NC State defeated Syracuse 16-10 in front of a great Carter-Finley crowd last Thursday night. As the Pack prepares for their trip to Boston College this weekend, let’s take a look back at who played against the Orange and who made their snaps count.

OFFENSE

QB

• Hockman played okay in his first collegiate start. He definitely brought some things to the position that had been missing - specifically the threat of downfield passing.
• Leary also got a series and continues to show why people are calling for him to get more snaps. In his 8 passing attempts this season he has shown a big arm and on that completion to Thayer Thomas against Syracuse he showed a willingness to attempt some next-level passes that haven’t really happened with McKay and Hockman.

RB

• With Ricky Person out, Zonovan Knight and Jordan Houston split the workload at RB and produced very similar numbers.
• The lack of use by Trent Pennix over the past few weeks paid off with the Syracuse defense totally ignoring him on the trick play that scored the lone touchdown.

WR

• Emeka Emezie continues to be the top target for the QBs.
• Devin Carter has seen his production jump significantly since the QB change.
• There’s not been any rumors about his status, but I do worry about the fact that Provillon hasn’t played since the Western Carolina game

TE

• I miss Dylan Autenrieth blocking for the run game.

OL

• Ikey Ekwonu and Bryson Speas got their first career starts against Syracuse
• The offensive line definitely missed Justin Witt last Thursday and looks like they’ll be without him again against BC.

DEFENSE

DL

• Larrell Murchison is having a monster year, in case you didn’t already know that.
• Alim McNeill has taken over the starting nose tackle position from Val Martin the last two games.
• Xavier Lyas continues to have good production in limited playing time.

LB

• Louis Acceus had a HUGE games against Syracuse which won him ACC Linebacker of the Week for his 14 tackles and 3 sacks.
• Isaiah Moore also had a big game with 10 tackles.

Nickel

• Tyler Baker-Williams and Stephen Griffin continue to split snaps and stats at the nickel position
• I think that the nickel position not being a liability this year has really helped the defense as a whole.

Safety

• Tanner Ingle’s tackle rate has tailed off some from the beginning of the season, but that may be a result of the LB group becoming more productive.
• Jarius Morehead continues to start, but De’von Graves had significantly more snaps once again.

CB

• With Chris Ingram getting injured right before halftime, the defense had to rely a lot on Kishawn Miller and Teshaun Smith in the second half.
• Malik Dunlap got his first snaps in the secondary since the Western Carolina game. He broke up a possible TD and got burned on a nice move by the WR for the lone Cuse TD in his 13 snaps.
• As scary as Ingram’s injured looked, he may be back for the game against Syracuse.

REDSHIRT WATCH

• Savion Jackson and Jakeen Harris joined the group of players who have played more than the four game minimum for redshirting. Harris is an interesting case because he has mostly been a Special Teams player.
• I’d like to extend a Pack Participation Report welcome to Shyheim Battle, C.J. Clark, Terrell Dawkins, and Josh Harris. They each played their first snaps in a Wolfpack uniform last Thursday.
• I hope Cecil Powell’s injury isn’t serious. I’d hate for him to burn his redshirt and then immediately pick up an injury that jeopardizes the rest of the season.

Sources:

• GoPack.com Box Score
• GoPack.com Season Statistics