Here is a scouting report on Wake Forest, who NC State travels to play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Five Wake Forest players to watch
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Hartman
The 6-foot-1, 208-pounder from Charlotte, N.C., has gone 188-of-301 passing for 2,873 yards, 27 touchdowns and five interceptions in nine games this season. He also has added a career-high 285 rushing yards on 62 carries and eight scores. He is fresh off of throwing 25-of-51 passing for 398 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in the 58-55 loss at North Carolina, plus 12 carries for 78 rushing yards and two scores.
Hartman enters Saturday’s game tied for first all-time in school history with Riley Skinner with 60 passing touchdowns in his Wake Forest career. He has thrown for over 300 yards in five straight game.
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver A.T. Perry
The 6-5, 206-pound Perry is from Lake Worth, Fla., and has emerged in the absence of injured Donavon Greene. Perry has 42 catches for 845 yards and 10 touchdowns this season, crushing his numbers from last year — 15 grabs for 211 yards and a score.
Perry has reached over 116 yards in five different games, including the last four. He had six receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns against UNC. He exploded for seven catches for 155 yards and a score in a win over Florida State on Sept. 18.
Redshirt senior rover Traveon Redd
The 6-0, 201-pounder from Martinsville, Va., has become a forced turnover machine this season. He has forced two fumbles, snagged three interceptions this season (for 87 yards) and recovered one fumble. Redd has added 42 tackles, two tackles for loss and half a sack this season. He had a season-high 11 tackles in the win over Louisville.
Redd has started 26 of 54 games he has played in at Wake Forest, and is a three-year starter. He has 163 career tackles, 12.5 tackle for loss, four picks and two sacks over the last five years.
Redshirt junior wide receiver Jaquarii Roberson
The 6-1, 182-pounder from Murfreesboro, N.C., who attended Ahoskie (N.C.) Hertford County, has become next in line in Wake Forest’s lineage of successful college wide receivers. He has 50 receptions for 848 yards and eight touchdowns this season, and has snagged 125 passes for 1,928 yards and 17 touchdowns in 36 career games.
Roberson has been rolling of late with over 111 receiving yards in four of the last five games. He exploded for eight grabs for 157 yards and three touchdowns in the shootout over Army on Oct. 23. Roberson had seven catches for 75 yards and a score last year against NC State on Sept. 19, 2020.
Junior kicker Nick Sciba
The Clover, S.C., native was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist the last two years. Sciba has gone 15 of 16 on field goals with a long of 46 yards, plus has made all 46 extra points for 85 points. His lone miss was a 26-yarder in the 45-7 win over Duke on Oct. 30.
Sciba has gone 72-of-80 on field goals for 90.0 percent, which is the best mark in NCAA and ACC history. He’s currently tied with former Louisiana-Lafayette kicker Brett Baer, who played from 2009-12. The ACC all-time leader is Roberto Aguayo, who made 88.5 percent of his field goals from 2013-15.
What to watch for from Wake Forest
1. Three receivers who can make plays: The one-two punch of redshirt junior Jaquarii Roberson and redshirt sophomore A.T. Perry has become the best statistical duo in the country. They’ve combined for 92 catches for 1,692 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. They are the only pair of teammates who rank in the to 15 nationally in receiving touchdowns and top 20 in receiving yards.
Taylor Morin is proving to be a sneaky-good third option for Wake Forest. The 5-10, 176-pound freshman had two catches for 66 yards and a touchdown against UNC, and had 26 catches for 377 yards and four scores this sea on.
2. Score a lot of points: Wake Forest is the only team in the country to score at least 35 points in every game this season. The Demon Deacons have scored at least 40 points in six of nine games this season. The strong offensive efforts have helped WFU have a halftime lead in all but one game this season. WFU led 45-27 with 7:38 left in the third quarter during the UNC loss.
Wake Forest is averaging 508.7 yards per game and averages 74.6 plays per game. WFU is third in the country in scoring (44.7) and sixth in total offense. What has also helped the Demon Deacons is bing plus-9 in turnover margin with creating 18 turnovers, while only having nine turnovers.
3. Allow a lot of points: Wake Forest’s defense has been good against the weaker teams in the ACC — FSU and Duke. The one good defensive performance was defeating Virginia 37-17 on Sept. 24. However, UVA quarterback Brennan Armstrong still completed 33 passes for 407 yards and two scores.
Louisville scored 34, Syracuse had 37 in overtime, Army poured on 56 and UNC hung 58 on the Demon Deacons. That is allowing some serious damage. Giving up 24 points in the fourth quarter against the Tar Heels will be cause for some deep reflecting.
Three keys to the game for NC State football
1. Show patience: NC State knows it is coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier to stop it seems. Hartman will take the snap, and will look like he’s in slow motion in maybe giving the ball to a tailback in a run-pass option.
NC State’s defensive backs can’t get sucked up into the play-action and then have a Wake Forest wide receiver slip behind them for a big gain when Hartman keeps the ball and goes downfield.
2. Stuff the run: Wake Forest is averaging 4.7 rushing yards on 360 carries, but starting running back Christian Beal-Smith of Kernersville (N.C.) East Forsyth High got hurt with a minute left in third quarter of the UNC loss.
Justice Ellison is a smaller back at 5-10 and 204 pounds, but he can get around the corner. He has 77 carries for 421 yards and four scores this season. Neither Beal-Smith or Ellison is as good as former WFU back Kenneth Walker of Michigan State, but it gives defenses hope in making the Demon Deacons one-dimensional on offense.
3. Establish Zonovan Knight, Ricky Person: NC State has struggled to run the football against Louisville and Florida State, but should get untracked against the Wake Forest defense. UNC quarterback Sam Howell got the hype after last Saturday’s big comeback win over Wake Forest, but it was running back Ty Chandler that delivered the big plays.
Chandler rushed 22 times for 213 yards and four touchdowns, plus caught a 30-yard pass. The Tennessee transfer averaged 9.7 rushing yards per carry against the Demon Deacons. NC State running backs Zonovan Knight and Ricky Person should feast against WFU, which also help control the time of possession.
Three numbers of note
12 Number of players who have forced a turnover for Wake Forest, led by a team-high Traveon Redd. The Demon Deacons have eight interceptions and have recovered 10 of 12 forced fumbles.
22 Players from the state of North Carolina on the Wake Forest roster. NC State has 74.
44.7 Points per game by the Wake Forest offense, which would shatter last year’s record-breaking mark of 36.0.
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