Devin Leary, Payton Wilson and Tanner Ingle announce their return in 2022

A marvelous Wednesday today turned out to be. We’d been hearing lots of rumors since the unc game about how the NC State football team was giving off lots of “run it back vibes”. It has seemed like every day another player has announced their intention to return. It seems like many of these players feel they have unfinished business and left more on the table. That’s a great feeling to have coming from a team looking to finish with 10 wins in this current season.

The two players we were most keen on hearing from were Devin Leary and Payton Wilson. Well, wait no longer, my friends!

In an interview discussing his decision, Leary had this to say:

“I know there is a lot more on the table that I can do next year and that’s where I’m going to be,” said Leary, who spoke to the USA Today Network while visiting his hometown of Sicklerville, N.J. ”I’m going to be at N.C. State next year. I’m going to get to reflect on everything I did this year and continue to get better in the offseason so I can lay it all on the line next season.”

You love to hear it. As if the hype levels can’t get any higher, Leary also revealed that his roommate Payton Wilson would be returning as well. Part of me thinks Leary may have slipped that news a bit early, but the cat’s out of the bag now. It’s really hard to put a cat back into a bag after it’s been in there once already.

And to top it off, Tanner Ingle also announced he would be returning to anchor the Wolfpack secondary.

It seems like the one piece we haven’t heard about is Bam Knight. 247Sports just named him to their First Team All American list, along with the obvious choice of Ikem Ekwonu. It’s possible Bam will test the NFL water.

But for now, let’s enjoy knowing all these major pieces are coming back for what looks to be the most stacked NC State in... ever? That’s a debate for the offseason. Let the June flow.