A little over two weeks before NC State’s Sept. 2 opener against South Florida at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, the Wolfpack’s head coach, Dave Doeren, plus its two coordinators, Tim Beck on offense and Tony Gibson on defense, met with the media Monday morning.
We tackle some of their comments in our news and views feature.
NEWS: A pair of true freshmen on offense have been receiving considerable praise for their performances thus far in fall camp. One was an early enrollee — receiver Julian Gray from Hopewell High in Huntersville, N.C. The other arrived over the summer — running back Demie Sumo from Willingboro (N.J.) High.
BECK: “Julian Gray at wide receiver has really done some nice things for us. He brings a different element to us on the perimeter as a young player. He’s still learning everything, but there’s a different gear with him. I really like what he’s doing.
“Our running backs, we’ve got a crew back there that have all gotten better. Our young guy, Demie Sumo, he’s impressive. He’s a really good young prospect who has a bright future here.”
VIEWS: Beck was not alone in noting those two. When talking about the amount of reps the coaches aimed to give young players during Saturday’s scrimmage, Doeren mentioned specifically a pair of truer freshmen: Gray and Sumo.
Gray is not a huge surprise. He was generally considered a top-30 player in the state of Carolina's 2021 class in terms of rankings, and playing against some of the best competition in the state he had 1,217 receiving yards as a junior. Furthermore, he has legit track speed, running the 100-meter dash in a personal best 10.84 seconds.
Gray was NC State’s first verbal commitment in the 2021 class, but he still had early Power Five offers from Duke, Georgia Tech, Rutgers, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Forest, perhaps signaling colleges may have thought Gray was better than the rankings indicated.
Sumo may be more of a surprise. His other offers were Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Temple and Toledo, and he came from a school not known as a hotbed.
But, Sumo was a playmaker that NC State saw in person as a junior before offering. During that campaign, Sumo scored a touchdown 21 times on 98 touches on offense, defense and special teams in 12 games.
