Expectations are high this year for North Carolina State.
The Wolfpack are coming off a strong season, made significant offensive additions in the transfer portal and are following up a successful spring for the school, which saw their men’s and women’s basketball teams both make the Final Four and the baseball team land in the College World Series.
With an expanded College Football Playoff looming, many supporters of NC State hope that The Year of the Wolf continues. It all begins on Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C., when the No. 24 Wolfpack host FCS Western Carolina to kick off their season.
While the Wolfpack open with an FCS opponent, they’re doing their best to not overlook the Catamounts. Western Carolina is ranked No. 20 in the preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25.
“Just because they’re (from) a lower conference, they could still come in here and whoop us if they come in here with the right mindset,” NC State linebacker Devon Betty said.
Betty is one of the returners on a defense that ranked 24th in the nation in points allowed per game last season, giving up just 20.8. The leader of that defense, linebacker Payton Wilson — who won the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year award and the Bednarik and Butkus awards — is gone to the NFL.
Returning alongside Betty for the Wolfpack defense is linebacker Davin Vann and defensive end Red Hibbler, while Auburn transfer DK Kaufman provides a new punch at safety. Collectively, NC State will have to prove that it can make up for the loss of such an impactful player like Wilson.
“A lot of people think that because we lost Payton we lost our whole defense,” Vann said. “That’s definitely not the case.”
On offense, leading receiver Kevin Concepcion is back after hauling in 71 passes for 839 yards and 10 scores as a freshman, but the rest of the unit looks new and improved for NC State. At quarterback, the Wolfpack brought in Grayson McCall, who won the Sun Belt Player of the Year award three times at Coastal Carolina. He has 88 passing touchdowns and 18 rushing touchdowns on his resume.
And at running back, NC State lured Jordan Waters away from rival Duke, where he scored 20 rushing touchdowns and totaled 1,630 yards from scrimmage in the past two seasons. The Wolfpack also brought in Zeke Correll from Notre Dame and Val Erickson from Missouri, a pair of offensive linemen to pave paths for Waters and protect McCall. Former UConn tight end Justin Joly and Ohio State wideout Noah Rogers could provide a boost to the passing attack as well.
“The games bring out the truth,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said. “They’re really opportunities to see where you’re at. It’s not an indication of where you’re going to end up, by any means, but that first game tells you a lot.”
The Wolfpack are coming off a 9-4 season, the fourth time they’ve won that many games in Doeren’s previous 11 seasons as head coach.
Western Carolina is coming off a 7-4 campaign and is picked to finish third in the Southern Conference this season. The Catamounts return junior Cole Gonzales at quarterback after a season in which he won the SoCon Offensive Player of the Year award for throwing 28 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.
Western Carolina is adjusting to a new offensive coordinator after Kade Bell left for the same position at Pitt.
“Offensively, we just need to keep executing. Cole has had a great camp, our offensive line has had a great camp,” Western Carolina coach Kerwin Bell said. “We’ve got some great continuity.”
NC State is 7-0 all-time against the Catamounts. The Wolfpack prevailed 41-0 in 2019 in the most recent meeting.
