Carson Wise is looking like NC State’s starting place kicker

Dave Doeren held a press conference ahead of Sunday’s Meet the Pack Day event and offered updates at a bunch of different positions, none more important than the battle at place kicker. The Wolfpack tapped the graduate transfer wire again this offseason, bringing in Carson Wise from Carson-Newman, and Wise has been playing with the first-stringers throughout camp.

Doeren on Wise:

“He definitely started with the ones and hasn’t given it back and has done everything you’d want him to do: be consistent and make the kicks he’s capable of making and now being in pressure situations. The next step is live rush when those guys are trying to block kicks on him, and that will come next Saturday, but he’s done everything to stay where he was when he got here and I don’t expect that to change.”

Solid vote of confidence there, not that the way this has sorted out is any kind of surprise. It’s just good to hear that he is seizing the opportunity and kicking the ball well in practice, though obviously that’s a whole lot different than performing well when the lights go on.

Doeren added that Kyle Bambard is probably going to handle kickoffs, and that’s probably going to be the extent of his involvement in special teams this fall. But who knows—State went back and forth with its kickers last season, and that could happen again. Let’s hope not, though, because that’ll just mean we’re stuck back in a situation where the staff doesn’t trust what they’ve got at that position.