Week 1 Depth Chart for NC State Football vs Western Carolina | NC State Podcast

the week one depth chart is now here for NC State football we got some things to discuss let's have a Friday you are locked on Wolfpack your daily podcast on the NC State Wolfpack part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's up Wolfpack Nation it's time to get locked in with locked on thanks for making locked on Wolfpack your first listen each and every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today's Friday sponsor is Ultimate GM ultimate college football head coach is a brand new mobile game that's completely free it has no ads and is 100% playable offline use the promo code locked on CFB in all caps inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program begin your coaching Legacy today happy Friday to all as always I'm Grayson Boone joined by former Wolfpack defensive tackle Kenton Gibbs Kenton the week one depth chart is officially here that means week one preparation is officially here that means college football is officially here week zero of course begins this weekend we still have to wait six more days to kick off our season but we will get to watch a little bit of college football this weekend NC State dropped their week one depth chart here on Friday not exactly a lot of surprise but it did answer some questions we got a lot to discuss here yeah there's a ton to chew on in terms of what the depth chart looks like as opposed to some of the stories that we've been hearing out of camp and all those things um but I don't think that there are too many big surprises in here I don't think there's anything in here that's like what there's no way I heard nothing of the sort and now we're seeing this so I'm I'm very very intrigued to see um how things play out because we all know the dep chart always starts a certain way in the beginning of the year it rarely ever looks like that at the end of the year so I'm very excited to see how things shake out for the guys who get the KN early we're going to go ahead and dive into this depth chart then we're going to roll into fan Friday because some of these comments are depth chart related all right so we're going to start here with the big man up front the offensive line and then I also included tight end because there's an interesting twist uh with that one as well it's the usual suspect none of these names are really big surprises you're starting five on the offensive line you have Anthony Belton at left tackle Anthony Carter Jr left goal Center you have Zeke Carell Right Guard you have Timothy McCay and right tackle jakarius Peak Kenton any surprises here for you this is what we expected to look like after last year uh these were this was pretty much the group outside of Z Carrell that was uh that took us home and anchored things last year so you know seeing things shake out how they did in terms of of guys coming out with that starters out of fall Camp who was expecting beler Peak to be unseated who was expecting Tim McKay to be SE I think the offensive line adds up to exactly what we thought it would be uh nothing crazy here good or bad in terms of of surprises with starters a lot of the optimism surrounding the offensive line is because we knew essentially exactly what we were going to be having to start with you know belon this is his bag gear big Escalade he's going to be looking to make some NFL money Zeke Carell again one of the top transfers as far as centers go in the portal we're lucky enough to have him here at NC State looking for a big year of him this group has a lot of importance placed on them for the outlin success of the rest of the offense it literally does start up front there's a reason that coach 2J preaches that as often as he can now I also included the tight ends at the very bottom of your screen Matt McCabe who is previously known as an offensive lineman he is getting the start as tight end now we will share a couple more thoughts on this some of the fan Friday submissions are involving Matt McCabe here but Kenton give me your initial thoughts of seeing Matt McCabe listen as a tight end it's not only Matt mccab look at big old Dante Daniels right behind that is 570 pounds of tight end you understand that's that's some beef there that's some beef know you see a double tight form come out and and Jolie and H ven ain't in the game you know what's coming downhill No Frills it's gonna be put your big boy Brites on I mean is there a heavier tight end room in the country when you talk about pound per player you got 38 as your starter 272 is your backup and oh just coming in out of very measly wimpy 256 is Reed Mitchell oh there's some big tight ends there man I want to say that's bigger than the biggest tight end that I played with which I believe was Benson Brown I believe he was the biggest and he wasn't in that weight class so I hey more power to him I'm loving this idea of a jumbo set that gets to block for a guy like Jordan Water you talk about moving some people around and putting some points on the scoreboard I love the idea of having Matt mccab there at tight end moving on here to the skill positions in quarterback we'll go top to bottom darari Collins gets the start as your X wide receiver Noah Rogers The Freshman will get the start as a z wide receiver of course you're gonna have Grayson McCall as your signal caller Jordan Waters gets to start at running back behind him you have Kendrick Raphael or Hollywood Smothers for that rb2 spot inside wide receiver affectionally known as a slot receiver you have Casey concepion and then the flex Y which is essentially a hybrid tight end or wide receiver you have Justin Jolie Kenton what are your thoughts here Jolie being big enough to fit in with that tight end room is kind of crazy yes 251 pounds I I'll tell you what these guys man they're and and the thing about it is you know seeing this skill position group you looked at you look at it and you say again not too many surprises I mean based upon what what some reports coming out of Camp were some people might be surprised by Noah starting but are you really right like are you really you know don't get me wrong this this receiving court is so good I would not have been surprised by him starting or not starting as good as Noah Rogers is I wouldn't have been surprised if they said you know what Wesley we gonna rock with you we gonna see what you got first and then we'll go to no and or vice versa you know and so uh very excited for these guys very excited to see what they got because objectively speaking this this group of players this group of players here is so phenomenal I can't imagine a world where they're not extreme net positives at every position here because I mean you got freshman All-American and KC you got Justin Jolie who I've talked about his ability to break tackles at nauseum you got Jordan Waters who was all ACC you got Noah Rogers who was a All-American coming out of high school you got darari Collins who's 64 and can absolutely go up and get it and Wesley Grims we've talked about how Dynamic he is with the ball in his hands Keenan Jackson The Freshman that I said looks the most polished out of all the fresh receivers coming in I'll tell you I'm excited to see what these guys put out there game one against wcu yeah very important to understand that with depth charts they're very often a fluid situation what you see here in in week one is not necessarily the same thing you're going to see in week four and even though Noah Rogers gets the start we do expect him to play all year you're going to see a ton of Wesley Grimes and probably Keenan Jackson as well with the fall camp that he put together so a lot of these situations are going to be fluid you're going to see a lot of different wide receivers being rotated in probably even going to see some Terrell Anderson as well since he's right behind toari Collins uh for that ex wide receiver I'd say the biggest surprise of this group here is that or next to Hollywood for that rb2 spot that shows you what a great fall camp that he put together was and I saw inside pack Sports was talking about Hollywood smothers and how in a sense he kind of feels forgotten about because this is a guy that did not get a chance to play his senior year of high school due to rehabbing an injury then goes to Oklahoma has to red shirt there because he's not playing a whole lot either so Hollywood Smothers was heavily recruited at a high school he had all the Blue Bloods after him picks Oklahoma but now returns home to NC State and hasn't played a whole lot of football in the last two seasons he's probably chomping at the bit ready to go he is dying to get on the football field and make some plays happen so I can't wait to see what Hollywood Smothers looks like we're going to touch on him again because I believe he will be our main kick returner as well but for me out of this list here Hollywood Smothers was the one that really moved my eyebrows we're going to take a quick break before we jump into the defense stick with us our first sponsor of the day is Ultimate college football head coach locked on Wolfpack fans we got to take a moment as we give you now a heads up on a brand new mobile game that we think you're really going to enjoy in this amazing game and simulation you get to step in the shoes of a head coach and lead your college football program to Glory can you actually imagine being the head coach of the NC State wolf pack from recruiting players and hiring coaching staff to overseeing training camps and handling your school scholarships you control every crucial detail in your program it's it's all in your hands are you going to be able to handle the pressure you are responsible for calling the offensive plays during games and your strategy will not only determine the success of your football season but will also shape the future and your legacy 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into this week one depth chart now working through the defense again working from top to bottom here you see Davin van will get the start at Left End no surprise there he is the captain of this defense nose tackle you have Brandon Cleveland right end you have travali price getting the start your Sam linebacker you have Devon Betty Mike linebacker you have Kaden forom and your will linebacker Shawn Brown Kenton what are your initial thoughts here you know I'm not really uh confused by any of these all of these make a lot of sense in terms of the uh depth chart here and I am very excited to see what the how the death pieces perform and I'm not saying worried intentionally I'm excited because these dep pieces these young guys or or not even young guys rather let me let me rephrase that our dep pieces all have playing experience a good amount that is what's exciting for me you look around up and down this roster and other at other than at the linebacker position everybody in this front six has a ton of experience no Potter has been around for forever in the day Chaz Wallace has played a good amount of football um during his time in college red hibler was our sack man last year that was what he did that was his specialty last season so I'm very excited to see guys who've already had some time on the field once again going out there and and you know being relied upon as de feasts one both travali price and red hler don't be discouraged that one is listed above the other you're going to see both of them on the field a very good amount and number two I see that red shirt sophomore DJ Jackson has beat out Chaz Wallis for that two spot at nose tackle that is a win for the NC State wolf pack depth we brought in Chaz Wallace from Colorado to be backing up Brandon Cleveland for DJ Jackson to beat out Chaz Wallace that is more very valuable depth to be putting at that position Chaz Wallace has a pretty decent amount of college football experience DJ Jackson does not and so for him to beat out Wallace to be right behind Cleveland that gives a really nice safety blanket feeling to that nose tackle position so I thought that was very nice to see as well and then for the linebackers we heard Tony Gibson a couple weeks ago say that Kamal Broner and Kelvin McBride are more than likely gonna have to play a lot I see they're listed in the two deep Pi how much are we going to see of them I think that is probably my biggest question for the linebackers going forward the linebackers you know usual suspects this look exactly how we predicted it would but I'll be very interested to see what the rotation looks like in the middle of a game moving on to the secondary nickel you see Jihad Carter will get the start there Brandon ceesay or Cory Coley is listed for one of the quarterback slots very good competition there as we told you about just a couple days ago Bishop Fitzgerald will get the start at strong safety DK Kaufman at free safety and then of course you have Aiden white locking up the other side of the field at the other cornerback position Kenton what's your biggest surprise out of the secondary I knew that the battle between Cay and Coy was close I did not know that it was going to be an or coming in to to game one and that's very that's very interesting because again nobody has said that Cay has struggled nobody said that Cay has looked off he just hasn't had it so that to me is a a very glowing review of Corey Coley I'm interested to see how that battle plays out I'm interested to see who's the starter not in game one I'm also interested to see who's the star of game five and if they're the same person so you know these these two guys more power to both of them they're both phenomenal players everybody knows how high we on CA we bought C stock early and uh we're hoping to eat good off it this year but at the end of the day if Co if cor Corey K is what best is who's best for the pack then hey put him out there but I'm very very interested to see how that uh how that quarterback match up plays yeah we've talked a good deal about the depth of the secondary this year but seeing it now on paper in the depth chart it is absolutely insane this is this is one of the better looking groups that we have on this entire team probably this group and I'd say the running back or wide receiver group just crazy deep with a crazy amount of talent that's very good to see now one Name That You Don't See on here is Devon boyin I saw some folks had some concerns over that gotta remember Devon boyin still recovering from an ACL injury that he suffered right before the Pop-Tarts Bowl way back in December being that we're now eight months away from that I'm not exactly surprised to see he's not in the lineup quite yet that'd be a really quick turnaround I think maybe later September possibly early October is where you might see boyin return last group here we have the specialist you see that kenoa venet won the place kicker duties over Colin Smith that's a little bit interesting although Colin Smith will be retained as the kickoff kicker seems to be his specialty there boom ker is the punter no surprises there Long Snapper you see Aiden Aras he's a red shirt freshman congratulations to Aiden punt return you see Jaylen KO or KY concepion we talked about that a couple weeks ago kick return you see Hollywood smothers and DK Kaufman how about that Kenton I'm very intrigued by what Kaufman can bring to the return game because normally when you think of uh return guys as of late it's you're hard pressed to find a Defender unless they really got some get up and go with the ball in their hands and so I'm very intrigued to see if he's like a permanent blocker roll for Smothers or if he gets to get in some returns himself but at the end of the to Day special teams I would say the biggest surprise is vinet over Smith everything else makes sense these are mostly returning guys and and um I hope that we don't have to use KC too much on pun return I can't wait to see what Hollywood Smothers looks like on kick return He has electric speed and again just to reiterate this is a guy that not many people have seen a whole lot of these last couple years when you see him get the ball into open field you will quickly recognize what I'm talking about he has that leaveing speed as Kenton loves to point out I can't wait to see how he can potentially change the game on special teams after our second commercial break we're going to roll into fan Friday stick with us our second sponsor of the day is game time game time has a new feature called Game Time picks and it makes getting tickets even easier to your favorite Live Events game time picks filters out all of the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets using game time you can save up to 60% off buying last minute tickets for sports concerts comedy you name it they got it toggling their all-in 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the twos we thought that they would be there but I will be very interested to see how much playing time they do actually get also to reiterate what we were talking about just the other day on Wednesday we're looking for Devon Betty to step up we're looking for Shawn Brown to step up and show out same goes for Kaden forom that group has a lot of weight on their shoulders for the overall performance of this defense so we're going to be very anxious to waiting to see what they bring to the table Yeah the say they I have a lot of ways in understatement because I mean at the end of the day the season may very well come down to how did our linebackers play how did those guys flow to the ball how did those guys read their keys how did they successfully execute on the things that are necessary to be a good defense that's that's ultimately going to be a big part of this thing so I'm very very intrigued to see how that plays out next we have one Wolfpack fan one on Twitter they say thoughts on McCabe tight end one so yes this is what I was teasing a little bit earlier I was not expecting to see Matt McCabe listed at tight end but as soon as I saw it I got excited the beef package AO that you can roll out there to put in front of Jordan Waters or Hollywood Smothers or Duke Scott or Kendrick Rafel whoever it is that's a lot of weight that we can throw around at opposing defenses to clear the way open up the red SE to let our running back run through pun intended kind of in the spirit of repurposing we've seen this coaching staff do this before Jordan P last year previously a linebacker moved him down to running back because we needed additional help there the man scored a touchdown against Miami these are some slight changes that end up making really big impacts in a game I think Matt mccab will make a huge impact as tight end one yeah for sure and and when I look at this I say you've got to understand in a ni system there's a difference between your inline tight in and your Flex tight end it's the difference between an HB and a y it's it's that these guys we're talking about mcab in particular big fella gonna be attached to line of scrimmage gonna be in that that downhill no FRS kind of uh mode instead of being a guy that you're going to expect to catch for 800 yards or something like next one comes from Big Dog they say what game do y'all think is more important to win Clemson or Tennessee on the surface it seems like an easy choice but there are layers to it there are are layers to it but I think it's pretty clearly Clemson in my mind the Tennessee game will be really nice to win of course Dorne has struggled a little bit against the SEC teams especially SEC teams at a neutral sight winning that game in a prime time spot against an SEC team that will catapult your season forward and as far as expectations and notoriety go but make no two ways about it they want to play for an ACC Championship this year beating Clemson on the road has direct implications for that so I think Clemson the Clemson game is Far and Away more important we want to take both don't make any mistake about that as AB just overall implications the Clemson game has far more weight behind it yeah I mean it sometimes the obvious choice is the right choice Clemson obviously has the not only the cashier of a big game but also conference uh conference superiority and standing is on the line the ability to go to the ACC Championship could very well be on the line in the tiebreak situation or whatever head-to head generally gets it done and wins it so with that in mind I'm going to go with the Clemson game and it's not particularly close I want to call my shot on that too first time since 2002 we're gonna go down there and beat those Tigers next one comes from toast 803 in the context of Garrett Kemp flipping his commitment from duke to NC State they say this is the result of separating recruiting duties from the coaching ones the system that Dave Dorne has built is is a professional process that's constantly evaluating and building relationships culture becomes the draw organization and management creates the opportunity couldn't have said it better myself I think this is a very apt analysis of what coach Dorne has built here at NC State a lot of excitement and Buzz in the Murphy Center especially with the transfer portal and some of your and some of your high school recruits over the course of this last off season as well this is a system that has been built for future success and you're really starting to feel all the components come together it's been a little bit of a slow burn over the course of now 12 years but that buzz is now really palpable about being right on the doorstep of breaking through to that upper echelon yeah so in terms of in terms of the system that dor has created and how this thing works with like hey it's a it's a those Duties are separate in terms of recruiting and coaching and all that good stuff I absolutely see that as a thing but more important than anything else we have to remember you have to put it on the field you have to show the results and NC state has shown the results don't get me wrong Duke beat us last year and Elco was all to the hottest star in Duke history since the guy that the stadium is named after let's be honest was Elco gonna be there for 13 years you put it on the field you win the games you combine that with stability because there's nothing worse in the world than having your coach get fired or leave in the middle of you being a CO a player I have not experienced it but I've heard it from other guys not only from the older guys that were in the locker room when I got here but other guys from my teammates who played you know all over the country you hate being the old coaches guys and so um you don't have to worry about that with Dorne you don't have to worry about that with NC State and again that culture and that organization creates that opportunity next one comes from our guy Andy on Twitter he says future thought if we win the coin toss against Tennessee please receive the ball do not under any circum an kick the ball off against another SEC team this has definitely giv me some 2017 PTSD down in Charlotte against South Carolina I think it was Debo Samuel back then if I'm not mistaken took back the opening kickoff just the biggest kick to the uh the Nethers to begin that game way back win however I say all that to say you can't be afraid to kick off to him you're gonna have to do it at some point in the ball game we hope to be kicking off to them frequently putting a lot of points up on the scoreboard but kicking the ball off is not the issue it's preventing them from running the kick back that is the issue at hand sometimes SEC speed can be a real thing on these kick returns so just got to make sure we kick the ball down the field and then keep them out of the end zone that's the biggest concern I'm not exactly saying they need to play Beamer Ball but I'll be damned if you're not prepared to get a get a stop on the kickoff here you know you need to do that you need to make them put the ball down and beat you play in and play out to me that is one of the biggest by the way maybe I'm giving y'all a hint to Ken Keys maybe I'm not but that's one of the biggest idea that's one of the biggest parts of beating Tennesse make them beat you down in down out be consistent do it the right way every time they'll have those moments where they have those lapses if you do if you allow them to get big plays if you allow them to get kick return for Touchdown if you allow them to get those types of things yeah it'll be over before it starts and then last one here we're going to move our first and 10 segment to Monday because we're going a little bit long but this one comes from Raleigh's red on Twitter they say thoughts on Chick-fil-A being removed from the menu at Carter Finley now I've come to understand the reasoning behind this the liaison between Chick-fil-A and Carter Finley Stadium is now retired and so that's why that that relationship has disintegrated it is GNA be Bittersweet to see Chick-fil-A go however I'm not going to Carter friendley because Chick-fil-A is there I'm going for the football game so in my mind I don't really care what kind of food they provide I know they've already provided a new menu and it looks pretty good uh I made that Meme of the Batman bat signal but I put Bojangles in it Bojangles please come save us certainly wouldn't hate that to have Bojangles and Carter Finley that honestly that might be an upgrade over Chick-fil-A if we're keeping it a 100 but not having Chick-fil-A is a little bit of a dig I know a lot of people love getting their Chick-fil-A at Carter Finley but hey if we get Bojangles I ain't mad at that at all I don't want to be the guy to say it I don't want to be that guy I don't even like Jake Fil-A like it's unfortunate you know what I mean like it's unfortunate I I wish that I hope that the fans get tons of great options it's just not my thing personally so um you know I mean hey the game's the game keep your head up better luck next year champ I don't know what to say in this moment because I really like Chick-fil-A is just Chick-fil-A you know what I mean you know have your tail in that seat regardless of what food is out there and come back after halftime if you do decide to go out there and get you some more drinks he you know it regardless if it's Chick-fil-A if it's Bojangle even if they throw something as fured as Arby actually no I'm lying if they put Arby's in there we all need to boycott that's a bridge too far my friend yeah we need to formally boycott this team I don't care how much AR pays you knock it off but in all seriousness you know I mean it's it's one of those things where it's a nice attraction I get it but at the end of the day you know it's more of a like a a nice little bell and whistle as opposed to that Chick-fil-A was the heart and soul of NC football is not that as I mentioned we're going to move our first and 10 segment to Monday I think it actually makes more sense because that's going to be very important in terms of the actual game against Western Carolina and then last last thing because we're both ACC guys let's do some quick picks for week zero Florida State and Georgia Tech out in Ireland Kenton who you got um Georgia Tech has a phenomenal quarterback in haes King the defense should be improved this year and you know they're a team that you they could surprise some folks there will be no surprises in Ireland they allowed 220 rushing yards per game last year Florida State's returning I believe three starting offensive linemen and all ACC and I believe allamerican running back as well as a quarterback that's got wheels as well Georgia Tech's gonna be improved this ain't the game where it'll show Florida State roles I have Florida State to win but Georgia Tech to cover and as NC State fans we need to be pulling for Georgia Tech to win this game outright because that'll help our case at the end of the season because we need the top tier teams to lose as many games as they can an ACC play we need ACC chaos as often as we can get it so Florida State to win Georgia Tech to cover then the other ACC game SMU against Nevada new team in SMU in the ACC do you have them starting one and0 oh absolutely Nevada is not UNLV with all due respect you know I love Michael Allen I hope he does the good things out there unlb and all that but that's a team that's coming back that's a team that's sort of on on the rebound from a a tough stretch here but Nevada is they're a better team but they're still not exactly good enough for me to pick them against uh Preston Stone and some returners on that football team you know Preston Stone said we have the best returning group of receivers in the ACC and honestly can you really argue with them can you really in terms of everybody else who they lost the only other team that would even have a shot at at that argument I guess would be Virginia Tech who with all due respect I mean hey they're they're good but wide receiver wise I wouldn't say that they were anything to write home about last year I don't think that they can hang SMU wins and SMU covers and this is another one where I think SMU is going to roll the SMU is going to roll up on uh on Nevada because they're all those teams out there in the about it right now they're all struggling I I'm pretty sure the spread on this one is another really big one I I believe it's like 29 and a half or something in that ball park smu's goingon to win this game SMU is gonna win this game by a lot of points I too think they're going to cover the spread SMU is a really good team that got added to the ACC I think that often gets overlooked they are a really good football program I don't expect them to make a ton of noise this season but I wouldn't exactly Overlook them either so I got SMU winning their season opener week zero that's a real thing we got college football beginning tomorrow NC State football begins next Thursday what does that mean for Monday locked on Wolfpack we back here on Monday with your game preparation game week our first one of the season is Monday both crazy and factual that'll do it for us here on Friday be sure to hit that like button drop your comments in the comment box and if you have not already Mash that subscribe button we'll see you back here on Monday getting ready for week one here we go until then go pack go p