NC State football will play the first game of its 2021 football regular season on Thursday, Sept. 2, vs South Florida in Carter-Finley Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on the ACC Network.

The Wolfpack went 8-4 overall and 7-3 in the ACC in 2020, and the Bulls were 1-8 and 0-7 in the American Athletic Conference.

Here is the full scouting report on South Florida:

Junior linebacker Dwayne Boyles Jr. (No. 11)

Last season, Boyles was limited to six games, all starts, due to COVID-19 protocols, yet he still finished second on the squad with 44 tackles and five hits for loss. Twice he led the Bulls in tackles in a game.

Expectations are higher for Boyles in 2021. Both Athlon (fourth team) and Phil Steele (second team) listed Boyles on their preseason All-AAC squads.

Sophomore cornerback Daquan Evans (No. 0)

NC State redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary will have to be careful throwing in Evans' direction. Last year, Evans made three interceptions, and he returned them for distances of 56, 51 and 31 yards. Those picks came in three consecutive games.

In 2019, Evans had a pick return of 52 yards on his first career interception.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Cade Fortin (No. 6)

Fortin's last start was against NC State — but for UNC and not South Florida. He was perceived to be the Heels' quarterback of the future until Sam Howell showed up on campus.

Fortin chose to transfer to South Florida over Kansas, Syracuse and Vanderbilt, but his 2020 season was limited to just two games due to injuries.

Now Fortin has won the starting job. He completed 19 of 40 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown with one interception and also ran for a score against the Pack on a soggy afternoon in 2018.

Junior linebacker Antonio Grier Jr. (No. 5)

Grier was second-team All-AAC last season and led the Bulls with 59 tackles (10th in the conference), 5.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and two forced fumbles. This came a season after Grier made 58 tackles, including 8.5 for loss and four sacks, as a part-time starter in 2019.

Grier was a preseason first-team All-AAC pick by Phil Steele.

Sophomore running back Jaren Mangham (No. 0)

USF has a lot of options at running backs, but Mangham has reportedly been among the most consistent in preseason camp, scoring a touchdown in all three of their preseason scrimmages.

The 6-2, 221-pounder gives USF a physical back it has been lacking, and he arrives after two seasons at Colorado. When he was a freshman there, Mangham ran 107 times for 441 yards and three scores and was selected to the All Pac-12 Freshman Team by SB Nation.

Mangham was rated a four-star prospect according to Rivals.com and generally considered a top-10 prospect in the state of Michigan coming out of Cass Tech in Detroit.

1. The unknowns: With a new starting quarterback, three new assistants (including cornerbacks coach George Barlow, who coached seven seasons for Dave Doeren at NC State) and 11 new transfers in, this is a new-look South Florida squad.

Also, injuries and opt-outs significantly reduced South Florida's roster last year — they were down to 64 available players one week for practice. Throw in that USF decided not to exchange depth charts for the contest, and NC State is flying a bit blind going into the game.

2. An attempt to run the football: South Florida struggled mightily in a lot of areas last season, but it does have some potential to be an effective running team. Mangham and former Oregon transfer and redshirt junior Darrian Felix, who was injured most of last year, boost a unit that returns a promising running back in sophomore Kelley Joiner, who ran 78 times for 368 yards last season.

Four different USF linemen made one of the All-AAC preseason teams by either Phil Steele or Athlon.

3. A good linebacker unit: USF is expected to run a nickel defense, but the undeniable heart of the defense is its one-two punch at linebacker of Boyles and Grier. Both are legitimate all-conference contenders and if healthy give a boost to South Florida's defense, which finished No. 94 out of 127 FBS teams last year, surrendering 441.4 yards per game.

1. Dominate the line of scrimmage: Doeren said during his Monday press conference that winning up front is key for his team in general.

"I think that's programmatically how we win," Doeren said. "We have to win the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage."

That's especially true against a USF squad that had its issues on both sides of the ball a year ago. South Florida's defense accounted for seven sacks and 42 tackles for loss in nine games.

Its offense allowed 30 sacks and 81 tackles for loss. It's a dramatic disparity that will surely catch the eyes of the Wolfpack coaches.

2. Keep it clean: The major focal point for NC State this preseason has been eliminating what Doeren called immature mistakes: pre-snap and post-play penalties. NC State was 117th out of 127 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams a year ago in penalty yards per game (74.3).

That's one area where South Florida was much more respectable, picking up just 48.4 yards a contest (51st in the FBS).

South Florida also intercepted 10 passes, and has the ability to turn picks into big plays.

Eliminating the turnovers and penalties are two ways to prevent USF from gaining a sense of confidence.

3. Make the adjustments: Ideally the Pack starts strong, but it will be challenging with so many unknowns on the South Florida team from a personnel standpoint. USF also added a new passing game coordinator in Bobby Bentley.

With a full roster at his disposal, second-year head coach Jeff Scott will be able to throw new looks at NC State early in the contest. How quickly the Pack can make the adjustments will determine how soon the talent advantage NC State seems to enjoy will take hold.

7-1 Pack's record in season openers under Doeren, with the one loss coming in a neutral field showdown against South Carolina in 2017. The Pack has not lost a home opener with Doeren on the sideline.

200 Rushing yards allowed, minimum, by USF in six of its nine games last season. In a seventh contest, the opponent ran for 189 yards. Only one team was held to under 100 yards (Memphis at 98 yards, but the Tigers threw for 437 yards, too).

NC State ran for more than 200 yards only once last season, totaling 270 yards in the season opener against Wake Forest.

18.5 The point spread as of Tuesday afternoon in NC State's favor. The over/under is at 59 points.

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