8/29/2018 football Edit

NC State football roundtable: Who leads the Pack in interceptions?

Matt Carter and Jacey Zembal

TheWolfpacker.com

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Fifth-year senior linebacker Germaine Pratt had a pick six last year against Louisville. (Ken Martin/The Wolfpacker)

One of the hardest predictions to make is who will lead the defense in interceptions. Nevertheless, we are going to give it our best try.

Last year, it was linebacker Airius Moore, not exactly the consensus choice going into the season, with four. Impressively, Moore led the team despite splitting time with Germaine Pratt. Moore is gone, but Pratt is back, and Pratt himself had two picks, returning one for a touchdown, last season.

Second in the 2017 squad in interceptions was safety Shawn Boone, and he has also graduated. Pratt is the only player on the defense to return with multiple picks from last season.

Does that make him the ideal choice in 2018? Fans can make their vote on The Wolves' Den message board:

Poll: Who will lead NC State in interceptions?

Previous roundtables:

• Who leads NC State in receptions and receiving yards?

• Who leads the Pack in tackles?

• Who leads the defense in sacks?

Matt Carter

I'm going a bit off the board with my pick. Junior Kishawn Miller, an import from Georgia Military College, has slowly worked his way up the depth chart after missing spring practices and is now in position to start at corner for the opener.

Miller has some ballhawk tendencies in his past. He intercepted three passes last year and had four total in 19 games at Georgia Military College. Before that, he had five interceptions as a senior at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga., and he returned three of those picks for scores.

Miller went against NC State's trend for taller, more physical corners. He checks in at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, but he is fast and has some playmaking skills that the defensive coaches are hoping to add to its secondary. It has been a frustration of cornerbacks coach George Barlow to see his players in position and not make a play on the ball.

Jacey Zembal

Junior cornerback Nick McCloud ended the 2017 season with an interception, and I can see that carrying over in 2018. McCloud returned his lone pick for 53 yards against Arizona State in the Sun Bowl victory in El Paso, Texas.

McCloud caught 33 passes for 349 yards and two scores his junior year at Rock Hill (S.C.) South Pointe High, so he isn't a stranger to catching the ball. He also had six interceptions his senior year, two of which he returned for scores.

McCloud and the secondary will surely get tested, just as they did last year. The loss of nickel Shawn Boone and cornerbacks Mike Stevens and Johnathan Alston take away some of the veteran players who were security blankets of sorts for a secondary in transition. Now, McCloud is the older player and he'll have plenty of opportunities to make plays on the ball.