The Wolfpacker Show: NC State vs Western Carolina preview

hello everyone and welcome to the wolf Packer show my name is Ethan McDow I am here with Noah fman and we are here for our first game Day preview of the 2024 season it is officially game week in Raleigh um NC State kicks off its season on Thursday night at 7 pm against Western Carolina an FCS Squad that um you know has a explosive offense a um defense that gave up a good amount of points last year and lost a few key players so we're gonna break all everything to do with the catamounts down in this episode we're also going to talk about NC State's first depth chart and just what we want to see out of NC State in week one because realistically this should be an easy win for the wolf pack but there's still a lot you can take away from a game like this especially when it's in week one like it is um it's kind of a weird feeling though the past couple years um NC State started the season against ECU and Yukon and while folks went into those games expecting them to be blowouts they were both a little bit closer too close for comfort at times um this one shouldn't be this should be a blowout and um so we're going to focus on just what we want to see from this NC State roster from top to bottom um during Thursday night's Clash against the catamounts before we do that a quick housekeeping note is that we're both um riders for thewolfpacker.com that is NC State site on the on3 network the fastest growing college football basketball recruiting site out there and um right now there's no better place to prepare for NC States foot football season we've already posted several recruiting scoops on a few top 100 recruits that are going to be on campus for the Western Carolina game we have features on some of the key players that are going to be um you know new faces on the field this season all up on the wolfpack.com and we just published a detailed Scouting Report we're going to talk about Western Carolina on today's show but we took a deeper look into them in The Scouting Report that's up on thewolfpacker.com right now um right now you can get 50% off an annual subscription to the wolfpacker right now by going to thewolfpacker.com and using Code kickoff 24 and um that gets you 50% off a year that's a great deal and um it's really not going to get better than that this football season um that deal expires um tonight so you have the rest of today the rest of Tuesday to take advantage of that deal before it expires go check it out 50% off your first year at thewolfpacker.com Noah let's talk about some football man I know about you but um I I am very excited to be talking about an actual upcoming game um I think we've speculated about as much as we can speculate it is time to just dive in to what The Season's actually going to look like for the pack um let's start with the depth chart um so they put out the first official depth chart we you had um put together you know depth chart projections um you know through throughout the off season and um I think you you definitely got like an A in terms of of accuracy on this one but there were a few surprises on there um which one really jumped out to you when you were looking at the official dep chart yeah just Matt mccave I think moving at tight end obviously you know changing his number from 66 to 47 even though 66 Jersey will still be on the sideline most likely because he'll he's the backup at U either guard spot but you know I think that's the biggest thing he was battling for Anthony Carter at left guard didn't win the job but they said hey we've got a plan for you let's move you to tight end spot be a blocking tight end he came in number one on the depth chart of tight end which was interesting and they're going to use him as that big body guy similar to the de with Jar's Peak at the beginning of last season Isaiah Shirley was featured in that role last year he will be back in that role a little bit again this year as well they got two options there but I think that was the biggest everything else was pretty much as expected you know going into the season yeah as far as like the two deep goes um you know Devin boyin not on there yet um he's still recovering from ACL injury that's not a surprise if um you've listened to us this offseason um like there was speculation that he could be ready for the start of the year but um I mean he tore his or had some sort of ACL injury in um in late December so it's like of it makes perfect sense why he's not ready to play football again um you know August 29th but um they should get him back at some point this year and uh fortunately they have enough safety depth to withstand that so right now it'll be Bishop Fitzgerald at strong safety and DK Kaufman at free safety so that's not a surprise but um wor noteworthy nonetheless um DJ Jackson winning the backup nose tackle battle um he's someone that uh folks I don't think really expected to contribute after the spring but he showed up at fall camp and really impressed folks and earned that backup role and then um as far as the receivers go there's Four Freshman in the three deep so that's if if you know you're counting Noah Rogers of course is a freshman there because he has red shirt he's a red shirt freshman but then you have the Terell Anderson Jonathan Paylor and Keenan Jackson who could all see snaps um and should see snaps on Thursday at least so um I'd say those were my main takeaways man was there anything else um it's cool to see um Missouri transfer Val Erikson in the two deep um you know hadn't a ton about him this offseason so good to see that the uh SEC transfer is doing well for himself um you know establishing himself as Tim McKay's backup but um yeah no is there anything else um depth chart wise that you want to um really dig into today yeah I think it was you know mainly the other only other thing that we didn't really know was was there gonna be an or next to CJ Bailey and Lex Thomas there's not CJ Bailey is listed ahead um there's not many ores on the dep chart there's a couple there's one at corner right when you look at the back at Brandon Cay or Corey KY and you look at Devin Marshall or Jackson Vic then there's an nor Long Snapper which is an interesting thing they're replacing Joe Shmo who never recorded a bad snap in the eyes of ncy state's you know coaching staff they they kind of Grady of every snap that they have didn't have one five years is a starting Long Snapper won the melee award which goes for the best Long Snapper in college football last year he's gone he's he's working his way in the NFL trying to land and stick a spot there they tried to replace him they had a battle all Camp between Aiden Aras and Jake man no clear winner there's an ore next to those names interesting to see what they do could have like a medium Snapper and a Long Snapper medium Snapper one Snapper that's good at field goals and one Snapper that's good at punt um we'll see what happens I don't know what they'll do we'll keep an eye on that on Thursday night but that might be interesting for kateen nuner catch two different Snappers in the same game different spin of the ball might be interesting might be a little adjusting for him but we shall see otherwise everything else is good to go and and one note on DJ Jackson good to see him back healthy he's missed the last two years due to injury he's healthy he's on the two deep we will see him play Thursday night and I think it's a big thing the dline if you're only too deep on the D line they're playing they the amount of times they rotate this defensive line group you'll see you know six to eight guys throughout the game especially on Thursday night we'll see a ton but you know against Tennessee don't be surprised to see DJ Jack DJ Jackson out there for a few snaps every drive just to give Brandon Cleveland a break because he's goingon to be out there a lot this year yeah I mean look at the depth chart and they have eight defensive linemen listed and that's just that's not just like a courtesy like inclusion like I think there's a very real possibility you're seeing eight players in the defensive line rotation for NC State this year um and you know of course there's the starting three and then you have Noah Potter listed as Davin Vans backup red hibler um listed as um travali Price's backup and Isaiah Shirley in that right in spot as well Red's obviously going to be a pass rushing specialist so we'll see if um he's also just the primary backup or if you see Isaiah sherle then being the primary backup on you know downs one and two so we'll keep an eye on that but um it's a very deep unit very very deep um you mentioned the special team so and did just want to throw in that um you know now it's official that Hollywood Smothers is going to be the kick returner um he's an explosive athlete had a really really good scrimmage um you know last week was it or two weeks ago ago two two weeks ago so um he's someone that expectations are kind of rising for him so I was a huge fan of him coming out of high school cool to see it starting to work out for him at the college level but um yeah I think that's it for um like receiver wise man it's a deep team you mentioned the lack of ores I thought that was interesting because if you go back and look at last year's First Step chart it was everywhere there was so almost like every position it seemed like had an or somewhere seemed like things got way more sorted out this off season like the roles are defined and um but there's also just so many players that the packs comfortable playing um this season and um i' I'd say if you look at like the total number of names on the depth chart like you do have like a Jackson Vic in the um you know two deep three deep at um Corner he's someone that um we weren't sure if he was going to crack the depth chart Jaylen qu and Jonathan Paylor listed as the backups for inside receiver both of them are are there and then you have them three deep at at um left tackle with Rico Jackson and Daren rivers to retri freshman that are looking to establish a role so it's there there's a lot of Youth in like the backups and the third strings that um it's going to be exciting to see how they grow but then you're just comfortable with the graduates the seniors the red shirt juniors that is in the starting lineup so it's just a well constructed roster is really what pops out to me yeah it is and I think the last thing to note on this is one other part that they went four deep on is running back and Duke Scott made the two deep right you know last year Signing Day Dave Doran talked about if Duke Scott was on the 2023 roster he's playing he's playing during the season and it seems like he's playing the 2024 season as to being a Freshman on the on the two on the four deep if you want to put it listed fourth behind Jordan Waters Kendrick Rafael and Hollywood mothers but those two have an or next to each other too so we'll see where they go with that second back it's going to be a lot of running back by committee behind Jordan Waters I I feel like this year he's obviously be the main guy but behind him they've got a ton of talent all over the field we've talked about it all year finally on Thursday night we're gonna see a bunch of this talent because I imagine NC State is gonna balance snaps when we get into the fourth quarter perfect segue Noah let's talk about what we want to see Thursday night um going up against Western Carolina again in an ideal world for NC State this game's over after the first quarter backups are in Midway through the third at the latest so when you're watching the starting unit the first bit we get to see out of them um you know for however long that is what do you want to see out of the starting offense I want to see explosiveness I want to see a fast start and I want to see them settle in right um this is a team that's really explosive you talk about receivers Kevin concepion we know what he does but Noah Rogers his first actual Taste of playing at NC State Wesley Grimes doing the same thing Grayson mccole taking his first snaps under the lights in front of a pack that'll be fun too I just want to see them come out have a quick start that first drive is gonna be fun to watch see how quick it takes for them to settle into a game um and obviously people want to see points and I think that you know against a Western Carolina defense that isn't very complex it's not a complex as they'll see against Tennessee in week two or Clemson in week four so I think that's that's the thing fast start explosive this and we'll see if from the starters I imagine they'll play you know into third quarter and we'll see that's the interesting thing I'm sure we can talk about it later but how quickly they get pulled is the question with Tennessee in week two and you want to build chemistry with the team with a lot of new faces so we'll see what they do with that but overall quick start explosiveness and touchdowns that's what we want to see yeah I want to see points by being boring right like I want inate to be able to keep things super vanilla you're you're starting Matt mccab at tight end that you're basically just playing a six offensive lineman and when you're he he can catch a touchdown pass he can catch he can catch hey well that goes into my point I hope we don't see that this week right like I hope they save that play for um Tennessee or Clemson or someone down the road but um this game I hope it is lining up and they're just handing it off to Jordan Waters up the middle and he is get and they are being successful doing that let Jordan Waters and the rest of that running back room cook they shouldn't need to be putting you know a casc or Jonathan Paylor in the back field they shouldn't have to be you know making things interesting like just straight up vanilla offense and they H they have the talent on this team they invested so many resources into the transfer portal to bring in such a talented group in offensively this year they should be able to keep things super boring and still blow out Western Carolina so that's what I'm looking for I I I I hope this is is the Jordan waters's assertion that he is one of the top running backs in the ACC he just comes out and shows that off the bat that's the main thing I'm gonna be looking for so you don't want to see any pop passes this week Ethan no save Casey concep On's arm for later in the season man I know he can throw it we saw it last season but um and then um of course um Dave Doran said it on the ACC Network special that he might be M State's second best passer this season or third best passer so it's like all right but let's save that not against Western Carolina folks let's save that for later in the year and um just let them be successful getting the ball to casy in other ways um defensively though man um what do you want to see from that side of the ball obviously I think a few more question marks just in how that defense is going to gel post the departure of Payton Wilson something we've you know debated frequently this off seon but um in game one up against a you know highflying passing offense what do you hope to see two things I want to see what this the secondary can do obviously Aiden White's locking down the quarterback room on that one side but Brandon T's First St of starting on the outside so we see what he can do and also I want to see what DK cofman has you know the secondary he's a hard hitting safety you know 5'11 not the biggest guy in the world or 5'10 even not the biggest guy 215 though he can hit for coming from Auburn he can play I want to see him you know fly around then the other one is just what does Sean do making this move from from safety to linebacker he's going to be a busy guy I think on Thursday night we'll talk about it later but Cole gonzalos is a throwing quarterback we just listened to the part of you know their head coach's press conference today and he was like doesn't matter if they're down 70 to nothing they're throwing the ball so NC State's defense will get tested through the air they've got a good quarterback on the other side it's the socon player of the year from a year ago so we'll see what happens but I think the secondary is big and also how Shawn Brown's you know adjustment and transition his first live game reps against a new team not against an offense and hasn't seen him in practice uh will be big yeah um same position group for me I'm gonna be watching um Devon Betty pretty closely um he's someone that you know had positive flashes from last year but um I think moving him from Mike back to outside will be a good move um he said himself during fall camp that he thought he played his best football um as an outside linebacker in 2021 and um the numbers back that up that's when he had career high in tackles and um in a rotational role as well so I think I'm going to be watching him pretty close just to see how he looks out there um you know Western Carolina likes to get their running backs involved in the offense and that could mean that um Betty Bears some of that responsibility covering the backs out of the back field and we'll see what that looks like for him and how he handles that responsibility he's in good shape coming into this season he um dropped about five pounds um to play this Sam spot he's at 227 right now and uh you know this is his last year and he's going to go out there and make the most of it as an outside linebacker and then like you said watching Shawn Brown by all accounts he's G to be a star this year so just looking forward to seeing you know if he comes out and has you know how many um tackles did PT Wilson have against Yukon last year I think it was like 18 or something in the season debut some ridiculous number I'm not expecting that much from Shawn Brown since he will play you know probably a half three quarters of this game but um just looking for an impressive debut from miny State's um new will linebacker all right we're g to dive into some Western Carolina specifics before we do that I did want to say a quick thank you to our sponsor game time game time is a ticket buying and selling Marketplace whether you're looking for some last minute tickets Thursday looking for tickets to a concert a comedy show whatever you could need game time has it um my I I use it Noah uses it super easy to use platform um I have it on my phone you can find it on any app store at just search up game time or look it up on your web browser at gametime.co my favorite thing about the app by far is that when I log on it takes a step out of the seat seat ticket buying process by just showing you the view from your seat I'll hold it up for those watching on YouTube I have VC States season opener pulled up here and look if you bought these tickets you can see the exact view from your seat just takes a step out of the ticket buying process and makes that whole thing easier um right now you can find a ticket to the Western Carolina game for $16 so go check that out good deals on the game time app or on your web browser at gametime.co and use code Wolfpack that's all caps Wolfpack for $20 off your first purchase all right Noah let's talk catamounts Western Carolina as we kind of um hinted at ear ear um super super explosive offense um so far like you know Cole Gonzalez their quarterback had a great year last year as a sophomore he's back for his Junior season he's the preseason Southern Conference um offensive player of the year last year he threw for 2,800 passing yards and 28 touchdowns to go against eight interceptions made the first All Conference first team and um also had the third highest rushing total on Western Carolina at 203 yards um he's kind of the engine that makes that whole place go go and um I mean Noah they LED all of FCS last season with 504 yards of total offense per game um when you look at Western Carolina's offense what really stands out about that unit yeah they throw the ball at ton we've talked about that Cole Gonzalez I think is a really you know intriguing player I think he's a game-changing kind of player at the FCS level um there's a reason why he won their player the year year ago he's just a coaches kid they've Dorne has known him for a while he's friends with his dad who coaches wide receivers at the University of Florida so he he's no stranger to playing this environment um I mean he started 11 games last year he's played really really well um this is a team that went to Arkansas a year ago they lost but they've played in The Big Time environment in front of a big crowd so I don't think the crowd is g to cause as much of a you know a difference in these kids heads of coming to a stadium for the first time in front of 56,000 seeing that this isn't their first rodeo in that they see pretty confident um and I think that's the biggest thing is what can they do to limit Cole Gonzalez because just a good test this isn't VMI from year ago this isn't you know an FCS pushover team I also think this is a better spot to have your FCS game week one coming off of fall Camp seeing what you got obviously going into a really big game following week but he's a quarterback it's not a pushover he's gonna test his defense and I think that is exactly what Tony Gibson wants I don't think they want a quarterback come in and throw five picks he might but but at least they will be challenged by a guy that can that can throw the ball around that is mobile and that is a game-changing kind of player for them yeah I agree um NC State Should blow out Western Carolina but they'll test it it'll be at least some sort of test there are much worse FCS teams that NC State could have played in week one and um Gonzalez I'm GNA be interested man to see if um they can get to him in terms of um you know generating sacks and generating pressure he only took seven sacks last year like that that you know obviously the yards and the touchdowns are impressive but that honestly was maybe the most impressive number that he had like how do you like only taking seven sacks over an entire season of football that's impressive to me um it is worth saying that in his one game against Power five competition or FBS competition in general you mentioned the Arkansas game um he went n for 14 for 118 yards in one interception um of course that is as he was he hadn't become like the you know preseason offensive player of the year Cole Gonzalez yet right now he is I expect they're going to throw the ball a lot more than 14 times in this game might double that yeah no seriously so I think um they're gonna air it out it is worth noting um they've lost their leading rusher and receiver to the transfer portal Desmond Reed and sincere Lee both transferred to Pittsburgh so the Panthers um came in and um you know poached two of their top Playmakers um their best returning receiver is um AJ Columbo who's a 58 receiver who caught 30 31 passes in 2023 he was a preseason allconference selection despite you know you know his limited workload last year he's a 58 receiver Assuming he's going to line up in the slot right so that's Jihad Carter's matchup maybe a good test early for the Ohio State transfer um but yeah I I think if they can take care of that and then the other guy I wanted to highlight is their running back Branson Adams Jr who um you know he was their second leading rusher last year but played a big role he was super super efficient averaging six point yard 6.1 yards per carry and racking up 539 yards last season um he's a 59 back so a smaller you know 185 pound running back but um they use him in the passing game a lot too he caught 36 passes last year and scored four touchdowns so um you know like I mentioned earlier I'm going to be watching to see how the linebackers do in pass coverage um that's something that I think the unit as a whole struggled at at times last year so we'll see how they um you know take a step forward in that um hopefully for the pack um in this year against a team that their back in pass coverage um let's switch over to the defensive side of the ball they gave up um I believe was 27.7 points per game last year um so that's you know a lot of points they got blown out by Arkansas Arkansas put 50 on them um Noah does anything stand out about their defense when you look at um how Western Carolina is gonna try to slow down Grayson McCall and the Wolf Pack not not really I think this is a defense that you know Grayson Mcall talked about yesterday of you know they're not very multiple so they're not very complex they can kind of figure it out I think this is a good game for the offense we talked about earlier to get going um I think they I think Coast I think Western Carolina not Coastal Carolina Western Carolina I believe their their offense is going to provide more of a test for NC State's defense then Western Carolina's defense will provide test for NC State's offense which is okay I think they'd rather it that way when you go into a game like this so you know I think that this will be you know a game that they can try to get the offense roll it should quite simply be a confidence Builder right this should be a game where you come out of it um Grayson McCall and Noah Rogers feel a little bit better about their connection um Jordan Waters feels a little bit better about running behind this offensive line Zeke Carell feels a little bit better about playing with um new teammates alongside him right it's just a confidence building game going into Tennessee and um you just want to see efficient again boring football I know it's not what NC State fans necessarily want to hear for those going to the game looking forward to watching the pack but um it they should be able to have fireworks by being boring in this game so um I think you know as we move on into the predictions portion of this podcast Noah um safe to say we're both um picking the pack here yeah I think so I think we are I'll give you a score if you want it I'll go 40 go 47 to three that's where we'll go just in just to give you some background information n state has played Western Carolina seven times they've won all seven games they averag 47 points there was a game in 1990 they won 67 to nothing and Western Carolina didn't get a first down I do think the Catans have better offense in that this year but I think NC State's defense keeps them off the scoreboard for most of the game and they get a f go yeah mine's similar I'm gonna go 45 to 10 I think they'll score westling Carolina will score a touchdown late against you know the third string defense that's you know filled with a lot of freshman red shirt freshman inexperienced guys I think you'll see that but um yeah it should be straightforward dominance by the pack and um give some fans some reason to be very excited about the offense going into next week's big test against the volunteers um to wrap up the predictions portions we're just going to go ahead we're going to pick the leading rusher receiver um and tackler for the wolf pack um Noah who's going to lead Inc state in rushing it's a little diff more difficult when you don't know how the rotations are going to work out especially in a game against an FC team yeah I'll go Jordan Waters I think they're going to feed him at least in the first half and I think he'll break off a big run and then really rack it up there yeah I'm I'm I'm with you I think Jordan Waters dominance like I said I think he's one of the best backs in the ACC I think he's going to be the best running back in state has had since at least bam night and maybe earlier um so I think he comes out and here you go 75 yards by the end of the first quarter he could get that on one run you never knowy yeah first play from scrimmage you know I'll call my shot he breaks it off it gets to the end zone first play from scrimmage but um I think uh he's gonna have a big day um I don't know if he'll be in the game long enough to get to the 100 yard Mark but um I think that is a reasonable expectation for The Graduate transfer from duke what about receiving who's gonna be the Pack's leading pass catcher this is where it's going to get a interesting yeah because there's a lot of options we've talked about the dep chart there's a ton of guys on those wide receiver court that are going to play against Western Carolina I will go with an underrated player to lead the team ining we haven't even talked about him yet give me Justin Joel Lee to lead the team ining I I you know I think I think one of my hottest takes for the year um that I've just kind of been batting around I don't think I've brought it up on the podcast yet man but I I think there's a world where Justin Jolie leads this team in receiving like possibility I think I think it's just a possibility you look at Robert and I's teams in the past right like it's not unheard of it's not unheard of at all and you look at GCE McCall's history in the past right anytime he has an elite tight end he finds him Isaiah likely obviously one of the best tight ends he's ever played with in his life probably he was one of the coach of Carolina's leading receivers for two years turned into you know a fourth run pick by the Baltimore Ravens and is playing extremely well at the next level but Grayson McCall legs to find his tight ends over the middle Justin fits this mold that from Robert and I and R McCall I think we'll see a little preview of that you know for my receiver pick there's been one play that's been just kind of rattling around in my brain this week and it's um Wesley Grimes is like 90 yard touchdown in the spring game I'm picking him to lead the pack and receiving in week one because I think he's just going to be able to um especially if he's in there with the second unit um I think he's going to be able to torch Western Carolina's defensive backs he too fast um too skilled and uh I think he's going to break off off a few big plays and play a little bit longer maybe than um you know the starting unit and uh yeah I I think he could um have a bit of a coming out party himself I think he'll have a good day um what about tacklers who's going to step up and um this is g to be maybe a more interesting conversation than it was last year where we just picked pton Wilson every week um who do you think is going to lead the pack and tackles um um Thursday night game one you know I'm feeling like bold today so I'm not going to go with like the usual suspect give me DK Kaufman that lead the team in tackles okay making plays in the Box I I like it I like it um I'm I'll go with the the the guy I think all the um viewers are probably screaming at their um at their radios or TV screens or whatever right now I'm going to pick Sean Brown yeah um I think um he's going to be in a position to make a lot of plays just a matter of if he can make them by all accounts everyone around that program is very confident that he'll be able to um we were both super high on him last season thought he played extremely well especially down the stretch of the year so high expectations for Shawn brown high expectations for DK Kaufman I'm excited to see how that defense continues to gel and I am excited to watch some real Wolfpack football Noah I am fired up I can't wait to be there with you Thursday night in Carter Finley state um it's going to be exciting man it's going to be blessed can't wait we've talked about football for so much now we get the season football on the Thursday so sooner than most teams will see it and then you got to wait nine days for the next game but we'll take it one day at a time one game at a time bball card of finle and we'll be back here on H Friday for a special edition postgame pot yeah this is your first time kind of watching us during the season we like to do um usually our pregame pods will be on Thursdays and then the um postgame pod will be Sunday morning um just so you know that's when we you our usual publishing schedule this year this week we will have it up on um Friday Friday morning just our reactions from this game we will talk to you all then and please go check out our work on the wolfpack.com we go all out for game previews and game coverage and game reaction so we will see you all there and back on your podcast feeds Friday morning thanks for watching folks