NC State Wolfpack football Cory Durden's stock trending up at fall camp

Durden entered the 2020 season for the Seminoles with high expectations that included potentially landing in the NFL Draft. Pro Football Focus (PFF) had Durden ranked as the No. 5 graded returning interior defensive lineman in the country entering that season after he had 39 tackles, including 6.5 for loss and five sacks, in 2019.

Yet in seven games, in 2020 with a new coaching staff in Tallahassee, Durden had seven tackles, including assisting on a sack, and a forced fumble before announcing his transfer plans.

NC State second-year defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tony Gibson expected that Durden would be able to help the Pack's defense, but through the first scrimmage on Saturday, Durden has turned heads, including Gibson’s.

“We recruited him and got him out of the portal, we knew what kind of player he was off film,” Gibson noted. “To actually get to coach him and see him in live situations, he’s a guy that is really going to help this football team.

“He’s playing extremely well right now, playing hard. He’s a great kid to be around, and it just brings an older and more experienced guy into that d-line room, which we needed.”

Listed at 6-foot-4, 310 pounds on the official NC State roster, Gibson noted Durden's size is a huge asset in the Pack's three-man defensive front.

“He’s just different than really anybody that I’ve had,” said Gibson, who spent five years as the defensive coordinator at West Virginia before arriving at NC State. “He can go inside and anchor down and play nose. He can go outside and play a four technique. He can go out on the edge and be a pass rusher.

“He is just a guy that can do a lot of different things for us. That’s unique. Some guys are just nose guards or d-tackle types. Then we have our ends. He can do it all.

“He’s just different than anybody we have on the roster, right now. … A guy like Davin Vann plays both for us, but Davin is 6-foot-2, where Cory is 6-foot-5, 300 pounds. He brings a difference piece of the game to us.”

Durden is not the only one turning heads thus far in fall camp. Gibson, during his media availability Monday, praised his linebacker corps and added that sophomore reserve Jaylon Scott “has really stepped up his game.”

Fellow transfer imports and defensive backs redshirt junior Derrek Pitts Jr. (Marshall) and senior Cyrus Fagan (Durden’s former teammate at Florida State), appear likely to find themselves on the depth chart and in the secondary rotation.

Pitts has been working at corner while Fagan is at safety.

“A lot of the transfer guys that have experience coming in are the guys that are really standing out that we just didn’t know much about,” Gibson added.

The healthy return of former starting corner and senior Chris Ingram could also help. Gibson praised Ingram, who missed all of 2020 after injuring his knee midway through the 2019 season, as a leader in the secondary.

“Everybody looks to him on the back end,” Gibson said. “I’m extremely, extremely happy to have him back, and I look forward to him having his best year.”

Overall, Gibson is focusing on making sure his unit maximizes its knowledge of the defense to play to the speed he wants to see.

“I want our guys, No. 1, to play fast, play hard and play physical,” Gibson noted. “I don’t believe in creating more coverages, more blitzes, more fronts, different stuff like that.

“I want to perfect what we do. That’s been a really big emphasis for us.”

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