12 PM • ESPN
Radio Coverage Begins at 10 am on the Wolfpack Sports Network
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pirate ties
NC State special assistant to the head coach Ruffin McNeil is not only beloved by Wolfpack Nation, but he has some pretty strong ties to the Pirates as well.
McNeill is a 1980 ECU graduate, a member of the Pirates’ Athletic Hall of Fame, and a former ECU head coach.
He played under head coach Pat Dye. As a sophomore defensive back In 1977, he started his first game in the season opener against NC State in Carter-Finley Stadium. With ECU up 28-23 as time ran out, McNeill made a tackle on the Pirates’ two-yardline to prevent the Wolfpack win.
“Coach Ruff” went back to his alma mater as head coach in 2010 and served as head coach through the 2015 campaign. In 2013, McNeill’s Pirates posted the second-most wins in school history, going 10-3 including a win over Ohio University in the 2013 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. The season also included wins over in-state rivals North Carolina and (unfortunately) NC State.
Following his tenure at ECU, McNeill was on the staff at Virginia (2016) and then went to Oklahoma, where he was assistant head coach and defensive tackle coach in 2017 and held those positions and served as interim defensive coordinator in 2018. In 2019, he coached the Sooner OLBs but after that season, left the program to move back to North Carolina to take care of his ailing father.
McNeill and Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren have kown each other since Doeren’s days as a graduate assistant at USC, while McNeill was at Fresno State. The two kept up and coached against each other through the years and when the announcement that McNeill was leaving Oklahoma was public, his first call was from Doeren.
He joined the Wolfpack staff in 2020, he became part of the Wolfpack family and has served as a vital resource for coaches, players and staff.
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Pack vs. Pirates
• NC State has played East Carolina, a team located just 83 miles down highway 264, 31 times in a series that dates back to 1970.
• The Wolfpack has won the last two meetings, which both took place in Carter-Finley Stadium - outscoring the Pirates 92-9. The teams played on Dec. 1, 2018, in Carter-Finley Stadium after both teams had to cancel games on September 15 due to Hurricane Florence (NC State missed a home contest vs. WVU, while ECU missed a road game at Virginia Tech). That was the final home game of that season. Then the squads met to open the following season - a 34-6 NC State win on Aug. 31, 2019.
• The Wolfpack’s 58-3 win in 2018 was the largest margin of victory for either team in the series and the largest in a game for the Pack since a 65-7 win over Murray State in 2009.
• NC State is 1-4 all-time in games in Greenville. The lone Wolfpack win at ECU in the series was 34-20 in 2007.
• Dave Doeren is 2-2 all-time vs. ECU, but has won each of the last two as the Pack outscored the Pirates 92-9 in those contests.
• NC State is 3-1 all-time when coming into an ECU game as a ranked team. NC State won three straight from 1973-75, but suffered a 37-34 loss in the Peach Bowl following the 1991 season, when the Pack was ranked No. 21 and ECU was ranked No. 12.
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establishing the culture
Anyone who spends any time around the NC State Football program will tell you that the culture might be it’s strongest asset. Dave Doeren introduced his 1Pack1Goal brand when he became head coach in December of 2012, describing it as a united mission to win a championship.
In 2016, when former quarterback Philip Rivers spoke to the team, he added to that, saying that the Wolfpack played “hard, tough, together.”
Those aren’t just hashtags for the Wolfpack, they’ve become a way of life. And stability at the head coach position has definitely given the Wolfpack an advantage when it comes to building that culture and passing it down.
Doeren, who is entering his 10th season at NC State, boasts the second-longest current tenure in the ACC and the 11th among FBS coaches.
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success
Stability at the head coach position has also resulted in unprecedented success for the Wolfpack under head coach Dave Doeren.
Here are some of the highlights from Doeren’s tenure at NC State:
- Ranks second in school history in career wins at NC State (64).
- Has led the Wolfpack to five of the top 20 win totals in school history.
- The Wolfpack has qualified for seven bowls in his previous nine years as head coach - more than any coach in school history.
- His 2020 squad set a school record with seven ACC wins.
- His players have won three national awards (Bradley Chubb won the Nagurski & Hendricks Award in 2017 and Garrett Bradbury won the Rimington Award in 2018).
- Has had 23 players drafted by the NFL, including 16 in the last five drafts.
- Boasts three first-round draft picks.
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captains
The coaching staff isn’t the only part of the team that boasts experience heading into 2022 - the player leaders also have a pretty long track record.
Fifth-year players Grant Gibson and Isaiah Moore were selected as captains for the third-straight year, marking the first time in school history that players were three-year captains.
Preseason ACC Player of the Year Devin Leary will serve in that leadership role for the second season and linebacker Drake Thomas, who finished the 2021 season as captain, will return in that role for 2022.
Joining them will be offensive lineman Bryson Speas and nose tackle Cory Durden.
“We have great leadership throughout our team, but these are the best of the best,” said Doeren. “They have earned the trust and respect of their teammates and coaches and really embody the one Pack, one goal culture that we have established here.”
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run it back
To say that the 2022 Wolfpack will be the most experienced in school history would be an understatement. Not only does it return 10 starters on defense and seven on offense, but a total of 11 players decided to RUN IT BACK in 2022.
Those 11 players, all who started at least one game for the Pack in 2021, decided to return to NC State for their fifth (or more!) year of play for 2022, including six players on the defensive side of the ball, four on offense and the leading scorer in school history (K Christopher Dunn).
Those players have combined to play 469 career games and had 322 total starts.
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loss of yards
The Wolfpack rushed for a team total of 1,512 yards last season, led mainly by the experienced tandem of Zonovan Knight and Ricky Person. When those two left, they took 92% of the team’s rushing yardage with them.
The four RBs listed on the Wolfpack’s opening 2-deep, combined for just 27 carries last season.
- Jordan Houston - 20 carrries, 83 yards
- Delbert Mimms - 6 carries, 47 yards
- Demarcus Jones - 1 carry, 1 yard
- Demie Sumo-Karngbaye - 0 carries
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Oh, brother!
There are four sets of brothers on the 2022 NC State football squad.
Crowell: MIcah redshirted last season at wide receiver while recovering from a high school injury, while Isaiah is a true freshman nickel.
Seabrough: See if you can tell these two apart when they’re not in their jerseys. Ced and Fred are the same height (6’4), within five pounds of the same weight (245/250) and both play tight end.
Thomas: Drake was a first-team All-ACC linebacker for the Wolfpack while Thayer is one of the top receivers in school history.
Vann: Davin is in his third year playing DE/DT while Rylan is a true freshman offensive lineman.
touchdown, thomas!
Graduate wide receiver Thayer Thomas hauled in eight touchdown catches last season - giving him 20 for his career. That mark that is tied for third in school history.
He needs just two more to rank second only to Torry Holt (who coached Thomas in high school) in school history.
Thomas has pulled down a touchdown reception in 15 different games during his career, two more than any other active player.
The Wolfpack posts a 7-0 record when he has at least 80 yards receiving.
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HOW IT STARTED
The Wolfpack enters the season with its highest national ranking in 47 years. With a preseason rank of No. 13 in the AP poll and USA Today Coaches’ polls, it ties as the best mark in school history (in 1975, Lou Holtz’s squad opened the season ranked 13th).