may have gone overlooked some: if NC State is planning to play some more 3-3-5 defense this year, you may not need as many defensive tackles as you would playing a consistent 4-2-5.
•••
As our subscribers know, every year we make a concentrated effort to travel across the state (and sometimes neighboring states) to see NC State’s regional commits in action and bring back a scouting report from the game.
This year we thought we would use the War Room to go a little more in depth about what we saw to paint as accurate a picture as we can, including (when we can) coming up with an apt comparison to a past NC State player.
Thursday night, The Wolfpacker went to Cary (N.C.) High to watch two-star defensive tackle commit Davin Vann in the Imps home opener versus Apex (N.C.) Friendship High. The latter won the game 22-17 much to the displeasure of Vann.
Indeed, one thing that stuck out about Vann is he can be fiery. We were going to interview him, but we could hear him screaming at his team while we were leaning on a fence about 5-10 yards from the fieldhouse, where inside in the locker room Vann was chewing out his teammates. Before the game, we also saw Vann head butt a teammate who was wearing a helmet. Vann was not wearing one.
First thing we say about Vann, yes we believe his two-star rating is underrating. And in a lot of ways he reminded us of another underrated, two-star defensive tackle that NC State signed: former three-year starter Alan-Michael Cash, who signed in the 2005 class out of Varina High in Richmond, Va.
Cash was listed at 6-foot-1, 282 pounds coming out of high school. Vann is somewhat similar in size and frame. Jonas Pope from the Raleigh News & Observer was at the game last night as well and remarked to us how good Vann looked in a uniform. Earlier in the summer we didn’t think Vann passed the eyeball test as much as other defensive linemen, but when you see him put on a uniform it’s a different story. Defensive end Terrell Dawkins, now a freshman for NC State, was the same way last year.
Vann wore No. 45, and Pope noted that if you put a NC State jersey on him you might think he was Darian Roseboro, who wore No. 45 for the past four years at NC State.
Cash was a tough, hard-nosed defensive tackle with good quickness and agility, which describes Vann in a nutshell. When healthy Cash was a good defensive tackle for NC State (he had knee issues that slowed him down). In fact we remember former Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett raving about Cash once while the two teams were getting ready to play each other.
For those wondering, Cash enjoyed a nice career in the CFL, including being named an All-Star in 2014.
We listed Vann as the No. 15 player in the state in our rankings. We think that 15-25 range is about right for him.
•••
NC State’s visitor list for tomorrow will not likely be an overwhelming group and probably dominated by commitments, including junior college defensive end Pheldarius Payne who will be taking advantage of his team (Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa.) playing a game in Myrtle Beach the following day.
A couple of uncommitted players in the 2021 class with offers that might visit are linebacker Jordan Poole from West Stanly High in Oakboro, N.C., and receiver Jacob Gill from Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh.
Both South Carolina and UNC are allowed to invite players to their game in Charlotte and give each prospect three tickets. Since there is a lot of overlap between the two schools, quite a few recruits are expected there.
That includes several talented in-state juniors that NC State has offered like athlete DeAndre Boykins from Central Cabarrus High in Concord, offensive lineman Michael Gonzalez from Sun Valley High in Monroe, defensive end Zaire Patterson from Winston-Salem Prep, running back Evan Pryor from Hough High in Cornelius, running back Will Shipley from Weddington High in Matthews and corner Gabriel Stephens from Mountain Island in Mount Holly (according to reports from Rivals.com UNC and South Carolina affiliates).
• Head coach Dave Doeren, in general, is not one to give false hope or conversely undersell expectations. Generally what you hear from Doeren about his team is what he truly thinks, and one could not help but notice Monday that Doeren seemed concerned about the mistakes being made in scrimmages and practices, so that is something to watch. With youth littered throughout the depth chart, can NC State keep the blown assignments, pre-snap penalties, etc., to a minimum?
• We obviously were not surprised that redshirt sophomore Matthew (the preference over Matt) McKay won the starting job. We were mildly surprised that NC State went ahead and announced it even though we had learned (and reported in last week's War Room) that a decision had been made shortly after preseason camp ended.
That said, there is no denying that redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman was coming on strong in the competition, and Doeren even so much as admitted it during his Monday press conference. McKay will not have a short hook, but in many ways the competition feels like it could still be ongoing.
• Unrelated to quarterback, but this is a good time to shoot a reminder that what you see on the depth chart Monday is not always how the lineup looks Saturday.
• One advantage McKay brings to the table is his athleticism, and that could especially be an asset with this particular group of running backs. The two freshmen — Jordan Houston and Zonovan Knight — are home-run hitters, and sophomore Ricky Person Jr. is big-play capable himself. (Not to mention we know that redshirt freshman Trent Pennix has a good 40-yard dash time.)
Adding a running threat in the backfield like McKay with those tailbacks could create some more space for more explosive plays.
• In case you missed earlier from our exclusive interview with Doeren, the two big goals this season for both sides of the ball: more explosive plays on offense and more takeaways on defense.
• One aspect of redshirt freshman Derrick Eason’s move to offensive tackle that may have gone overlooked some: if NC State is planning to play some more 3-3-5 defense this year, you may not need as many defensive tackles as you would playing a consistent 4-2-5.
•••
As our subscribers know, every year we make a concentrated effort to travel across the state (and sometimes neighboring states) to see NC State’s regional commits in action and bring back a scouting report from the game.
This year we thought we would use the War Room to go a little more in depth about what we saw to paint as accurate a picture as we can, including (when we can) coming up with an apt comparison to a past NC State player.
Thursday night, The Wolfpacker went to Cary (N.C.) High to watch two-star defensive tackle commit Davin Vann in the Imps home opener versus Apex (N.C.) Friendship High. The latter won the game 22-17 much to the displeasure of Vann.
Indeed, one thing that stuck out about Vann is he can be fiery. We were going to interview him, but we could hear him screaming at his team while we were leaning on a fence about 5-10 yards from the fieldhouse, where inside in the locker room Vann was chewing out his teammates. Before the game, we also saw Vann head butt a teammate who was wearing a helmet. Vann was not wearing one.
First thing we say about Vann, yes we believe his two-star rating is underrating. And in a lot of ways he reminded us of another underrated, two-star defensive tackle that NC State signed: former three-year starter Alan-Michael Cash, who signed in the 2005 class out of Varina High in Richmond, Va.
Cash was listed at 6-foot-1, 282 pounds coming out of high school. Vann is somewhat similar in size and frame. Jonas Pope from the Raleigh News & Observer was at the game last night as well and remarked to us how good Vann looked in a uniform. Earlier in the summer we didn’t think Vann passed the eyeball test as much as other defensive linemen, but when you see him put on a uniform it’s a different story. Defensive end Terrell Dawkins, now a freshman for NC State, was the same way last year.
Vann wore No. 45, and Pope noted that if you put a NC State jersey on him you might think he was Darian Roseboro, who wore No. 45 for the past four years at NC State.
Cash was a tough, hard-nosed defensive tackle with good quickness and agility, which describes Vann in a nutshell. When healthy Cash was a good defensive tackle for NC State (he had knee issues that slowed him down). In fact we remember former Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett raving about Cash once while the two teams were getting ready to play each other.
For those wondering, Cash enjoyed a nice career in the CFL, including being named an All-Star in 2014.
We listed Vann as the No. 15 player in the state in our rankings. We think that 15-25 range is about right for him.
•••
NC State’s visitor list for tomorrow will not likely be an overwhelming group and probably dominated by commitments, including junior college defensive end Pheldarius Payne who will be taking advantage of his team (Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa.) playing a game in Myrtle Beach the following day.
A couple of uncommitted players in the 2021 class with offers that might visit are linebacker Jordan Poole from West Stanly High in Oakboro, N.C., and receiver Jacob Gill from Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh.
Both South Carolina and UNC are allowed to invite players to their game in Charlotte and give each prospect three tickets. Since there is a lot of overlap between the two schools, quite a few recruits are expected there.
That includes several talented in-state juniors that NC State has offered like athlete DeAndre Boykins from Central Cabarrus High in Concord, offensive lineman Michael Gonzalez from Sun Valley High in Monroe, defensive end Zaire Patterson from Winston-Salem Prep, running back Evan Pryor from Hough High in Cornelius, running back Will Shipley from Weddington High in Matthews and corner Gabriel Stephens from Mountain Island in Mount Holly (according to reports from Rivals.com UNC and South Carolina affiliates).
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