The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/976701
MAY 2018 ■ 39 State's draftees (running back Nyheim Hines en- tered a year later), came in Doeren's first full cycle at the helm and ranked just 30th nationally. Four of the six draft- ees from that class, plus Valdes-Scantling in the 2013 class, were listed as run-of-the-mill three-star prospects by Rivals.com. Draft headliner Bradley Chubb, the No. 5 overall choice by the Denver Broncos; defensive tackle B.J. Hill, the fifth pick in the third round by the New York Giants; and Val- des-Scantling, a fifth-rounder; were each unranked three-stars. Chubb was not listed among the best 35 weakside defensive ends nationally or the top 75 prospects in Geor- gia, while Hill was left out of the 45 defen- sive tackles ranked across the land and the 30 North Carolinians listed in the Rivals. com rankings. Jaylen Samuels may have been the No. 2 fullback nationally, but both he and Will Richardson barely made the cut, checking in as the No. 20 and 23 prep seniors in North Carolina, respectively. With that 2014 class mostly seniors this past fall, the Pack went 9-4 and were ranked in the final Associated Press poll (No. 23) for just the 12th time since 1936 and the first time since 2010. The team's six ACC victories tied a school record, which had been done only five other times in program annals (most recently 1994). Although there are still some possible draft picks who will suit up in the red and white for a fifth season in 2018 — most no- tably linebacker Germaine Pratt and three returning starters among the offensive line — the four-year record of the just-gradu- ated senior class sat at 31-21. That may not sound too impressive at first blush, but that marked the program's most wins in a four-year period since the 31 from 2002-05 and was not far behind the program record of 34. Couple that with the draft results — ty- ing the school record with six choices in the first 129 picks alone — and there's a clear argument that Doeren unearthed enough hidden gems to qualify the group as the Pack's best signing class ever, a goal the crew established as soon as it arrived in Raleigh. "Coming in that freshman year, we felt like we were the best recruiting class to ever step through at NC State," defensive end Kentavius Street said in January. "With the events that are about to take place this spring, we are going to show the evidence that we were that talented. "We weren't able to show that much this season with the little bit of underachieve- ment we had, but I do feel like we were the best recruiting class that came through here." The Headliner When Chubb went fifth overall to the Broncos, he became the Wolfpack's first first-round draft pick since 2006, when Mario Williams went first overall and was joined in the opening round by linemates Manny Lawson (22nd) and John McCargo (26th). Chubb became the Pack's eighth top- 10 NFL Draft pick and 16th first-round choice, and though he lasted longer than most had thought going in — almost every- body had projected him to the Cleveland Browns at No. 4 — he landed in a much better situation than originally predicted. In Denver's 3-4 alignment, he'll play outside linebacker and learn from one of the best in Von Miller, who has earned first- or second-team All-Pro honors in six of his seven professional seasons (the exception was 2013, when an injury limited him to nine games). Miller famously said before the draft that Chubb was like, "Khalil Mack and Von Miller put together," referencing himself and the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year who has tallied 36.5 sacks over the last three seasons for the Oakland Raiders. Miller added that Chubb would be a "steal" at No. 5, not expecting the consen- sus All-American to be available when his team drafted — and he wasn't alone. General manager John Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback, didn't think Chubb would fall past the Browns either. When it came their turn to pick and Chubb was on the board, Elway backed out of a trade he had in place with the Buffalo Bills and rushed a card to the podium with Chubb's name on it, despite the club talking to the prospect just once in the pre-draft process. "We didn't trade because Bradley was there," Elway said. "We did have some options, but we thought with Bradley falling to us, that was our best op- tion. … We really didn't want to pass on him, so we didn't." The immediate analy- sis of the pick was near- unanimous — unheard of during the NFL Draft — the Broncos got who most experts deemed the second-best player avail- able at No. 5. "He may be the most complete defensive end to come out in recent memory," ESPN expert Mel Kiper Jr. said. NFL Network's Charley Casserly chose Chubb as his day-one pick to make the big- gest impact as a rookie, a thought echoed by co-worker Mike Mayock, who predicted Chubb would have a similar rookie season to the Chargers' Joey Bosa, who notched 10.5 sacks in 12 games in 2016. CBS Sports' Pete Prisco, Bleacher Re- port's Matt Miller and Chris Simms, and NFL Network's Bucky Brooks all awarded the pick an A-plus. "He is a phenomenal football player," Simms said. "He was one of the safest picks in the whole draft. At the very least, you're getting a guy that goes to the Pro Bowl a few times and starts on your de- fense for the next 10 years. He's got it all." Despite all the praise, Miller was the most ecstatic, posting a video — which later went viral — on Snapchat of him jumping around and screaming as the pick was announced, overjoyed to have the draft's best pass rusher on his defense. The Rest Of The D-Line Draftees Since the start of the season, the defen- sive line had to deal with comparisons to the 2005 front that produced the trio of 2006 first-rounders. With all four starters going among the first 128 picks this year to become the school's first-ever position group with four draftees in a single year, there's at least one metric that indicates the 2017 line was better. Hill was the second to come off the board, going to the New York Giants at No. 69 overall. Although there was no video evidence like Miller, Giants general man- ager David Gettleman seemed as giddy about landing Hill, who he said the team graded as a second-round pick. "He's an inside power-broker defensive tackle," Gettleman noted. "He's instinctive. He's smart. B.J. is a powerful and tough son of a gun." NC State Signees In The 2018 NFL Draft Rivals.com Recruiting Rankings Name Stars Nat. State Pos. Pick (Round) Team Bradley Chubb 3 — — (Ga.) — (WDE) 5 (1st) Denver B.J. Hill 3 — — (NC) — (DT) 69 (3rd) N.Y. Giants Justin Jones 4 241 20 (Ga.) 14 (SDE) 84 (3rd) L.A. Chargers Nyheim Hines 4 94 3 (NC) 2 (APRB) 104 (4th) Indianapolis Kentavius Street 4 43 2 (NC) 4 (SDE) 128 (4th) San Francisco Will Richardson 3 — 23 (NC) 61 (OT) 129 (4th) Jacksonville Jaylen Samuels 3 — 20 (NC) 2 (FB) 165 (5th) Pittsburgh Marquez Valdes-Scantling* 3 — — (Fla.) — (WR) 174 (5th) Green Bay * Played first two years at NC State before finishing at South Florida