NC State football sophomore offensive lineman Ikem “Ickey” Ekwonu was not expected to be the Wolfpack’s starting left tackle, but not much went as anticipated in 2019 across the board for head coach Dave Doeren’s squad.
Through the challenging times bright spots did emerge, and Ekwonu was one of the biggest of those for NC State. He quickly impressed while protecting the blind side of the quarterback. The 6-foot-4, 325-pounder from Charlotte was named a Freshman All-American by both the Football Writers’ Association of American and PFF after leading NC State with 37 pancake blocks.
Thus there are heightened expectations for Ekwonu in year two. Phil Steele named him a first-team preseason All-ACC, while PFF and Athlon both had him on the second-team. That’s not surprising considering Ekwonu had the third-highest PFF season-long grade in 2019 among returning offensive linemen in the conference.
Ekwonu though feels no pressure. There are several reasons for that, beginning with his upbringing in sports. He was a standout wrestler who placed in state tournaments for Providence Day.
“In the sport of wrestling, it’s very much just one-on-one, man-on-man, everything that you do on that mat is seen by everybody at once in the whole gym,” Ekwonu said.
Then there is the simple reason that Ekwonu is confident, in both himself and his team.
“It’s really easy not to feel pressure when you’re confident, and I am confident in the guys around me, the game plan, all the coaches,” Ekwonu said. “I know they have put us all in a spot to be successful.
“When you have confidence from all over, it’s really easy to not feel pressure.”
In addition to living up the expectations, Ekwonu also has to deal with the challenge of playing a new position.
The depth chart released on Monday revealed that Ekwonu will be starting at left guard. Returning healthy offensive tackles Tyrone Riley and Justin Witt, a pair of redshirt seniors (in the case of Riley a sixth-year of eligibility) means that the best way to get the top five blockers on the field meant moving Ekwonu to guard.
“I played guard in high school,” Ekwonu noted. “I am confident in guard.”
Ekwonu is a team player willing to do what is needed, but he acknowledged a small amount of disappointment to not getting a chance to have a showdown with Wake Forest All-American candidate Carlos Basham Jr., a 6-foot-5, 285-pound fifth-year senior who was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2019.
“I always love going against good players, players that are on draft boards and stuff, I love the competition of that,” Ekwonu admitted. “I’m sure I’ll go up against him a couple of times at guard.”
Controlling Basham and the rest of the line of scrimmage will be important for the Wolfpack in its opener against the Demon Deacons, who come to Raleigh Saturday having lost its first game of the year, 37-13 to top-ranked Clemson in Winston-Salem.
Ekwonu believes the offensive line, which features another fifth-year senior in guard Joe Sculthorpe plus a redshirt junior and team captain at center in Grant Gibson, will be up for the task.
“I am really, really confident in the guys around us,” Ekwonu said. “A lot of guys that can play, I think. It’s a lot of different lineups you can use. I really think the ceiling and potential for the o-line even moving forward is really, really high.
“I’m really excited with the group of guys that I have, and I’m excited to get after it and just prove everyone wrong.”
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