The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543694
MARCH/APRIL 2026 ■ 33 Mack recalled. "It was something I've never seen before and will never see again because of the crowd of people that fol- lowed those kids." The team won national champion- ships nearly every year it was together. It claimed age-group titles at 9, 11, 12 and 13 years old. And the one year it didn't, it lost in the final after Bailey fumbled at the 1-yard line while he was looking to score what would have been the deciding touchdown. "It was a special team, a special mo- ment," Mack said. "I don't think it will be duplicated again when you just take the sheer number of kids who played to- gether who wound up playing major col- lege football." While it may not be replicated at the youth level, NC State might have done the next-best thing during the recently concluded transfer window. As part of its 20-player transfer haul, the Wolfpack reunited as many of the Miami Gardens Ravens in the collegiate ranks as possible. First, the Pack retained Bailey for his third season as starting quarterback. Then it nabbed junior running back Davion Gause from North Carolina, and a pair of Miami receivers in redshirt sophomore Chance Robinson and junior Joshisa Trader. It was a long time coming, but the Wolfpack's unit could resemble the one Bailey grew up playing with. And if their built-in chemistry is intact, success is likely to follow. Highly Competitive Mack needed only two words to de- scribe what he witnessed when those players were part of his team: "not nor- mal." When he would discuss them with college coaches and his former Miami teammates, most were confused as to why he was so effusive. Those conversations didn't lead any- where at the time, but Mack knew what he was seeing. His previous teams typi- cally had one or two players who were destined to play major college football, but this one had nearly 20. That was un- heard of. His standout wide receivers — Jeremiah Smith, now starring at Ohio State, and Trader — were battling future Miami cor- nerback OJ Frederique each time the team met to train. Bailey was tasked with read- ing defenses, something he mastered by age 12. Practice looked more like something from the college level than a gathering of grade school players. Mack ran the group through seven-on-seven and one-on- one periods, allowing the players to push each other while absorbing coaching points along the way. That approach cre- ated a competitive environment in which players drew the best from one another on every rep. "Practice was difficult," Mack said. "The level of competition in practice — they haven't had anything harder than that. High school was pretty easy for them, because the guy they were playing against in high school wasn't as good as the guy that was on the little league team a lot of the time." Practice was one thing. Games were another. Mack said the game-day atmosphere was reminiscent of Texas high school football. That might seem like an exag- geration to outsiders, but South Florida youth football is, in Mack's words, "a dif- ferent world." "Those kids play at 12 years old in front of 5,000 people in the park," he said. "They're used to the crowd. It's hostile. … That's why you see so many kids going to college. They're prepared, and the mo- ment isn't too big for them. They've been groomed in that environment from the time they were 5 years old." Just because this team was loaded " It was a special team, a special moment. I don't think it will be duplicated again when you just take the sheer number of kids who played together who wound up playing major college football." Coach Rod Mack On His Miami Gardens Ravens Youth Team