During practice this week, NC State worked on a trick play where redshirt freshman receiver Thayer Thomas was going to take a lateral and then throw a pass. The coaches drilled into Thomas’ head to expect pressure and get the ball off quickly.
When the time came against Georgia State, the play more than worked. Thomas heaved a 56-yard completion to freshman running back Trent Pennix.
“They didn’t step up, so I had all day throw it,” Thomas recalled.
Beyond being an explosive play, there was another element to that pass that was significant. Thomas is from Wake County, playing his high school ball at Heritage High in Wake Forest. Pennix is also a local product. He played at Sanderson High in Raleigh.
Pennix would go on to score his first career touchdown on a reception later in the game, a 41-7 win for the Wolfpack. He had three catches for 66 yards and added 28 yards rushing on nine carries.
Pennix’s high school classmate, defensive tackle Alim McNeill, had his first career sacks — 1.5 of them by the end of the game. McNeill had a premonition he was going to get a sack Saturday afternoon, but he forgot to plan out what to do when it happened.
“The first thing I thought about was a celebration, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” McNeill admitted. “So just kind of stood there, but I am definitely going to have to come up with something.”
Late in the game, redshirt freshman quarterback Matthew McKay received his first taste of college football action. The product of Wakefield High in Raleigh would lead a short (12 yards) touchdown drive by running in from two yards out for the game's final score.
And then there was Thomas, who flashed in his first college game by returning a punt for 40 yards against James Madison and then later scoring on a 16-yard touchdown pass. He was dominant against Georgia State, hauling in nine passes for 114 yards, including a highlight reel moment with a one-handed five-yard touchdown grab on a third and goal.
Tthe former walk-on was given a scholarship in the spring, a gesture that many attributed to the fact that his younger brother Drake Thomas is a highly touted prospect in the 2019 class. The brothers will rejoin next year after Drake picked NC State over Clemson in June.
“I feel like a lot of people thought they put me on scholarship because of my brother and just because I work hard. I just wanted people to know I got put on scholarship because I can play, not just because of my work ethic,” Thomas said. “I work hard — I work really hard — but I wanted to prove that I can play and that I’m good enough.”
Collectively, the young players are showing the rewards of NC State’s diligent effort on the recruiting trail to take advantage of the growing football talent in Wake County.
Last year, NC State junior running back Nyheim Hines rushed for over 1,000 yards, and now he is in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts after being drafted in the fourth round. Hines, a product of Garner (N.C.) High, was part of a recruiting class in Wake County that included potential Heisman Trophy favorite Bryce Love, a senior running back at Stanford.
A year behind them was defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who like Love was from Wake Forest High. Lawrence is now at Clemson and one of the elite defensive prospects in the country for next year’s NFL Draft. His younger brother Devon signed with UNC last December.
“Wake County has definitely developed a lot of great ball players. I can say that for sure,” Pennix noted.
When Thayer Thomas was in the seventh grade, he played Pop Warner Football with his younger brother, Pennix, McNeill, the Lawrences and Reid Herring, now the starting quarterback at ECU, for the North Raleigh Bulldogs, a team that won the Pop Warner Super Bowl in 2011.
Now those players are starting to find their success in college.
“It just let you know … we take it real serious coming here,” McNeill noted. “People talk a lot, that ‘North Carolina football is not that great.’ I beg to differ.”
There could be more to come for NC State. Freshman running back Ricky Person Jr. from Heritage High in Wake Forest missed the Georgia State game with presumably an injury but has high expectations. Freshman defensive end Joe Boletepeli, who played first at Millbrook High in Raleigh before transferring to Heritage High, saw his first collegiate action and assisted on a tackle.
If you count Clayton (N.C.) High, which is near the Wake County border, three more local products are coming next year, including Clayton’s four-star, Rivals250 defensive end Savion Jackson. NCSU is also among the leaders for three-star Clayton safety J.R. Walker.
NC State has managed to keep plenty of talent home, and it’s already forecasting a promising future. Yet it is the one that was a preferred walk-on who might end up leading the way.
“Thayer is playing at a high level,” head coach Dave Doeren noted. “I think sometimes guys get categorize in a walk-on category. People think thye just overachieve, and they are not that great of an athlete. He is an overachiever, but he is a tremendous athlete.
“He’s got great quickness. He is much faster than people give him credit for. He’s got good ball skills, he works really hard and he’s tough.”
“I’ve known Thayer my whole life,” McNeill added. “It doesn’t surprise me at all.”
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