Lack of preseason All-ACC recognition nothing new

For the fourth time in the last seven years, NC State was not represented on the Preseason All-ACC football team. So it goes. In all, NC State has had six players selected to the Preseason All-ACC Football team during Dave Doeren’s tenure:

• 2015: Shadrach Thornton, RB
• 2017: Jaylen Samuels, AP; Bradley Chubb, DE; A.J. Cole, P
• 2018: Ryan Finley, QB; Kelvin Harmon, WR

But like all things in life, it’s not about what you’re expected to do, it’s about what you actually do.

To that end, NC State has had 12 players selected to the postseason 1st Team All-ACC Football team during Doeren’s tenure.

• 2014: Wil Baumann, P
• 2015: Jaylen Samuels, TE; Joe Thuney, OT
• 2017: Jaylen Samuels, AP; Nyheim Hines, RB; Bradley Chubb, DE
• 2018: Ryan Finley, QB; Kelvin Harmon, WR; Jakobi Meyers, WR; Tyler Jones, OG; Garrett Bradbury, C; Germaine Pratt, LB

In no season under Doeren has State had fewer players on the postseason All-ACC team than on the preseason version (that trend will continue), and in three of the six previous seasons State has exceeded the number of representatives from the preseason to the postseason (this trend, too, will likely continue).

Expectations from the ACC media members may be low, but that doesn’t mean the results will follow suit. If anything, Wolfpack players under Dave Doeren have proven a knack to outperform.