The Wolfpacker Awards: NC State football's 2020 season

With the college football season completed, and NC State having recorded an 8-4 ledger that included a 7-3 mark in the ACC and a TaxSlayer Gator Bowl loss to Kentucky, it’s time to hand out some awards for the year.

The Wolfpacker duo of Matt Carter and Justin H. Williams share their honors:

Matt Carter

I am tempted to give a hot take of sorts and give it to the team for being able to play a full season, bowl included, without interruptions once it started. The tight-knit bond and team chemistry on this group seemed as good as any at NC State.

But that would also be cheating.

So my vote goes to redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson. I believe that junior nose tackle Alim McNeill was probably the best player on the team, but Wilson plays at a position that has more opportunities to make plays, and he was able to lead the ACC in tackles despite missing two games.

Wilson should receive consideration for the ACC preseason Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2021.

Justin H. Williams

Most of my picks will differ from Matt, but I have to agree with Mr. Carter on this one.

Wilson became the first NC State player since Levar Fisher in 2000 to lead the ACC in tackles. He also led the league in tackles per game (10.8), tallying 108 stops over 10 contests.

The hard-hitting redshirt sophomore also led the Pack in tackles for loss (11.5) and interceptions (two).

If you question his value to this team, just look at the Wolfpack's run defense numbers in the two games he missed. NC State went 0-2 and allowed an average of 297.5 rushing yards per game when Wilson was unavailable.

Since we're not handing out an offensive MVP, I'll give an honorable mention to redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman. Hockman may be an unconventional pick, but the fact is the back-up signal-caller led the Pack to a 5-4 record in the nine contests he started in place of the injured QB1, Devin Leary.

Without Hockman, the Wolfpack would have relied on a true freshman to lead the offense for a majority of the season. Ben Finley showed promise in four drives against North Carolina, but there's a reason the coaching staff stuck with the streaky veteran.

Matt Carter

I thought receiver Porter Rooks and defensive end Terrell Dawkins both deserved considerable attention, but in the end I chose redshirt freshman corner Shyheim Battle. He was the one freshman that was a full-time starter in 2020 and held up relatively well.

He finished the season with 36 tackles, including a sack, had an interception and led the team with 10 pass breakups.

Justin H. Williams

Battle and Rooks certainly deserve praise for solid freshman campaigns, but I'll award defensive end Terrell Dawkins with my Rookie of the Year vote.

Dawkins showed that he will be a problematic pass-rusher in the ACC for the foreseeable future. He had the second-most tackles (36) and tackles for loss (9.0) on the defensive line

Dawkins also tied for a team high with two forced fumbles and had the second-most sacks (4.5) on the Wolfpack. No freshman in the league had more sacks.

Matt Carter

He is moving on from NC State after apparently coming to the conclusion that the Wolfpack is going full speed ahead with redshirt sophomore Devin Leary as its starter, but redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman deserves a lot of respect for helping navigate the Wolfpack to its final record.

Hockman went 5-4 as the Wolfpack’s starter by completing 64.3 percent of his passes for 2,088 yards and 13 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Compare that to 2019 when he completed 55.7 percent of his passes for 546 yards with one score and four interceptions, leaving many to wonder if he had what it took to be a starting quarterback in the ACC.

Justin H. Williams

When senior wide receiver Emeka Emezie switched his jersey number back to No. 86 from a one-year stint of wearing No. 3 in 2019, the pass-catcher said he was doing it in an effort to get back to his true self.

Emezie would be the first to admit that his 2019 campaign was a disappointment. It was his first season as the Pack's primary receiving threat.

This fall, Emezie was noticeably more productive with far fewer targets than last season.

He gained 738 receiving yards (162 more than 2019) despite being targeted just 69 times (37 fewer than 2019). His reception numbers dropped slightly (47 in 2020 versus 56 in 2019), but his reception rate increased over 15 points to 68.1 percent.

The most noticeable difference in production from his junior to senior campaigns was his yards-after-catch numbers. Emezie totaled 199 yards after catch (4.2 YAC per reception) in 2020 compared to just 146 (2.6 YAC per reception) in 2019.

Matt Carter

This is an easy choice, since technically he was a reserve: sophomore running back Zonovan “Bam” Knight. Knight led NC State with 768 yards and 10 scores on the ground, and he averaged a team-best 5.5 yards per carry on his 143 runs while splitting the reps with junior Ricky Person Jr.

Justin H. Williams

If we're going with the logic that Bam Knight was a reserve this season, I'm emphatically going with him. To me, Knight was the best overall skill player on the team.

He had a team-high 1,297 all-purpose yards in 2020, 423 more than anyone else on the roster.

Anyone that follows my work knows that I have consistently been in the "Feed Bam" camp all season. Give him more carries in 2021, and I think he becomes a strong contender for next season's MVP.

Matt Carter

Raise your hand if you knew who redshirt sophomore safety Isaac Duffy-Webb was before the season began. Like Hockman, Duffy-Webb went into the transfer portal following the season, but not before the former walk-on left a huge mark on the 2020 season.

Pressed into action due to a slew of injuries and targeting-related issues at safety, Duffy-Webb performed well and finished the year with 27 tackles, including a pair for loss and a sack. He also intercepted a pass and broke up three more while forcing a fumble.

Duffy’s grade of 75.8 on defense by PFF was the third-highest mark on the team.

Justin H. Williams

It's tough to beat how impressive Duffy-Webb was as a former walk-on that played valuable snaps in various stretches of the season, but since I only gave Hockman an honorable mention for MVP, I'll give the lefty this one.

After Hockman struggled tremendously in the lopsided 45-24 road loss to Virginia Tech in game two, many among the Wolfpack faithful thought the season was over when Leary broke his leg in the second half of the Duke game.

Instead, Hockman led the Pack to a chalk record the rest of the way, including a four-game win streak to finish the regular season. Despite earning the reputation of a game manager with a tendency to turn the ball over, Hockman delivered in the closing stretch of the regular season.

After taking over as the team's starter in game six at North Carolina, Hockman threw 10 touchdowns and five interceptions in the final six games of the regular season. He also threw for at least 248 yards in five of his last six contests with the Pack.

Matt Carter

He is not a headliner on the defense, but in his first season as a starter, sophomore safety Jakeen Harris quietly assembled a quality campaign. He finished with 76 tackles, an interception and seven pass breakups. He finished third on the defense in both hits and PBUs.

Harris played some of his best football at the end, grading out on PFF at 67.7 or better (about 64.0 is considered average) in four of the final five games, including higher than 70.0 three times.

Justin H. Williams

Sophomore corner Cecil Powell was my preseason pick for breakout player of the year. He didn't necessarily get the praise in the big picture of the season, but the production was there.

Powell finished the year as the Pack's fourth-highest-graded defender according to PFF and was the team's sixth-leading tackler, finishing with 47 tackles. He also tallied four pass breakups, 3.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and was the highest-graded tackler in the secondary among players with at least 250 snaps according to PFF.

Matt Carter

I have a feeling Justin and I might be in agreement on this one. It’s hard to ignore redshirt junior Vi Jones’ two blocked punts and a blocked field goal. The latter literally won the game against Liberty on Nov. 21, and it’s quite possible that NC State needed Jones’ blocked punt against Duke, which was returned for a touchdown, to ultimately prevail in that contest on Oct. 17.

Justin H. Williams

Not so fast, Matt.

Jones' contributions on special teams were priceless. You can fairly credit him with two wins based on the game-changing blocks he tallied in the Duke and Liberty games.

With that said, I'm going to give my vote to junior placekicker Christopher Dunn.

Dunn's season numbers don't look as impressive as they would have had it not been for two head-scratching missed field goals in the Gator Bowl. Despite his struggles in the loss to Kentucky, Dunn still had a good season and lowered the blood pressure of many Wolfpack fans in field goal situations.

He made 12 of 17 kick attempts, including an impressive 2-of-3 mark on 50-plus-yard tries, and was a perfect 43 of 43 on PATs. He also broke the program record in the regular-season finale for most career field goal makes (56).

——

• Talk about it inside The Wolves' Den

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook