The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER E meka Emezie's big introduction to most NC State fans came dur- ing his freshman season in 2017 at Wake Forest, and it was not neces- sarily all positive. The game was strangely emblematic of the wideout's rookie campaign. "The thing my freshman year was I was clicking and then I wasn't clicking," Emezie recalled. After catching six passes for 65 yards in the first 10 games of the year, Emezie was having a breakout moment against the Demon Deacons. He finished the contest with five receptions for 67 yards, including his first career touchdown on an acrobatic catch that left him overjoyed in the end zone. It was the best moment of his fresh- man year, and then it came crashing down. Emezie's final catch ended with him fum- bling as he was reaching out for what could have been a game-winning touch- down in the final minute. Wake Forest recovered it in the end zone and went on to win the game, leaving the young receiver distraught. "That was the high of my whole year and then the down," Emezie remembered. "You have to pick yourself back up, honestly." That's exactly what Emezie did. His sophomore season last fall saw him catch 53 passes for 616 yards and five touchdowns, and he showed the potential to be remembered in Wolfpack lore for something far better than a fumble. Introduction To Football Emezie — whose full name is Chukwue- meka Chitabera Emezie — is the son of im- migrants from Nigeria and one of three ath- letic brothers in the family. His two older brothers played college basketball, but the youngest knew by middle school that his future was on the gridiron. He had been encouraged to take up the sport at Marvin Ridge Middle School in Waxhaw, N.C., and was determined as an eighth grader to prove how good he could be. To this day, he can rattle off his most impressive stat from that year: 19 rushing touchdowns in six games. "The year before was my first year play- ing football, and they were saying, 'He could be good,'" Emezie noted. "I was like, 'I am going to be good.' I had four touchdowns in my first game, and I knew." By then Emezie was already pushing 6-0, and he already speculated that he would probably have to play wide receiver in high school. The move proved to be a quick success. One game into his sopho- more season, he was getting attention from colleges, starting with Old Dominion who provided him with his first offer. Later that year, he picked up a scholar- ship from Boston College. This was no small accomplishment coming from a program like Marvin Ridge that tradition- ally had not boasted many college football prospects. But Emezie was helped out by a bur- geoning region in Waxhaw, which is lo- cated a county east of Charlotte. Cuthb- ertson High in Waxhaw had a quarterback named Austin Kendall and wide receiver in J.T. Cauthen that were turning heads. Not far away there was a quarterback at Sun Valley High in Monroe named Sam Howell that was also picking up buzz. Kendall signed with Oklahoma before transferring this past offseason to West Vir- ginia, while Cauthen and Howell are at North Carolina. With all of that talent in the area, colleges could not miss Emezie, who surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in each of his final three campaigns and totaled 3,584 yards and 38 touchdowns through the air. NC State was one of those that grew en- amored with Emezie, and he committed to the Wolfpack before the start of his senior year. Then in September, for about two weeks, Emezie publicly backed out of that pledge before quickly reversing course and rejoining the Pack. "I was just kind of confused," Emezie stated. "I didn't understand the whole pro- cess. Nobody in my family went through it, so it was kind of tough going through it. My parents don't really understand football at all. "I was having to grow up, maturing faster than I wanted to so I could under- stand the process." That maturation proved helpful for Emezie when he arrived at NC State. He THRIVING FOR GREATNESS Junior Emeka Emezie Emerged In 2018 As NC State's Next Standout Wide Receiver