The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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NOVEMBER 2018 ■ 97 WOLFPACK FOOTBALL tackle Joshua Harris from Person High in Roxboro and three-star tight end Kam Walker from Pisgah High in Canton. Harris selected NC State over UNC, and NC State was Walker's first major offer. Rivals.com ranks Harris as the No. 6 recruit in the state, and the No. 6 defensive tackle and No. 144 overall player nation- ally. Former NC State Player Takes Shot At Politics In July, former NC State cornerback Jer- emy Gray got one step closer to a career in politics. Gray won the run-off in the Demo- cratic Party primary to represent District 83 in his native Opelika in the Alabama House of Representatives. Gray graduated with a degree in sports medicine at NC State and played briefly in the Canadian Football League. After his gridiron career, Gray founded the nonprofit "Elevate Your Grind," a health and wellness company, and started a community center. The position became vacant after rep- resentative George Bandy, a Democrat, passed away in January. Gray will face Republican Michael Holden in the general election. Gray received a boost from NC State's official athletics website when GoPack.com posted a "personal statement" from Gray in October about his community work and the upcoming election. Gray played 39 games at NC State from 2005-08, piling up 132 tackles, seven interceptions and seven passes broken up. Two Players Leave The Team A pair of redshirt freshmen were part of the growing wave of players across the country announcing in-season transfers. Tight end Damien Darden, who started the first two games of the season while redshirt sophomore Dylan Autenrieth was recovering from an injury and redshirt sophomore Cary Angeline was waiting to become eligible following his transfer from USC, left the team after he did not play at Marshall. Darden logged 51 snaps in the opener against James Madison and then 31 plays a week later versus Georgia State, but he did not catch a pass. Darden committed to NC State before his junior season at C.B. Aycock High in Pikeville, N.C., picking the Pack over an early interest from Duke and East Carolina. He was rated a three-star prospect and the No. 33 recruit in the state of North Caro- lina's 2017 class by Rivals.com. Running back Nakia Robinson Jr., an- nounced during the bye week that he also was transferring. Robinson had three car- ries for eight yards, all during a win over Georgia State Sept. 8. He did not partici- pate in the season opener against James Madison and was limited to special teams action versus Marshall, Virginia and Bos- ton College. Robinson picked NC State during the summer before his senior year at Jackson High in Miami over prominent mid-major offers like Appalachian State, Florida At- lantic, Florida International, Navy, South- ern Miss and Temple, among others. Or- egon State made a run at Robinson after he committed to the Pack, but he held firm to NCSU. Rivals.com rated Robinson three stars. Both were part of a 20-member 2017 recruiting class that has been hit fairly hard by attrition already. Defensive end Kevince Brown and wide receiver Antoine Thomp- son were dismissed from the team before last season. Running back Erin Collins and linebacker Raven Saunders, the latter of who played as a true freshman, left over NC State Books East Carolina For Replacement Game NC State has contingently added a 12th game to the schedule, booking East Caro- lina for a 12 p.m. kickoff Dec. 1, unless either team reaches the title game of their respective conferences. NCSU was scheduled to host West Vir- ginia and ECU was supposed to be at Virginia Tech Sept. 15, but both games were cancelled due to Hurricane Florence. "This replacement game makes sense for both schools," director of athletics Debbie Yow said in a prepared statement. "NC State lost a home game and ECU lost a road game due to Hurricane Flor- ence. We're pleased to be able to secure this 12th game for both our fans and our team." According to the release, all season tickets and parking for the originally scheduled game with WVU will be hon- ored for the Dec. 1 contest. ECU fans will receive WVU's origi- nal ticket allotment. A limited number of single-game tickets will go on sale to Wolfpack Club members. As of Oct. 22, the Pirates were 2-5 with wins at home over UNC and on the road at Old Dominion, which upset Virginia Tech earlier in the fall. The Pirates ad- ditionally were competitive with No. 21 South Florida on the road before losing 20-13. The two teams will also open the 2019 season in Raleigh in a previously scheduled game. NC State is slated to return to Green- ville in 2022, while an agreement was also reached to play ECU in Raleigh in 2025, and the Pirates will also host a game in 2028. NC STATE'S FUTURE NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS THROUGH 2028 Year Date Team 2019 Aug. 31 East Carolina Sept. 7 Western Carolina Sept. 14 at West Virginia Sept. 21 Ball State 2020 Sept. 12 Mississippi State Sept. 19 at Troy Sept. 26 Delaware Nov. 21 Liberty 2021 Sept. 2 South Florida Sept. 11 at Mississippi State Sept. 18 Furman Oct. 2 Louisiana Tech 2022 Sept. 3 at East Carolina Sept. 10 Charleston Southern Sept. 17 Texas Tech Sept. 24 Connecticut 2023 Sept. 16 VMI Sept. 23 at Connecticut TBA Notre Dame 2024 Aug. 31 Western Carolina Sept. 7 Louisiana Tech Sept. 14 at South Florida Nov. 9 BYU 2025 Sept. 6 at Louisiana Tech TBA at Notre Dame TBA East Carolina 2026 Sept. 19 at Vanderbilt 2027 Sept. 18 at Texas Tech 2028 Sept. 16 Vanderbilt TBA at East Carolina Former NC State cornerback Jeremy Gray (2005‑08) is running for state congress in Alabama. PHOTO BY ERIC LUSK