The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1137844
JULY 2019 ■ 47 FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2019 led them to the Pop Warner national cham- pionship. Also making the trip but playing on a different North Raleigh team: current NC State redshirt sophomore quarterback Matthew McKay. Thomas also helped out with a seven- on-seven team. One of its star players also played Pop Warner with a North Raleigh rival, the Capital City Steelers — current NC State redshirt freshman running back Trent Pennix. Pennix and McNeill would become classmates and teammates at Sander- son High in Raleigh before signing with NC State together. Cap City is also where future Miami star receiver and New Eng- land Patriots draft pick Braxton Berrios played. "I knew Trent was going to be pretty good," Thomas recalled. Thomas even helped in basketball, work- ing with the Garner Road AAU programs, although he insisted it would be a stretch to call him a coach. "I was a dad that would sit on a bench," Thomas noted. One of his players at Garner Road: cur- rent NC State sophomore defensive back Tyler Baker-Williams, who would star at Southeast Raleigh High. Making An Impact At NC State Thayer Thomas, who went to high school at Heritage in Wake Forest, had a huge game in week two against Georgia State for NCSU, catching nine passes for 114 yards and a score in a 41-7 win. He also threw a 56-yard pass to Pennix on a trick play. McNeill had 1.5 sacks, his first colle- giate hits on a quarterback, that hot af- ternoon. McKay, who attended Wakefield High in Raleigh, came into the game for his first career action and ran for a score. Two weeks later, the Thomas brothers' team- mate at Heritage in 2017, running back Ricky Person Jr., ran 14 times for 108 yards as a true freshman against Virginia in his ACC debut. All that came a year after former Garner (N.C.) High standout Nyheim Hines ran for more than 1,000 yards for the Pack before leaving early for the NFL, where he was drafted in the fourth round by the Indianapolis Colts. And there's much more Wake County- area products in the pipeline for NC State. Heritage High product and defensive end Joseph Boletepeli, and Clayton High alum and wide receiver Devin Carter both red- shirted last year and hope to make contri- butions this fall. Carter's prep teammate, defensive end Savion Jackson, was one of the most touted signings in NC State's 2019 class. McKay's younger brother, Timothy McKay, enrolled early after graduating from Wakefield and will play offensive line. Two more are committed in the 2020 class — Cary High defensive tackle Davin Vann and Rolesville High offensive tackle Jonathan Adorno. NC State head coach Dave Doeren and his staff have done a good job of strategi- cally using the tight local relationships to the Pack's advantage on the recruiting trail. "Each year I've been here, Wake County football has gotten better," Doeren noted. "There's more talent, Maybe it's because of the population getting bigger, and it's increasing the talent. "It's not just Wake County, but the sur- rounding areas, too. There is a higher level of talent here." Thomas may be biased, but he can't un- derstand why any local product would want to go anywhere else. "To be a local guy to come and play with the guy you either played with or against in the youth sports to the high school level, and the opportunity to come in at a very high level in a community that knows you at a great university like this — to me it's exciting," he said. "I hope more kids lo- cally can keep doing the same." ■ Owning The Region Head coach Dave Doeren and his staff have re- cruited very well in the Triangle region, encom- passing Wake, Durham, Orange, Person, Johnston, Harnett and Chatham counties. In its past two recruiting classes, NC State has signed almost as many top-30 players in the state from that region (eight) as it inked between 2008-17 (nine), the same number of Rivals250 prospects (four) plus four- or five-star players (four), and more players who were rated nationally at their respective position (eight compared to five in the previous 10 years). Doeren's first full class was in 2014. Beginning then, he has landed six Rivals250 players and 11 top- 30 in-state prospects from the area over six groups. In his predecessor Tom O'Brien's full recruiting classes (five between 2008-12), the Pack brought in two Rivals250 regional signees (both in 2010) and six top-30 recruits. Doeren has signed 19 overall players from the region compared to O'Brien's 11. — Matt Carter "Each year I've been here, Wake County football has gotten better. There's more talent. Maybe it's because of the population getting bigger, and it's increasing the talent. It's not just Wake County, but the surrounding areas, too. There is a higher level of talent here." ■ NC State head coach Dave Doeren Sophomore defensive tackle Alim McNeill, another product of the North Raleigh Bulldogs, con- tributed 24 stops, 5.5 tackles and 3.5 sacks while seeing action in all 13 games for the Wolfpack last fall. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN