Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 10, 2016 39 touchdown grabs. St. Brown ranked 16th nationally in receiving touchdowns and 29th in receiving yards. Senior wideout Torii Hunter Jr. had 15 receptions for 207 yards despite missing Notre Dame's win over Nevada. Elusive sophomore slot receiver C.J. Sand- ers notched 13 receptions and was second on the team with 215 receiving yards through four games. An area for concern for Notre Dame has been its ability to keep Kizer protected. Opponents have sacked Notre Dame's quarterbacks eight times during the first four games. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS NC State was an average special teams unit through the first three games of the season. It ranked 69th nationally in punt returns, 72nd in kickoff coverage and 95th in kick returns. In ad- dition, its kickers converted just 1 of 3 field goals. The best part of its special teams has been the punting of sophomore A.J. Cole III. If he had enough punts to be eligible, Cole would rank ninth nationally with an average of 46.5 yards per punt. Notre Dame's special teams haven't been much better, with the Irish ranking 74th in punt coverage, 87th in kick returns and 98th in kickoff coverage. The 96-yard kick return it allowed against Duke after jumping out to a 14-0 lead proved most troubling. Two individuals have shined in the early going for the Irish. Sanders ranked 14th nationally in punt return average at 16.0 yards per return. Junior punter Tyler Newsome was averaging 44.6 yards per punt, which ranked 17th nationally. Newsome has boomed eight punts of better than 50 yards. Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING Notre Dame's coaching staff is currently in flux, with Kelly having fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder after the team's 38-35 loss to Duke. Despite that, Kelly has proven he can get his team back on track after rough patches. NC State head coach Dave Doeren is coaching for his survival, with a 20-21 record as he reaches the halfway point of his fourth year in Raleigh. Doeren's 6-18 record in conference is most noticeable. Advantage: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES The season has not gone as planned for Notre Dame, but there are still numerous talented ath- letes on the roster, and plenty of players who were key figures in last year's 10-3 season. NC State has an improved roster, but its players have yet to ex- perience major success, something it hopes to do with a victory over the Irish. That is what Notre Dame has going in its favor, but the Wolfpack will have the home-field advan- tage. Notre Dame does not play many true road games, and Carter-Finley Stadium will likely be an extremely loud environment. Dating back to 2013, Notre Dame is just 3-8 in true road games. Advantage: Even GAME PREVIEW: NORTH CAROLINA STATE Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. LT 53 Tyler Jones 6-3 300 R-So. 74 Emanuel McGirt 6-6 295 R-Fr. LG 65 Garrett Bradbury 6-3 293 R-So. 56 Bryce Kennedy 6-3 305 5th-Sr. C 66 Joe Scelfo 6-1 300 5th-Sr. 59 John Tu'uta 6-3 280 5th-Sr. RG 50 Tony Adams 6-2 315 Jr. 70 Terronne Prescod 6-5 338 R-So. RT 54 Will Richardson 6-6 303 R-So. 64 Peter Daniel 6-6 294 R-Jr. FB 1 Jaylen Samuels 5-11 223 Jr. 86 Thaddeus Moss 6-4 247 Fr. Y 48 Cole Cook 6-6 250 Jr. 41 Clark Eyers 6-5 252 5th-Sr. Z 13 Bra'Lon Cherry 5-11 191 Sr. 30 Gavin Locklear 5-10 186 R-Jr. X 12 Stephen Louis 6-2 215 R-So. 3 Kelvin Harmon 6-3 196 Fr. H 7 Nyheim Hines 5-9 197 So. 8 Maurice Trowell 5-11 191 R-So. QB 15 Ryan Finley 6-4 200 R-So. 2 Jalan McClendon 6-5 212 R-So. RB 21 Matthew Dayes 5-9 203 Sr. 27 Dakwa Nichols 5-9 195 R-Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. FE 35 Kentavius Street 6-2 278 Jr. 45 Darian Roseboro 6-4 280 So. T 27 Justin Jones 6-2 312 Jr. 91 Eurndraus Bryant 6-1 323 So. N 98 B.J. Hill 6-4 313 Jr. 94 Monty Nelson 6-2 315 Sr. BE 9 Bradley Chubb 6-4 275 Jr. 39 James Smith-Williams 6-4 234 R-Fr. MLB 4 Jerod Fernandez 6-0 220 R-Jr. 44 Ford Howell 6-1 240 R-Jr. WLB 58 Airius Moore 6-0 237 Jr. 32 Riley Nicholson 6-0 229 So. NIC 8 Dravious Wright 5-10 208 Sr. 6 Niles Clark 5-11 186 5th-Sr. LC 29 Jack Tocho 6-0 200 5th-Sr. 21 Nick McCloud 6-2 175 Fr. SS 24 Shawn Boone 5-10 201 Jr. 31 Jarius Morehead 6-1 213 R-Fr. FS 11 Josh Jones 6-2 215 R-Jr. 14 Dexter Wright 6-2 225 R-So. RC 2 Mike Stevens 5-11 190 Jr. 10 Freddie Phillips, Jr. 6-1 200 So. NORTH CAROLINA STATE DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. PK 92 Kyle Bambard 5-8 190 So. 33 Connor Haskins 5-8 176 5th-Sr P 90 A.J. Cole III 6-4 230 So. SN 57 Tyler Griffiths 6-2 230 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. KO 92 Kyle Bambard 5-8 190 So. KOR 7 Nyheim Hines 5-9 197 So. PR 13 Bra'Lon Cherry 5-11 191 Sr. Special Teams Junior safety Josh Jones made a team-high 24 tackles during NC State's 2-1 start. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN