2024 NC State Preview | Fall Camp News & Updates | Ohio State, Texas, Arizona and More

number 26 NC State preview plus news and notes from across the country on good morning college football hello and welcome to episode 76 of good morning college football from campus canton.com I am Nicholas Allen of CFB Edge thank you so much for joining us today thank you for giving this video a like thank you also for subscribing to the campus to Canton YouTube channel where you get access to this show three times a week as well as a wide range of content from the good Folks at campus to Canton cover college football in general best ball drafts uh the uh College fantasy football and and uh deie version of the game as well as uh just tons of information to get you ready for the college football season campus to Camp live uh lots of great stuff uh from campus to Canton so um do of course please check out other videos here on the feed also we very much would appreciate if you would consider becoming a member at campus canton.com you can join for as little as $299 per month get access to a ton of written content tools rankings for all those different versions of College fantasy football C2C Debbie uh the draft tool is excellent I see it used in leagues that I'm in and and uh it's great for the greater college football uh and college fantasy football Community but uh it it in some instances maybe makes things a little too easy so uh that's uh available to all of our uh nil members the the draft tool at campus de canton.com the best ball rankings for the underdog uh best ball drafts that are up and running those are available to all the levels starting at 299 but if you want access to a lot of the information that we discuss here in our team previews our team profiles our returning production database our stat projections all from CFB Winning Edge those are available to our C2C Winning Edge and all 22 tier members so uh today we will be discussing the number 26 team in our preseason CFB Winning Edge team strength power rankings the NC State wolf pack but before that we are going to get into some fall Camp news and uh we are shifting our Focus just a little bit or at least um changing up you know how much emphasis we put on uh fall Camp news versus the the team previews for the most part as we preview very indepth the last 25 shows or so um we have spent the vast majority if not the entire time of our good morning college football uh episodes on those team previews and they would be you know 35 45 or or more minutes uh now as fall camps are open across the country just about everybody in uh college football has hit the field for uh at least Le day one of the 2024 season the the prep the 30 days or so leading up to that first game we're going to see and and have to discuss more uh you know news items as they come across so on our most recent episode when we discussed number 25 Utah it was the first you know 20 25 minutes or so was spent for fall Camp news don't be surprised if in this episode or in others to follow that stretch is into you know the first 30 minutes or so so if you're here only for Inc State uh do keep that in mind but hopefully we'll find some information to pass along that will be valuable to everyone uh as you're looking ahead to the 20124 college football season which begins in just 22 days um week zero kicks off in a little over three weeks uh from while we're recording uh Friday morning August second so with that in mind let's talk a little bit about Ohio State which hit the field for uh day one of its spring practice in Columbus on Thursday Dan hope and Andy Anders of 11 warriors uh put together several great pieces recapping the day which uh was available to both media members and fans who paid for attendance uh to that practice on Thursday uh reporters were allowed to watch the entire practice which as we discussed a little bit uh in our last episode and and have before somewhat rare especially uh you know as we get a little closer to the season that certainly won't be allowed just about anywhere but at least as far as day one goes Ohio State open the doors to everyone and uh the uh there are four practices in uh Columbus this fall that will be open to paying fans um so Jeremiah Smith The Freshman wide receiver of course was generating a lot of hype this spring he's already taking reps with the number one wide receiver unit and did have some good moments in uh day one of fall camp but it was Carnell Tate who was really the star of the show according to Anders and hope uh also some similar uh thoughts put forth by Cameron te Robinson of the athletic um but Tate according to 11 Warriors here quote looked as good as any player on the field on Thursday as he made several impressive catches throughout the day including one leaping grab where he skyed over a defensive back to snag the ball on a high throw to the sideline from will Howard other players mentioned as standouts among the wide receiver group included Smith Brandon Enis Cojo anwe and a walk-on freshman walk- on Dorian Williams was also mentioned uh by 11 Warriors is is uh impressing in day one uh the quarterback position of course the competition between will Howard and Devin Brown is ongo according to Hope and Anders there were quote no standouts at quarterback and uh quote each Buckeye signal caller showed some inefficiencies intermixed with some good play uh Devin Brown showed the most consistency according to this pair um though they also said he didn't have any highlight re moments uh but both he and Howard uh flexed their running ability during drills and and uh certain periods in the practice uh Reports say that Julian Salin or excuse me saying the true freshman uh may have had the best overall throw of the day but also as a true freshman expectedly um had some freshman moments including uh multiple fumbled snaps according to those reporters for 11 warriors uh Cameron teag Robinson of the athletic said that quote day head coach Ryan Day said he plans to run split field sessions for the first four practices of Camp before getting things rotated down more at quarterback so um the first week or so of spring practice probably not going to offer much Clarity I wouldn't be surprised if uh you know a starter is not named for a little bit but we will of course pass along any information as it comes to us uh but one thing that Robinson did not he said it's obvious that Howard is feeling more settled in the offense after spring and summer so most expect that will Howard the transfer from Kansas state is going to be uh the starter for the Buckeyes this season when they open against akan um but Devin Brown still still in the mix uh for Texas Joe of Texas Insider put together a depth chart uh how the Longhorns lined up at just about every position uh we focus primarily on the offensive side of the ball here to No One surprise Quinn ERS took the first snaps at quarterback with Arch Manning backing up at running back CJ Baxter and Jaden blue were first in line uh Trey whisner jerck Gibson and Christian Clark were in the second group at wide receiver the first uh you know the the the opening trio uh was jonte cook at the field wide receiver spot DeAndre Moore in the slot and Isaiah Bond the transfer from a uh Alabama uh starting at the boundary the second group in that same order we had Ryan Wingo Matthew golden and Silas Balon um and at tight end gunar Helm took the first snaps then Juan Davis and Amari NYL to follow so um the way that that those opening drills opening uh periods of practice for Texas lined up a little bit different than how our team profile uh depth chart projections are laid out um we will of course keep up with practice reports keep up with um who is is taking those number one WS uh excuse me reps and and make adjustments um but also uh this is the only area in our you know team profiles and our player uh ratings based projections uh where a little opinion comes in so I'm expecting there to be some movement with that Texas wide receiver uh group but I'm going to let of course uh the uh beat reporters who do such a great job covering these teams and the coaches you know who are uh putting out these groups on the practice field um going to let them guide It ultimately but as an example right now we do have Amari Black Pencil in as our starting uh tight end projected in our our Texas uh starting lineup and and depth chart projections but um if he continues to take third or second team snaps uh be second or third in the rotation at that group then going to have to move somebody else into that top spot um also you know with uh DeAndre Moore taking number one reps um that's something to you know consider uh because he's not currently listed as a starter the way that we do it but uh as far as who was standing out among that group it was Silas Balden the transfer from Oregon State uh this is practice one a couple of days ago that we're discussing here reportedly um including a post from Jeff how of horns 247 who highlighted Balden um as uh just making a couple of really eye catch you know eye popping plays some great catches how also noted that Matthew golden worked in the slot and outside so worked at at different uh positions Moore who he says uh ended spring practice as the number one slot receiver worked primarily outside on Wednesday so was first in line at the slot according to cook of Texas Insider um but how noted um you know did rotate and and actually played uh seemingly more on the outside uh in that first practice uh so you know not necessarily expecting these uh players to be locked into a certain uh role at least just yet at Arizona Wildcat Authority and Jason Shear passed along a lot of news and notes most of uh those of you out there are probably interested in an update on Tech McMillan the All-American maybe best receiver in college football uh who worked on the side according to reports in early practices this week uh according to sheer McMillan did some weak exercises with his foot and ankle that looked like they were working on flexibility and overall strength uh Brett Brennan the head coach of the Wildcats said after practice one quote uh that's in the hands of our medical staff strength and conditioning staff and our doctors they all have a very clear plan for him and he's making great progress we are very optimistic with how it looks uh continuing on and quoting here these pass along from shear said we'll always do what's best for the player I don't want to rush a player into playing those decisions are not coaching decisions ever those are medical decisions and player decisions family decisions so there's a little bit of growing concern that teet McMillan uh may not be you know fully available at the beginning of the season um but maybe maybe a little too early to panic uh but there was uh reporting on Thursday Michael Lev of uh the Arizona or tucson.com uh reported that McMillan did some 100 yard half Sprints and that quote there's no timetable for his return that particular phrasing is a little bit worrisome to me personally um I know that uh there have been some references from other folks uh in you know sort of discussing this Arizona situation uh to Rob gronowski and how he was severely limited by injury late in his career at Arizona and and then of course in the NFL um so hopefully uh McMillan's going to be back fully healthy um and we're going to get to see him you know put together an excellent Junior season and and potentially become one of the top wide receiver picks in next Spring's NFL draft but as of right now he's not uh not fully participating in practices according to reports uh some others were held out of uh early practice uh for Arizona wend Mo uh dealing with a lower leg injury according to shear uh tario Davis the allconference uh Corner um was also sideline Traden stooks Kevin Darton JT Han for undisclosed reasons um according to Shear none of those seem to be serious so hopefully they will be back and and fully healthy uh relatively quickly but one uh player is not going to be available for the 2024 season uh projected left tackle starter Raymond pedo uh undisclosed reasons as of yet but according to Brett Brennan not going to be fully healthy or excuse me not going to be available uh this season not sure if it's an injury issue or something else um one other two other notes from sheer uh Kian Bernett the tight end former High School uh teammate with McMillan and uh quarterback Noah faita uh if you're still waiting on Bernette to to break out at the college level uh maybe there's a little bit of Hope according to uh the day one practice report according to sheer Bernett looked like a completely different tight end quote his confidence level seems way up and faita said the same thing after practice uh last season Bernett knew he was only going to play so much but it feels like he has a new confidence because he's going to get a very real chance uh also uh you know this time of year players sometimes will drop off the roster like PLO perhaps uh some others will pop up maybe unexpected places linebacker Jared small who began his career at LSU last year had a pretty productive season at tan uh is now on the Arizona roster and expected to I I would think contribute at the linebacker position moving on at Louisville Matthew mcgavic of Louisville Cardinals on SII uh and this note has made the round certainly in cff circles there's 's a lot of uh interest in who's going to emerge as the top Target in that Louisville offense um and according to mavich who uh noting here uh the first 11 on 11 period of day one for the cards uh reading here from the piece said Tyler shuck was in a quarterback obviously with Maurice Turner getting the first reps at running back Colin Lacy jakori Brooks and Chris Bell were the first receivers in later on he says an important note with the offensive skill position players Louisville rotated a lot it seemed that after every two or so snaps new guys circled in the first 11 on 11 is where the offense had their most success on the day and this is the the key piece that people are uh latching on to quoting from uh mavich here shuck and Brooks are seemingly developing a close Bond as the latter had a couple of good plays during this period and it appears Brooks is emerging as Shucks go to uh Target so Lacy put up the huge numbers at South Alabama um so early on in the the preseason a lot of expectations that he was going to be um maybe able to to carry over that success into being that wide receiver one for Louisville most recently Bell has gotten the most buzz and in some offseason discussions and previews um and in practice one it's Brooks that uh is is getting getting the most action if you remember this time last year took a little while uh for everything to to work itself out so maybe don't jump on uh Brooks just yet but um it's always good to to take note of who's getting a lot of uh action with the first team quarterback early in spring camp so uh do with that what you will from a fantasy perspective at BYU some unfortunate news Jay Drew of uh Deseret News uh there covering the Cougars had a couple of injury updates linebacker Ben Bywater unfortunately is medically retiring there have been a handful of medical retirements across the country that we do make note of in our team profiles um Bywater so far has been the most impactful player to uh retire from football uh in the last few days that that we've seen But there are others that uh will will uh continue to be updated as as we get that information Drew also reported that running back LJ Martin quote is not participating in contact drills and quite likely will not be available to play in BYU's first three or four games um so Martin apparently was not made available to reporters which Drew said's usually a sign that there's some sort of injury uh that that they're dealing with uh Kanani sataki the head coach was quoted as saying LJ was out there yeah he was practicing we are rotating quite a bit with him and Miles about Miles Davis uh we want to see what uh a few of the other uh players can do as well um Drew mentioned that Hinkley Rapa uh the senior who missed all of 2023 with a knee injury was the primary ball carrier in the team session that was taking place uh when reporters were available there he's also able to break off some long runs um but uh poty said he got a lot of work because quote and this is from Drew passing this along LJ is recovering right now and so we would love to have those guys back but we got to make sure those guys are fully back there is no need to put pounding on those guys and taxing their bodies and stuff like that as long as we get them back healthy for the season that's the important thing so a little bit vague uh you know quote from his teammate there but um J Drew who does an excellent job covering BYU um which does generally give pretty good access um noting that LJ Martin may not be available for as much as the first month of the season so do keep that in mind um and uh at Houston Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle noted that quarterback Donovan Smith who was held out for uh the majority of the spring he had a shoulder surgery over the off season uh DTE said quote showed some zip on the ball throughout practice uh head coach Willie Fritz was quoted as saying uh this was good for him to get out there he didn't get reps like this in Spring ball that was the first time he did real live seven on seven I was very impressed with him Duarte pointed out a true freshman who's getting some uh uh Buzz and and making some noise in early fall Camp practices he says buy stock and freshman Kobe young the fourstar sige from New Orleans DTE reading here from the piece says young made several nice plays including a diving catch as Smith lost lofted a pass to the left corner of the inzone fritz quoted here in the pie said I thought he had some really nice catches for us Fritz also was quoted uh when asked about younger players seeing early playing time uh quote if they are good enough to play for us this year they'll play this year we'll play guys um also uh Fritz singled out Stefan John son uh who had some success in one-on-one drills uh as a performer you know in in early practices few other quick notes before we move on to NC State UTSA announced that linebacker Martavius French who is a starter has been suspended from All Team activities due to allegations of personal misconduct we haven't moved French uh from our uh dep chart projections just yet want to see how that fully plays out or you know if he's going to be uh maybe dismissed or or uh if there's going to be a length of suspension the way his rating works it doesn't really affect uh things if we were to remove him and and add someone else uh to the starting lineup so uh that's partly why we're while we're waiting uh a few injury updates from elsewhere across the country at Virginia there are a couple of uh likely contributors on the defensive side of the ball who are uh going to be out for year um at Maryland a potential starting offensive lineman is going to be out for the year at Georgia little bit banged up on the defensive line including uh projected starter and and potential uh contributor so couple things to watch there for uh the uh you know National Championship contending uh Bulldogs Nathan geese of the lck Avalanche Journal reported that two Texas Tech projected offensive line starters have Mis practiced and Rec headlined uh with lower body injuries um following up a note from Wednesday where we we discussed uh practice one at Wake Forest and Cameron lebans de bro of demon Deacon digest noted that Michael Kern was taking first team reps well in the following practice on Thursday I believe or maybe it was actually Wednesday the day that we um recorded said that Bach Meer got quote all the work with the ones um actually that was Tuesday so we had reported it or or you know passed along the report um that was a little bit out of date so apologies there but it sounds like at Wake Forest uh both of those players are are going to get some first team reps uh this fall before things really shake out and then um one other uh note that not necessarily specific to uh the team that he covers but Stephen IO of uh Hoist the Colors which is an East Carolina site on the 247 Sports Network um passed along just you know or put together something that um makes me think a little bit more about how is college football actually going to change on the field this year there's a lot of discussion of course uh about the communication uh between coaches and players on the field now with the the headsets in the helmets um but also some of the rules were changed so that practices could be held during the summer and I go uh talking to uh head coach uh Houston at at East Carolina um in his day one sort of uh press conference afterwards um passing along here he said quote with the rules the way they were we practice all summer we were on the field two days a week in June three days a week in July we're allowed two hours a week with a ball if coaches are out there the kids can get out there on their own also we have practice all summer offens ly and defensively we've installed the schemes multiple times now uh this is just another install we started over today today was install one for the offense install one and two for the defense and then uh progress on so uh just something anytime I see a little bit of a uh you know more indepth discussion on something like this it it piques my interest just a little bit um and it might not sound like much on paper you know an hour or two couple of days a week um but and and the fact that they're installing for a second or third time you know that that certainly takes time but I do wonder if those practices from the summer um help sort of speed up the install process and and maybe you know early on in week one we talk about or you know week one of practices but in week one games as well you know you hear oh yeah it's a little sloppy and the defense is ahead of the offense and and all that and the defense is going to have these extra practice too but I don't know I I wonder if the uh communication and the additional practice um is going to help sort of speed up the install process early on in the season so maybe these offenses are clicking a little bit earlier um also you know for a long time you think of uh freshmen who didn't enroll early maybe were a bit behind or transfers that didn't show up until the summer we're a bit behind I think these practices kind of help um get those guys acclimated acclimated quicker than ever potentially so um I don't know curious to see not sure it's going to be a a huge difference maker one way or the other um but just another example of how things are changing a little bit and and there could potentially be some impacts to how that carries over onto the field once the games kick off so uh that is our fall Camp news recap updates uh piece and we're going to shift Focus now to discuss NC State and the Wolf Pack have a posted regular season win total of eight and a half uh according to DraftKings this morning uh according to the odds makers there in the market uh NC State is 22nd in uh odds to win the national championship 130 to one uh were those odds as of this morning uh NC State tied uh with 20 or excuse me tied at at 24th best odds to make the college football playoff at 5 to1 and the Wolf Packer fifth to win the ACC at at uh plus 700 or 7 to1 behind Florida State Clemson Miami and Louisville but NC State little bit of a trendy ACC championship ship Peak excuse me little bit of a trendy ACC Championship pick uh I've seen you know some national media Outlets uh kind of expecting NC State to make a run maybe in what looks like a fairly open uh ACC title race there's no dominant team uh even though Florida State coming back is the preseason favorite according to the media um because you know certainly lost some key pieces uh from last year's team as we discussed in length earlier in our preview series uh they're not an overwhelming favorite Clemson is is definitely in the mix Miami looking better Louisville we discussed SMU in North Carolina who our projections are higher on than most um so there are a lot of teams that could contend and NC State I think is is pretty well positioned in part because you know Dave Dorne and his coaching staff really revamped the roster on the offensive side of the ball specifically we should see that unit take a big step forward NC State was a top 20 defense last season and though there are certainly some key pieces that they'll have to replace um probably are going to be able to to play uh you would expect a similar level of Defense moving forward um but uh the expectations are are you know there's a little bit of a range there for the wolf pack this season other uh you know preseason projection models and and power ratings uh also National media Outlets um that have uh you know particular analysts due preseason or you know certain points in the off season post spring and and post spring portal uh rankings um they go as high as 13th Mark laal of espn.com had the Wolfpack 13th in his uh Power Rankings at the end of spring practice Andy Staples of on three had NC State at number 16 Stuart Mandel of the athletic has NC State 21st uh the Wolfpack also 21st in the EA Sports college football 25 Power Rankings um and number 24 at the Sporting News number 25 with Athlon sport so all of those are more of the um you know opinion based analyst uh who who's taking a look at all the context and a big piece of it uh is Improvement on the offensive side of the ball a lot of those folks mentioned that but also a very manageable schedule which we'll dig into as well on the computer side of things and obviously we have NC State as number 26 that's uh right along with beta rank also have the Wolfpack 26 ESPN's football power index has NC State at number 28 as does Kelly Ford and the K Ford ratings and then SP plus the SPN and Bill Connelly's uh projection model on the low end but but not a major outlier with NC State 29th so um a lot of reason for the optimism specifically is the schedule and Nate has a you know tough neutral uh site matchup with Tennessee in Charlotte also plays Clemson on the road early on but um very importantly a lot of the you know teams with the highest expectations in the ACC this season including Florida State Miami Louisville um and Virginia Tech are not on the schedule for the wolf pack so uh let's take a look at how last season came together for NC State going to share my screen and pull up our CFB Winning Edge team profiles so MC state number 26 as you can see in our overall team strength power rankings uh in the middle of the page here once you go under all the roster and talent info we have our schedule section with the uh projections our three different projection models and a lot of the the numbers that we use that go into those but down at the very bottom 2023 results for the wolf pack of course finished nine and four 6-2 in the ACC very impressive overall uh great back half of the regular season with a five-game winning streak and mostly dominant uh you know performance down the stretch um early on NC State for the most part with the exception of of being able to get past Virginia when the postgame win expectancy number was 24% according to college football data.com so if you to replay that game a 100 a thousand however many times and have the same Advanced box score the same numbers at the end of the game uh you would have expected the Wolfpack to lose that game about three out of four times uh nevertheless found a way to win that one otherwise in the the first half of the season games basically went according to what the box score um would have suggested 98% against Yukon 0% against Notre Dame 100% against BMI the FCS opponent then Virginia we mentioned close game against Louisville 13-10 but the postgame numbers show that Louisville uh outplayed NC State significantly in that matchup get back on the right track with Marshall again close final score but the numbers overwhelmingly in NC State's favor and then Duke uh you know deservedly uh beat NC State there but Clemson 81% very impressive 97% against Miami very impressive and then 100% 99 and 99 against I mean this is the toughest portion of the schedule in a very difficult um stretch for NC State I mean if if this was the schedule this year we'd say yeah they're probably going to be an underdog against Notre Dame uh that Louisville game probably going to be a tossup they'll be favored everywhere else if they get to four and three you know that that would be uh maybe a little bit disappointing but within the realm of possibility and then the schedule really gets tough uh didn't matter last season for NC State they really turned it on in in the second half of the season in the bowl game ran into Avery Johnson and Kansas State uh and you know only would have won that game 27% of the time according to the postgame numbers but for the most part the one loss record pretty much lined up this NC State team wasn't overly lucky or unlucky wasn't overly out coached or or you know didn't necessarily uh pull a rabbit of the Hat uh several times unexpectedly to win games that maybe you wouldn't uh expect based on those postgame numbers so uh for the most part things went according to plan and especially with that impressive second half of the regular season um overall a very very successful campaign for NC State especially when you dig into some of the numbers where there was a lot of area for improvement on the offensive side of the ball and these stats are are some of the key uh numbers that go into our team performance ratings where we look at only Advanced statistics to give a grade on how well a team performed on the field um NY state was 35th in overall team performance 17th on defense but 83rd offensively and as you can see uh you know stat by stat here at some of our favorites against FBS opponents only in the regular season only NC State ranked 72nd in scoring offense 99th in yards per play 81st in points per Drive according to Brian foro of BCF toys.com and those numbers are adjusted for garbage time uh there were 93rd in yards per pass attempt 97th in success rate and 91st in the EPA per play equivalent that we use from college football data.com they call it PPA um but uh you know the the best of those numbers uh were outside you know less excuse me worse than FBS average um defensively a much different story scoring uh defense top 25 in the country 21st in points per Drive 15th in EPA or PPA per play uh outside the top 30 but you know not bad in either yards cap pass attempt or success rate the biggest area potentially for improvement is yards per play allow but on net you know this team was uh um somewhat mediocre quite honestly 52nd in scoring margin 80th in net yards per play actually ended up under uh you know below zero in in that number with a negative yards per play on net uh net points per Drive 52nd nationally 69th and yards per pass attempt on net again below zero there uh 61% in net success rate 4 seven in EPA margin so uh you know the the game by game uh results went mostly according to plan and and NC State played its best against its you know toughest portion of the schedule but if you really dig into the numbers a lot of areas for improvement especially on the offensive side of the ball and fortunately as you can see here in our projected offensive depth chart a lot of incoming transfers that blue indicates uh players on the offensive side of the ball expected to make some immediate impacts um but before we fully move ahead to this year's projections let's take a quick look at our returning production database also from CFB Winning Edge where you can sign up at campus toon.com as a C2C Winning Edge or all 22 tier member uh but last season passing offense and and there was a little bit of uh you know the the quarterback situation wasn't um super steady MJ Morris and Brenan Armstrong both uh made starts Morris ended up uh preserving a red shirt year before transferring to Maryland uh bringing in Grayson McCall who his you know himself didn't play a full season uh but overall better numbers than either Armstrong or Morris uh completed more than two-thirds of his passes uh a little bit short of 2,000 yards but 8.6 yards per pass attempt definitely a step in the right direction 10 touchdowns six interceptions um not the greatest season from Mall you know it's been two or three years since we saw McCall at his best at Coastal Carolina but hopefully we'll get a fully healthy season which we haven't seen in two seasons um and McCall will get back and and you know help this Inc State offense uh at uh the the rushing offense was a major major issue uh Armstrong actually led the wolf pack with 665 yard and seven touchdowns All-American true freshman Kevin concepion was actually the leading rusher among non quarterbacks uh which isn't great and your top running back uh last season Kendrick Raphael 311 yards in in a touchdown U not surprisingly especially after uh running backs Delbert Mims III Michael Allen and Jordan Houston All transferred out not a surprise that Jordan Waters was a priority incoming transfer at Duke he had over 800 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground so hopefully he will solidify that position and and uh be able to uh you know really boost the rushing numbers as a whole here for the wolf pack mentioned concepion who just had an incredible true freshman season led the team with over 100 targets 71 catches 839 yards and 10 touchdowns the the you know honestly the the one good thing that NC State really did on offense last season was find ways to get concep on the football um hopefully that will continue but much like the running back room wide receiver uh you know with some incoming and tight end as well with some incoming talent and experience and production hopefully be in a position to put up better numbers on the hold Justin Jolly at Yukon uh was a receiving weapon he seems like a perfect fit for offensive coordinator Robert Denai and the way that he utilizes that position Wesley Grimes has uh been on the the cusp of a breakout for a while would have been uh the uh second leading receiver in terms of yards for NC State last season and touchdowns 339 yards and four scores um over 17 or at right at 17 yards per catch and 16.3 yards average depth of Target um shows that Grimes can really stretch the field that should be valuable darari Collins coming back um some others in the mix as well but uh the addition of jolly and Grimes hopefully take a little bit of pressure off of concepion and will help him continue to make you know big plays and and consistent uh at consistent production for this NC State offense three full-time starters return uh jakarius Peak was a little bit of a a part-time starter mostly at right tackle they bring in Zeke Carell from uh Notre Dame he is you multi-game or excuse me double digit uh starter so um pretty solid group there returning uh despite losing Dylan McMahon an 11 game starter Derek gon started five games lynon Cooper transferring out after starting five games so NC State on the offensive side of the ball when you take into account transfers coming in ranks 59th in our adjusted offensive uh returning production numbers if we were just talking raw returning production just who's coming back who's not from last year the wolf pack would have been 91st defensively the numbers very similar 68th in adjusted defensive returning production would have been 65th in raw uh terms last season the loss of pton Wilson is huge 140 tackles last Season 22 pressures 17 and a half tackles for loss six sacks three picks uh just U just an incredible linebacker one of the best in the country also lost Jaylen Scott a fellow uh starting linebacker who had you know the second most tackles uh from last year's unit shahe battle Corner um saon Jackson on the defensive line so key pieces of last season's defense moving on uh at all three levels but a lot of experience returns three of the top five tacklers uh five of the top nine coming back so decent uh building blocks there the additions of a couple of uh experienced you know players in the secondary KJ Martin uh Donovan Kaufman could be certainly key to rebuilding that unit uh the secondary was seemingly the biggest priority in the transfer portal for NC State but getting back to our team profiles and how this team Stacks up again looking at uh the the recruiting numbers how the different recruiting sites uh and and their average player rating at each position shake out um the wide receiver room is is certainly amazing Maj strength in terms of just the Raw Talent on hand and usually when I say Raw Talent I'm referring to those average 247 uh Sports composite ratings where NC state ranks 15th uh the rivals ratings even a little bit better they're top 12 nationally when we adjust for experience and and career production that number takes a little bit of uh falls down just a little bit down the line 45th nationally but you know with concepion one of the best players uh in the country and and you know more around him this season um seems like we're a little bit low maybe in those position strength ratings again adjusted for experience in production the quarterback position kind of the opposite Grace McCall wasn't a highly rated player coming out of high school but has a ton of experience put up a lot of production at Coastal Carolina so he's 13th in terms of quarterback starters in our individual player ratings or video game ratings as we call them they're not exactly the same but set up quite similarly to uh the EA Sports college football 25 ratings um top 15 in position strength at the quarterback position tight end position in very good hands based on experience and production with jolly coming in the offensive line looks good top 30 in position strength 32nd in that Raw Talent number so 49th in average uh 247 rating on the offensive side of the ball but 16th when we adjust for uh experience and production and that's you know right there in line with our roster strength numbers um but if we were just to take those those average position strength ratings so it's a little bit of a different rating um but there this is a a team that can uh you know has improved upon just its raw talent profile uh because it's brought in a lot of experienced players who've been productive in the past on the offense that hopefully will will pay off to uh better numbers overall the defense uh is is right there among the top 30 uh nationally in terms of average uh recruiting ratings across the board a little less experience the linebacker core um you know losing Wilson that that certainly took uh that uh average rating down quite a bit 93rd overall 17th in the ACC but I expect that uh with experience you know those those NC State linebackers got a pretty pretty good uh track record of success at that position wouldn't surprise me at all if if uh they were able to rise in those rankings fairly soon uh and then you know maybe the the you know the the front end top 10 defensive line in position strength top 20 uh in the secondary so as long as that you know linebacker core uh improves they should be in pretty good shape on on both the front end and the back end and and it should I think uh carry into a very competitive season overall quick look at the uh depth chart projections on the offensive side of the ball you know those transfers coming in McCall Waters Grimes and jolly expect they all will have an impact Noah Rogers also a transfer coming in from Ohio State didn't play much with the Buckeyes but um you know a lot of rave reviews he certainly could challenge for a starting position uh hearing some you know good things about true freshman uh Terell Anderson but also um the uh incoming Tre excuse me freshman uh Christian Zachary and and Kenan Jackson as well uh so that NC State unit should um you know be improved overall again uh with with uh incoming transfers solid recruiting class um and some experience returning especially on the offensive line feel like that unit has a chance to be you know not just Improv Pro to FBS average but maybe uh become a top 40 maybe even push into the top 25 type offense and if they do this ncate team absolutely I think is going to be competing for an ACC Championship defensively Aiden white is the star at corner getting him back is key uh getting Devin boyin back in healthy uh will be a big boost that uh added experience through the transfer portal in the secondary uh should be good as well um but Devon van you know huge level of production last season should really help solidify that defensive line there is experience at the linebacker Corp I probably misspoke earlier but the loss of Wilson is just so big I he was way over a 100 rated player our numbers don't stop at 99 like the uh EA Sports video game they go into the 100s and uh like Van Wilson was was way up there as far as individual player rating so uh Betty and brown those guys coming back played a lot but just not quite as productive as Wilson was and that had an impact um so how does it shake out as far as the game by game projections we mentioned that the oddsmakers have the regular season win total of eight and a half getting to nine wins absolutely is a reasonable goal and I think a fair expectation um and our projections really like Inc state have the wolf pack favored in nine regular season games the three in which they aren't to Tennessee Clemson and North Carolina all within a touchdown so all within Striking Distance the problem is at least the way that we project it because we add up those uh or you know convert those projected point spreads to a projected win percentage like we were talking second order wins earlier add up all those percentage uh percentages of a win so give Inc State you know 0. N5 wins for that week one game against Western Carolina 46 wins in that coin flip match up against Tennessee 094 for Louisiana Tech go on and on that's how we get to 8.03 so there are some games you know certainly every matchup here is winnable for NC State a 12-0 regular season is is certainly within the realm of possibility I think uh but there are um enough matchups that are just uh Within Reach for the opponents you know 57 % at Cal that's a game you you would expect NC State to be able to beat Cal they're going to have a talent Edge uh you know the defense probably matches up very well I think but it's a long way out there it's a new opponent and Cal maybe uh you know could could surprise a little bit so that game probably projected a little closer than most might expect and that draws down the win percentage a little bit similar for Georgia Tech another road trip uh Georgia Tech one of the most experienced offenses in the country should be I think one of the more exciting offenses in the ACC this season so that game uh you know maybe projected a little closer than you might expect with NC State only favored by about a field goal even the ones where they're double digit favorites Wake Forest Stanford Duke uh you get into those win projections being more s Point uh you know 658 um those are are just not guaranteed and and so that drags down the number just a little bit we do have this is our traditional way of projecting win totals we've done it since uh I mean we've we've done it this way since 2020 but then we've started tracking how do we compare against the odds makers every season since 2021 we've got a 60.4% success rate um we've been better than 55% every season so I feel good about that for the most part but if we were to uh try a something new that we're testing this year a win total projection um where we're trying to improve a little bit on the extremes because we're basically going to be under every uh wind total on the very high end we're going to be over every wind total on the very low end so I it's not elegant but um we're we're doing a a test this season based on how many games each uh uh team is a projected favorite NC State being a favorite in nine games and an underdog in three if we do a 10% bonus for each of those add you know 10 uh wins for each game in which a team is a a favorite and subtract uh 10 for each and which they're an underdog that would get a plus6 for NC State so our new projected win total would be over the 8 and a half at 8.6 so we're officially under this season for the wolf pack I you know that that doesn't have anything to do with my opinion personally I think NC State really is poised uh to to be a nine- win team um but so if we if we adjust it in our in our new sort of test uh win total projection we would be on the over but for official recordkeeping purposes this season uh we are technically on the under and and it could happen that way I mean this this C State team I think the path is there to nine or more wins the path is there to an ACC Championship Game appearance maybe even win the league but also you know there there are some uh matchups that maybe are a little bit more difficult maybe a couple of trouble spots where NC State could end up losing a game or two U that you wouldn't expect get you know uh upset uh once or twice uh especially if you know Grayson McCall has some more injury issues like he has the last couple of years um if the the offense just doesn't quite improve to the level that we expect um there certainly are some areas where this Wolfpack team could uh just just kind of um not realize maybe its full potential not fully break through to that Championship level but um we shall see and uh that today is going to do it for us for our NC State preview thank you for joining us uh thank you for sticking with us during that you know 25 minutes or so of fall cam news if you were just here for the NC State preview um that's going to be more of the norm moving forward so if you join us on Monday we will have a preview we'll try to uh make sure that that uh we don't uh rush through it too much but as more and more fall Camp news comes out injury reports depth chart information all that good stuff uh we want to pass along the most important pieces of that as well so uh you can always keep track of uh any updates that we do based on that news and and uh you know a lot that we don't even discuss here uh we're in there looking for projected offensive lines we're looking for you know injuries to backups and and all that sort of stuff where we just don't have time to discuss it today if you want to see how all that plays out our team profiles at CFB Winning Edge are the best place uh to do so so if you want access to those as well as our uh returning production database which we showed here our stat projections which are available as well should come in handy for your cff leagues that are drafting now DFS in the future those best ball leagues at Underdog um we have uh you know a little bit different way of looking at it where we fully you know try to remove opinion as much as possible take a look at the last three seasons uh based on numbers only for uh the team the head coach and the offensive uh play caller and you know don't mess with it too much just sort of uh see what the numbers say and compare those to you know the campus deanton uh cfff rankings or or other projections that um you know have a little bit more context do take a little bit more opinion into it I think that you know neither is is a perfect way to do it it's it's I think good to get both perspectives and and then be able to analyze personally um you know where maybe you see things going but based on numbers only based on um some other Factor as well so if you haven't already we very much would appreciate you checking that out at campus ton.com as a C2C wining Edge or all 22 tier member but you can also of course subscribe for as little as299 per month to campus canton.com get access to content uh written on the site as well as tools and uh you know rankings for cff Debbie C2C um all of that great stuff and then of course uh if you haven't already please do like this video please do subscribe to the camp campus Canton YouTube channel where you get us three times a week as well as other uh great shows on the network so hope everyone has a a wonderful weekend and we will be back on Monday for good morning college football until then take care