Spring football practice for NC State will start March 2, with the spring game at 1 p.m. April 9 at Carter-Finley Stadium. The ACC Network will show the game at 7 p.m.
The Wolfpack Central will start taking a look at the position groups this spring and summarize where NC State stands. Up next is the wide receivers.
Related links: Quarterbacks preview | Offensive line preview | Running backs preview | Tight ends preview
Wide receivers
It will be different not having Emeka Emezie after five years.
The physical possession receiver made catching passes in traffic an art form. He caught 60 passes for 802 yards and six touchdowns — with the last two scores against North Carolina truly memorable. Emezie was the model of consistency, catching between 47-and-60 passes his last four years. He finished with 19 career touchdowns.
The odds-on favorite to replace him is sophomore Porter Rooks, who was a Rivals.com four-star prospect coming out of Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park. The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder has proven to be a steady possession receiver his first two years with 47 catches for 574 yards, but has yet to score his first touchdown. He had 23 grabs for 298 yards last year, with a long of 37 yards at Mississippi State.
NC State will need 6-3, 215-pound Devin Carter to become consistent in his redshirt junior year. He caught 31 passes for 556 yards and six touchdowns, with a chunk of those statistics coming in the loss Wake Forest. Carter caught seven passes for 132 yards and two scores against the Demon Deacons. However, he also had four games where he had less than 13 yards, and didn’t catch a pass against Florida State or North Carolina.
The 6-0, 195-pound Thayer Thomas is tied for third in school history with 20 career touchdowns. He ranks seventh with 158 career receptions and 15th with 1,842 yards. He has started 30 of the 49 games he has played in during his four years at NCSU.
Thomas caught 51 passes for 596 yards and eight scores, and is always a threat on trick-play passes. He caught four passes for a season-best 122 yards and a touchdown against Boston College. He also had seven grabs for 71 yards and two scores in the loss at Miami (Fla.).
Finding depth will be a key. To that end, the Wolfpack added Maryland transfer Darryl Jones. The 6-3, 195-pounder had 23 receptions for 319 yards and two scores for the Terrapins last year. He came through with four catches for 111 yards and the aforementioned two touchdowns in a 54-10 win over Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Sophomore Anthony Smith had four catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, and junior Keyon Lesane chipped in eight receptions for 66 yards.
Projected starters: Redshirt junior Devin Carter; senior Thayer Thomas; sophomore Porter Rooks.
Projected backups: Senior — Darryl Jones. Redshirt junior — Jasiah Provillon. Junior — Keyon Lesane.
Sophomore — Anthony Smith. Redshirt freshmen — Jakolbe Baldwin; Jalen Coit; Josh Crabtree; Julian Gray; Christopher Scott.
Comments: NC State has a glut of young receivers who have yet to establish themselves. All were Rivals.com three-star prospects with Smith a two-star.
Smith clearly has big-play speed, but also just joined his Huntingtown (Md.) High squad as a junior, where he was a punter. The 6-2, 190-pounder caught 35 passes for 918 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior year.
Some also had their senior year of high school disrupted due to COVID, such as redshirt freshmen Julian Gray and Jakolbe Baldwin.
The 6-0, 195-pound Baldwin had 34 catches for 687 yards and eight touchdowns during his junior year at Rockingham (N.C.) Richmond County. The 5-11, 197-pound Gray can work out of the slot and he had 57 catches for 1,217 yards and nine touchdowns his junior year for Huntersville (N.C.) Hopewell High.
Fellow redshirt freshmen Jalen Coit, Josh Crabtree and Christopher Scott, did get to play their senior years of high school.
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