Scouting Texas A&M

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Ahead of NC State's Monday night showdown with Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl, The Wolfpacker takes an in-depth look at the No. 19 Aggies:

Senior defensive tackle Daylon Mack — The 6-foot-1, 320-pounder was a top 60 recruit by Rivals.com in the class of 2015, but his last year of college was the first time he started. He finished the regular season with 29 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks, proving to be disruptive on the interior. He had two sacks in the crazy seven-overtime win over LSU. Mack was named the Most Improved Defensive Lineman Award at the annual banquet.

Sophomore wide receiver Quartney Davis — The former Rivals.com four-star prospect has blossomed this season. He has caught 43 passes for 546 yards and seven touchdowns, and boasts a good combination of size at 6-2 and 200 pounds with speed. He hauled in a season-high nine catches for 127 yards in the 26-23 win at South Carolina on Oct. 13, and he tallied seven receptions for 101 yards and two scores in the thriller against LSU.

Sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond — The signal-caller got his feet wet in 2017, but won the job and put together a quality first year as a starter this fall. He has gone 224-of-389 passing for 2,967 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions, and he also has rushed 144 times for 389 yards and six touchdowns. He threw for 430 yards and three touchdowns against Clemson, and also had 353 yards and a score in the 26-23 win at South Carolina on Oct. 13. Rivals.com ranked Mond the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country in the class of 2017.

Junior tight end Jace Sternberger — The 6-4, 250-pounder started his college career at Kansas and transferred to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M before landing in College Station. He was a consensus All-American this season after catching 47 passes for 804 yards and 10 touchdowns, and is like a wide receiver playing tight end. He had a season-high seven catches for 145 yards and a touchdown against South Carolina, and he had two touchdowns in three different contests.

Junior running back Trayveon Williams — The 5-9, 200-pounder isn’t the biggest or the fastest, but he’s shifty and has good explosion through the hole. Williams has rushed 252 times for 1,524 yards and 15 touchdowns, and has caught 27 passes for 278 yards and a score this season. Williams rushed for a season-high 240 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener against Northwestern State on Aug. 30, and also had 228 rushing yards and a touchdown against Ole Miss on Nov. 10. Williams has 581 career carries for 3,379 yards and 31 touchdowns over three years.

1. Quarterback Kellen Mond can also run: NC State will need to be aware of Mond’s scrambling ability, which is a new wrinkle for the Wolfpack defense. NC State hasn’t faced too many dual-threat quarterbacks, but Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey had 15 carries for 32 yards and a score in the Orange’s 51-41 win Oct. 27. Also, Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman rushed 13 times for 44 yards in the Demon Deacons’ 27-23 win Nov. 8.

Mond is a very capable scrambler and sometimes that is due to breakdowns from his offensive line, which got overwhelmed a bit against Clemson. Mond rushed at least 10 times in seven games, including 18 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown in the 45-23 loss at Alabama on Sept. 22. Mond rushed for 340 yards and three touchdowns last year, and increased his numbers to 144 carries for 389 yards and six scores this season.

2. Trayveon Williams is a workhorse running back: Texas A&M is one of the few teams that doesn’t really have a true second running back. Junior Trayveon Williams had seven games where he had at least 20 carries this season, and two other contests where he finished with at least 20 touches between rushing and catching the ball.

Williams struggled against Clemson and Alabama, rushing for 31 yards in both contests, and he had a season-low 26 rushing yards against Mississippi State. TAMU lost all three games when he was bottled up.

Conversely, Williams rushed for over 100 yards in eight contests, including over 225 yards twice. He also is a threat out of the backfield with six catches for 72 yards against Kentucky, and five receptions for 75 yards and a score at Auburn. Freshman backup running Jashuan Corbin rushed 57 times for 305 yards and a touchdown as his principle backup.

3. Secondary had issues this season: One theme that seemed to develop for the Aggies’ defense was struggling in the secondary with both tackling in the open field and defending the pass. To that end, sophomore Myles Jones was inserted into the starting lineup for three of the final four games, and his 6-4, 185-pound frame is unique for a cornerback. He ended up with 16 tackles, but more importantly broke up seven passes.

Teams have struggled rushing the football against Texas A&M — opponents average just 92.0 yards per game on the ground, which ranks second nationally — but that has led to opponents wanting to attack the Aggies' secondary. Opposing teams have thrown for over 300 yards three different times, led by Alabama tossing for 415 yards and four scores.

What will be interesting is that Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mike Elko faced the NC State offense when he was at Wake Forest (2014-2016) and Notre Dame (2017), so he has some familiarity with their most recent attacks.

1. Contain the Aggies run game: This is easier said than done, but the NC State defense will need to make Texas A&M one dimensional on offense. The Wolfpack played a miserable game in losing 41-7 to Clemson, but did do a quality job of stopping star Tigers running back Travis Etienne, who had 15 carries for 39 yards, plus three short touchdown runs. FSU running back Cam Akers had just 10 carries for 29 yards in the Wolfpack’s 47-28 win over the Seminoles. That said, Trayveon Williams is an elite college running back with enough wiggle and explosiveness to cause problems.

2. It is NC State sophomore Emeka Emezie’s time to shine: NC State sophomore wide receiver Emeka Emezie has big shoes to fill in trying to replace Kelvin Harmon in the Gator Bowl. Harmon had caught 81 passes for 1,186 yards and seven touchdowns this season, but elected to skip the game to protect his health for the NFL Draft. Emezie emerged this season in splitting time with Stephen Louis and eventually replacing the senior after he suffered a season-ending injury. The 6-3, 208-pound Emezie finished the regular season with 47 catches for 580 yards and five touchdowns, giving a preview of what is to come the next two years. He had five catches for a season-high 90 yards and a touchdown in the 35-21 win over Virginia on Sept. 29, and added seven grabs for 72 yards and a score in the 52-10 win at Louisville on Nov. 17.

3. Put pressure on Texas A&M’s offensive line: The Aggies' offensive line has only one senior starting and allowed 35 sacks this season. Clemson came up with four of them and won the battle of the trenches in its 28-26 victory. Alabama came through with seven quarterback takedowns in its win over Texas A&M, and Auburn had five in its loss to the Aggies. NC State’s defense might not have the high NFL Draft picks on the defensive line that Clemson and Alabama feature, but the Wolfpack quietly accumulated 35 sacks this season. The absence of linebacker Germaine Pratt, who notched six sacks, does hurt, but his replacement, redshirt sophomore Brock Miller, loves to blitz. He could loom large against quarterback Kellen Mond’s scrambling ability.

2 National ranking for Texas A&M’s rush defense, which held opponents to 92.0 rushing yards per game.

26.5 First downs per game for the Texas A&M offense, which ranks fourth in the FBS and first in the SEC this season.

51.2 Yards per punt for the freakish Braden Mann, who already owns the NCAA record for having 14 punts of at least 60 yards this season. He’s on pace to break the NCAA record of 50.3 yards per punt, and he won the Ray Guy Award for the nation's top player at his position.

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