The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1137844
92 ■ THE WOLFPACKER FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2019 BY MATT CARTER S ince arriving at NC State, head coach Dave Doeren has actively used the transfer market. Within weeks of arriving in Raleigh, he landed one of the most sig- nificant additions of his tenure in former Florida quarterback and future NFL player Jacoby Brissett. Before his first season he also added a couple of grad transfers in wide receiver Tavares Copeland (West Virginia) and quarterback Brandon Mitchell (Arkansas). In year four of Doeren's tenure, graduate transfer Joe Scelfo, a center from South Alabama, earned honorable mention All- ACC honors. This season, tight end Cary Angeline (Southern Cal) and nickel Stephen Griffin (Tennessee) could be starting for NC State. Quarterback Bailey Hockman (Florida State) is in a three-man competition for a starting job. Linebacker Levi Jones (Southern Cal) and defensive end Jeffrey Gunter (Coastal Carolina) will sit out the year after arriving this offseason. Doeren also sees many unintended con- sequences in the newly established transfer portal, which the NCAA set up as a data- base to allow players to put their names out without worrying about any restrictions from their coaches. The result has been a free-for-all this offseason. Doeren said that at the ACC meetings, the coaches were told 1,800 football play- ers were in the portal, although a majority are walk-ons. It's estimated that about 30 percent of the list are scholarship players and only 10 percent of those had secured another scholarship. "What happens is we sign our guys in December, and then you are only left with a handful of scholarships," Doeren explained. "Then all the sudden this new population of guys to recruit shows up, but we can only take a few to stay at 25 in a class. There are not unlimited places for them to go." In addition to players finding themselves without new homes, Doeren said that roster management has become a challenge. "Maybe you had only one senior at run- ning back and you're only signing one," Doeren noted. "Then signing day is gone, and three guys want to leave their schools because a teammate is better than them or got more carries in the spring game. You're down to two running backs on scholarship, but you have no scholarships left. "That's bad for the football team, and we can't manage our roster anymore." Finally, Doeren cited academic issues that arise. A transfer can have a negative affect on the team's Academic Progress Report (APR), and Doeren noted that num- bers show transfers graduate 50 percent less than those who stay at their original school. "Is that a great thing for our academic model?" Doeren asked. "A kid leaves your school and now he loses 15 credits because he is going to another school that doesn't have his major." Dave Doeren Would Like To See Adjustments To Transfer Rules WOLFPACK FOOTBALL ■ Projected 2019 NC State Depth Chart OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl.QB QB 7 Matthew McKay 6-4 210 R-So. or 13 Devin Leary 6-2 202 R-Fr. or 16 Bailey Hockman 6-2 208 R-So. RB 8 Ricky Person Jr. 6-1 216 So. 24 Zonovan Knight 6-0 188 Fr. X 19 C.J. Riley 6-4 211 R-Jr. 88 Devin Carter 6-4 212 R-Fr. Z 3 Emeka Emezie 6-3 210 Jr. 84 Jasiah Provillon 6-3 208 R-Fr. S 87 Thayer Thomas 6-0 195 R-So. 4 Tabari Hines 5-10 185 5th-Sr. TE 6 Cary Angeline 6-7 250 R-Jr. 42 Dylan Autenrieth 6-4 245 R-Jr. LT 55 Tyrone Riley 6-6 296 5th-Sr. 74 Emanuel McGirt Jr. 6-6 300 5th-Sr. LG 71 Joe Sculthorpe 6-3 300 R-Jr. 62 Bryson Speas 6-4 288 R-So. C 50 Grant Gibson 6-3 300 5th-Sr. 59 Liam Ryan 6-2 297 R-So. RG 66 Joshua Fedd-Jackson 6-3 332 Jr. 73 Justin Chase 6-5 315 R-Jr. RT 67 Justin Witt 6-6 310 R-Jr. 52 Kendall Brown 6-4 288 R-Jr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 1 James Smith-Williams 6-3 260 5th-Sr. 52 Ibrahim Kante 6-4 250 R-So. DT 92 Larrell Murchison 6-3 285 R-Jr. 95 Derrick Eason 6-4 286 R-Fr. DT 29 Alim McNeill 6-2 311 So. 56 Val Martin 6-2 297 R-Jr. DE 55 Deonte Holden 6-4 247 6th-Sr. 97 Xavier Lyas 6-4 235 R-So. WLB 12 Brock Miller 6-3 238 R-Jr. 15 C.J. Hart 6-1 225 R-Fr. MLB 41 Isaiah Moore 6-2 239 R-So. 2 Louis Acceus 5-11 220 Jr. NIC 21 Stephen Griffin 6-3 213 R-Sr. 13 Tyler Baker-Williams 6-1 205 So. CB 4 Nick McCloud 6-1 190 Sr. 28 Kishawn Miller 5-9 176 Sr. CB 7 Chris Ingram 6-0 186 So. 8 Teshaun Smith 6-3 187 So. SS 31 Jarius Morehead 6-1 220 5th-Sr. 22 Isaiah Stallings 6-4 220 R-Jr. FS 34 Tim Kidd-Glass 6-1 206 Sr. 10 Tanner Ingle 5-10 186 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. K 32 Christopher Dunn 5-8 180 So. 99 Trenton Gill 6-4 217 R-So. P 98 Mackenzie Morgan 6-2 215 R-So. 99 Trenton Gill 6-4 217 R-So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. LS 91 Joe Shimko 6-0 210 Fr. 92 Jackson Quiggle 5-11 231 R-Jr. SPECIAL TEAMS X — Split end wide receiver Z — Flanker wide receiver S — Slot receiver If Florida State transfer Bailey Hockman wins the job, he would be the fifth straight NCSU starting quarterback who went to another college before he arrived in Raleigh. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN