The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JULY/AUGUST 2021 ■ 37 DEFENSIVE BACKS Loaded Competition BY MATT CARTER N C State's coaches are hoping not to be shuffling around the secondary on a seemingly weekly basis like they did in 2020. The return of injured players plus a couple of transfer addi- tions should alleviate those concerns. Veteran corners Chris Ingram, a senior, and Teshaun Smith, a junior, combined to play in only one game. Safeties Khalid Martin, a redshirt freshman, and Rakeim Ashford, a sophomore, were both lost for the year in week two. And a combination of injuries and targeting penalties limited junior safety Tanner Ingle to just a handful of full games played. "I think we're going to be a lot better because of what we went through," defensive coordinator Tony Gibson noted. "We have so many guys that started games for us last year." NC State also added Marshall transfer Derrek Pitts Jr., a versatile redshirt junior who played his first two seasons at West Virginia when Gibson was the defensive coordinator there. He played corner this spring. Florida State fifth-year senior transfer Cyrus Fagan will provide depth at safety. Redshirt freshman corner Shyheim Battle started all 12 games in 2020 and posted a team-high 10 pass breakups with an interception. Sophomore Jakeen Harris started every contest at strong safety and had 76 tackles, seven breakups and a pick. Ingle is the captain of the secondary, and junior Tyler Baker- Williams brings high upside to the nickel position. Despite a pair of contact-tracing quarantines and playing both safety and nickel, he still finished with 60 tackles, eight pass breakups and an interception. The starting safeties will be challenged by newcomers like Fagan, but the corner opposite Battle may represent the biggest position battle. Sophomore Cecil Powell, an impressive athlete at 6-0, 214 pounds, started five games in 2020 and flashed while making 47 tackles and four breakups. Smith was the opening-game starter, while Ingram was a starter in 2018 and 2019 before suffering a serious knee injury. Freshman Aydan White started once and had a huge interception in the win over Liberty, and Pitts made a strong first impression, earning a spot on the first string in the spring game. SPOTLIGHT PLAYER JUNIOR TANNER INGLE NC State's defense was at its best last fall when junior Tanner Ingle was on the field. The problem was keeping him there. He missed time early in the year with a hamstring injury, and then a penchant for targeting penal- ties became an issue, eventually costing him a chance to play in the Pack's bowl game. "He was really good," defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. "Obviously, his production and our production as a defense was so much better when he's out there. … He's a physical football player. We don't ever want to take that away from him, we just have to get him smarter with the things that we're doing. "It's more of a technique. The biggest thing is seeing what you hit, and if you see what you hit you are not going to get called for targeting. I don't want to take away the aggressiveness, I want to take away the recklessness that he played with." PROJECTED DEPTH CHART STARTERS No. Name Year Ht. Wt. Hometown 13 Tyler Baker-Williams (NIC) Jr. 6-0 209 Raleigh 25 Shyheim Battle (CB) R-Fr. 6-2 183 Rocky Mount, N.C. 6 Jakeen Harris (S) So. 5-10 190 Savannah, Ga. 10 Tanner Ingle (S) Jr. 5-10 182 Orlando, Fla. 24 Derrek Pitts Jr. (CB) R-Jr. 6-1 182 Dunbar, W.Va. RESERVES 16 Rakeim Ashford (S) So. 6-1 183 Ackerman, Miss. 12 Devan Boykin (CB/NIC/S) Fr. 5-10 187 Greensboro, N.C. 20 Cyrus Fagan (S) 5th-Sr. 6-1 190 Daytona Beach, Fla. 7 Chris Ingram (CB) Sr. 6-0 186 Salisbury, N.C. 21 Khalid Martin (S) R-Fr. 6-0 192 Tobaccoville, N.C. 19 Joshua Pierre-Louis (NIC) Fr. 5-10 175 Riviera Beach, Fla. 4 Cecil Powell (CB) So. 6-0 214 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 22 Teshaun Smith (CB) Jr. 6-3 192 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 3 Aydan White (CB) Fr. 6-0 178 Asheville, N.C. WAITING IN THE WINGS 29 Sean Brown (S) Fr. 6-0 198 Charlotte 34 Nate Evans (CB) Fr. 6-0 172 Virginia Beach, Va. 8 Jalen Frazier (NIC) R-Fr. 5-9 181 Denver, N.C. 44 Mario Love Jr. (NIC) Fr. 5-9 162 Cornelius, N.C. 14 Nehki Meredith (CB) Fr. 5-9 180 Virginia Beach, Va. 35 Chase Hattley (S) Fr. 6-3 205 Cary, N.C. ■ POSITIONAL GRADES ★★★★ Among country's best; ★★★ Among ACC's best; ★★ Solid or has potential; ★ Too un- proven STARTERS ★★½ Junior Tanner Ingle and sophomore Jakeen Harris make a productive safety tandem, and redshirt freshman Shyheim Battle looks like a mainstay at corner. Coaches have high expectations for junior Tyler Baker-Williams at nickel, but the spot opposite Battle should be an intense competition. EXPERIENCE ★★★½ NC State returns 53 starts from its sec- ondary in 2020, and that does not include senior Chris Ingram, who has 19 career starts before injuring his knee in 2019 and missing last fall. Transfers Cyrus Fagan, a fifth-year senior from Florida State, and Derrek Pitts Jr., a redshirt junior from Mar- shall, add even more experience. DEPTH ★★½ NC State should be much better equipped to handle a rash of injuries this fall, but many of the backups will be seek- ing to prove themselves. OVERALL ★★½ The secondary should be improved from a year ago, with better luck in the health department, but the next step is to turn the experience into production and plays. BY THE NUMBERS 3rd Ranking for NC State's de- fensive backs as a unit in the ACC according to Athlon Sports. 41 Tackles and one interception made by Florida State safety transfer Cyrus Fagan in 2019. The for- mer national top-100 recruit only played one game in 2020 before leaving FSU. 42 Tackles last season at Marshall for redshirt junior Derrek Pitts Jr., a former four-star recruit who began his career at West Virginia. Pitts started all nine games and added three pass breakups. PHOTO BY CHARLES LECLAIRE, USA TODAY SPORTS/COURTESY ACC MEDIA