The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/430118
JANUARY 2015 ■ 27 BY MATT CARTER T he Wolfpacker's top 25 list is an annual tradition. Each year before the start of the season, the maga- zine staff votes using the following criteria: players' abilities, previous perfor- mances, coaches' comments and the team's needs for a successful campaign. Then after the season is over, the staff goes back, reviews the top 25 and re-ranks them based on how critical they were for the team that year. Here is how the top 25 played out after the 2014 regular season. 1. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett To understand the positive impact that Brissett, a redshirt junior, had on the team this year, compare the stats from the quar- terback position in 2013 to Brissett's pro- duction in 2014. Last year, the combina- tion of Brandon Mitchell and Pete Thomas threw for just 11 touchdowns and had 15 interceptions while combining to rush for 437 yards and four scores. They completed 59.0 percent of their 398 pass attempts for 2,678 yards. Brissett had 22 scoring tosses with just five picks and added 498 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. He was 206-of- 344 passing (59.9 percent) for 2,344 yards. The difference is 10 more touchdowns and 10 less interceptions while maintaining the passing accuracy and production from last year. 2. Running back Shadrach Thornton The junior saved his best for last, rush- ing for more than 100 yards in the final two games and in the process ending the regular season with 811 yards and nine touchdowns. He was the leading rusher on a team that compiled 2,472 yards, the highest ground output in a single year for an NC State offense since the 1979 ACC title-winning team coached by Bo Rein. Thornton also caught 15 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown, giving him 10 scores and more than doubling his career output of eight coming into the season. 3. Defensive tackle Thomas Teal When the Pack defense manhandled UNC en route to a 35-7 rout Nov. 29 in Chapel Hill, it was Teal, a fifth-year senior, that led the way in the effort. He had six tackles, including two for loss and a sack, in the game. Once Teal became 100 percent healthy, he was one of the most consistent perform- ers on the defense this fall. He started the last nine games and posted a career-high 46 tackles, plus eight stops for loss, three sacks, four quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. 4. Linebacker Jerod Fernandez In his first season on the field for the Pack, the redshirt freshman led the team in tackles with 76 in 11 games, including nine starts. Fernandez also had three tackles for loss, one pass broken up and two intercep- tions, the second most on the team. Fernandez is the first freshman to lead the team in tackles since Jesse Campbell in 1988. 5. Running back Matt Dayes In his sophomore season, Dayes show- cased his versatility. He ran 91 times for 495 yards and six touchdowns, and caught 31 passes for 303 yards and five scores, during the regular season. According to ESPN's Matt Hale, Dayes is one of just 12 power conference play- ers in the past 10 years to have at least 300 yards and five touchdowns both rush- ing and receiving, joining an elite list that also includes Todd Gurley of Georgia, De'Anthony Thomas of Oregon, Giovanni Bernard of North Carolina, Montee Ball of Wisconsin, Randall Cobb of Kentucky, De- Marco Murray of Oklahoma, Brian Leon- ard of Rutgers and Percy Harvin of Florida. 6. Defensive end Art Norman The fifth-year senior was the Pack's most consistent pass rusher. He finished this fall with 31 total tackles, including eight for loss and a team-high 6.5 sacks. He also paced the defense with five quar- terback hurries. Norman heads into the bowl game with 25.5 career sacks, two away from tying Mario Williams' school record. 7. Offensive tackle Tyson Chandler Chandler started all 12 games at right tackle this season for NC State at right tackle. It will be different next season when No. 74 is not lining up at that position. Chandler, a fifth-year senior, has started 32 games there over the past three years. 8. Linebacker Rodman Noel Noel is a former four-star recruit who saved his best for last. The senior was third on the defense with 68 tackles in the regu- lar season, including 10 for loss and a sack. He finished second on the team in tack- les behind the line of scrimmage and also forced a fumble, broke up two passes and had an interception. 9. Tight end David J. Grinnage After a promising rookie season last fall, the redshirt sophomore continued to blos- som in year two. He caught 25 passes for 331 yards and tied Dayes for the team lead with five touchdown receptions. Grinnage was also tied for third in catches, and his 13.2-yards-per-catch average is the highest of anyone who hauled in more than five receptions. 10. Offensive tackle Rob Crisp After two injury-riddled seasons at NC State, the former five-star recruit not only stayed healthy in 2014, he started all 12 games at the all important left tackle posi- tion. He protected Brissett's blind side, and played more snaps (826) than anyone on the Wolfpack roster. 11. Center Quinton Schooley Had Schooley not hurt his ankle during the first half of the Pack's win over UNC, he would have likely led the Pack in snaps played, not Crisp. Schooley has started all 24 games since he arrived in the summer of last year and been responsible for nearly every snap to the quarterback. 12. Defensive end Mike Rose Rose started 10 games this year, and the redshirt junior flashed his potential by making a team-high 13 tackles for loss and totaling four sacks. He finished with 45 to- 1. QB Jacoby Brissett 2. RB Shadrach Thornton 3. WR Bryan Underwood 4. OG Joe Thuney 5. OT Rob Crisp 6. DT Thomas Teal 7. DE Art Norman 8. CB Juston Burris 9. S Hakim Jones 10. LB Brandon Pittman 11. OT Tyson Chandler 12. DT Monty Nelson 13. DT T.Y. McGill 14. C Quinton Schooley 15. CB Jack Tocho 16. DE Mike Rose 17. WR Bo Hines 18. K Niklas Sade 19. LB M.J. Salahuddin 20. TE David J. Grinnage 21. OG Alex Barr 22. S Josh Jones 23. RB Matt Dayes 24. WR Jumichael Ramos 25. P Wil Baumann Preseason Top 25