The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/846301
JULY 2017 ■ 129 Name Pos. Starts Deylan Buntyn DT 0 One of two junior college transfers, Buntyn played sparingly in two seasons, appearing in 14 games and tallying 119 snaps. He had four tackles during his se- nior season. Robert Caldwell LB 11 Caldwell was the other junior college transfer and one of the few bright spots during the forgettable 2013 football season, his one year as a full-time starter. Caldwell accumulated 105 tackles, including 14.5 for loss, en route to honorable mention All-ACC honors. He received a tryout for the Cleveland Browns. Niles Clark CB/NIC 1 Clark never was a full-time starter, but he served as a valuable reserve who played in 48 out of a possible 51 games. Midway through his junior season he switched from cornerback to nickel. Clark finished with 57 career tackles, nine pass breakups and three interceptions. Marchez Coates CB 0 Played in 11 games and made five tackles, mostly on special teams, in 2013 as a redshirt freshman and then left the team. Coates, a one-time Pitt commitment before signing with NCSU, ended up Iowa Western College. Drew Davis DE 1 After redshirting, Davis switched from linebacker to defensive end and played in 20 games over two seasons before having to retire from football with a back injury. He had 35 tackles, including four for loss. Eddie Gordon OL 0 Redshirted in 2012 and then transferred to a junior college. In 2014, Gordon enrolled at Louisiana Lafay - ette and started all 25 games, mostly at center, over his last two seasons. Gordon was honorable mention All-Sun Belt Conference as a senior and signed as an undrafted free agent with the Carolina Panthers. Xavier Griffin WR 0 Academics forced Griffin to prep a year at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, and NC State elected to not re-sign him. He inked with North Carolina A&T instead and has caught 24 passes for 389 yards and a pair of scores in three seasons. He has one more year of eligibility remaining. David J. Grinnage TE 24 Grinnage, Griffin's high school teammate at Newark (Del.) High, was one of the best success stories in the class. The unheralded prospect did not have a major offer besides NC State, but in three years in Raleigh, Grinnage caught 67 passes for 798 yards and nine touchdowns. He left after his redshirt junior campaign for the NFL Draft but went unselected. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Green Bay Packers but reached an injury settlement before training camp started. Charlie Hegedus WR 1 Hegedus, Clark's high school teammate at Lassiter High in Marietta, Ga., had a promising true freshman season during which he caught nine passes for 116 yards and a score. He took a step back as a sopho - more, though, making one catch for a one-yard loss. After that season, Hegedus left NC State, walked on at Georgia and played in two games for the Bulldogs over two years. K'Hadree Hooker DT 0 A well-regarded in-state signee who picked NC State over Georgia Tech, Hooker redshirted in 2012 and then transferred to East Carolina during the 2013 preseason camp. Played a season and started in the Pirates' 2014 bowl game against Florida before retiring from football due to concussions. Jarnor Jones S 0 Played on special teams in three games during his redshirt freshman season before leaving for Georgia Military College. After a year at GMC, Jones signed with Iowa State, where he started 11 games in two seasons and made 78 tackles, 10 pass breakups and an interception. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Atlanta Falcons. Bryce Kennedy OL 1 One of the few who stayed at NC State for his entire career, Kennedy received one start as a redshirt junior at Old Dominion, but he left that game with an injury. Tyler Knox DE 0 The highly touted Knox never made it to NC State because of academic reasons. He went to a junior college in Kansas instead and did not make it back to major college football. Quincy McKinney OL 0 McKinney, who signed with South Carolina but had to prep a year at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy and then switched to NC State, played in six games as a true freshman before leaving for academic reasons. After a season at a junior college, he ended up at East Carolina, where he made 21 starts in two seasons. Desmond Owino DE 0 Grades prevented the one-time UNC commitment that switched his pledge to NC State from ever arriving in Raleigh. He eventually made his way to Jacksonville State, where he became a starting defensive tackle. Owino was given a camp invite by the Atlanta Falcons. M.J. Salahuddin LB 5 A promising career was sidelined by multiple knee injuries that eventually forced Salahuddin to take a medical hardship following the 2015 season. Salahud - din finished his career with 43 tackles. Josh Sessoms S 0 Although he never cracked the lineup on defense, Sessoms (who was the first commitment in the class) carved out a niche on special teams, leading the 2015 team in tackles on that unit with nine. Manny Stocker QB 0 Pressed into action as a true freshman in 2012 due to attrition, Stocker was Mike Glennon's backup for one year. He misfired on both of his pass attempts and ran for 20 yards. He redshirted the 2013 season and then left the football team. Stocker played in 2014 for UT Martin, highlighted by a 70-yard touchdown run against Cumberland. A year later he walked on at Pittsburgh as a receiver and then was the backup quarterback in 2016. Stocker played in 11 games for the Panthers, almost exclusively on special teams. Shadrach Thornton RB 16 When eligible to play, Thornton was one of the best running backs in the ACC. Multiple suspensions though hampered his career until his untimely dismissal four games into the 2015 season (during which he was sus - pended for the first two). Thornton had nine 100-yard rushing games and is 10th all time at the school with 2,572 rushing yards. He was an undrafted free agent signing for the Oakland Raiders. He was cut and signed with Ottawa in the CFL. John Tu'uta OL 0 Played in just seven games during his career, but Tu'uta was touted for his off-the-field leadership and the character to overcome being homeless at times growing up to become a college graduate. Kendarius Whitehead DE 0 Arguably the prize recruit in the class, Whitehead picked NC State over Clemson and Georgia, both of whom heavily pursued him even after his pledge to the Wolfpack. Whitehead never played for NCSU, leaving after redshirting his freshman year. He went to Georgia Military College, where he had an All-America cam - paign, and then matriculated to Georgia Tech in 2014. In two seasons for the Jackets he played in two games and then took a medical hardship. Joe Wright DE 0 Wright played in two games as a redshirt freshman and was then dismissed from the team. He picked his career back up in 2016 at Winston-Salem State and had three sacks last season. CLASS OF 2012 SUMMARY Reserve nickel back Niles Clark was one of only four players from the 2012 class that completed all four years of his eligibility at NC State. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN