7/27/2021 football Edit

Three Wolfpack players make preseason All-ACC team

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

Three NC State football players made the ACC's preseason all-conference team as voted by 147 media members in attendance at the 2021 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte last week.

Redshirt sophomore running back Zonovan "Bam" Knight and sophomore left tackle Ikem Ekwonu made the offensive team, and redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson made the defensive roster.

NC State picked to finish second in Atlantic Division in preseason ACC poll

The Wolfpacker's 2021 preseason ACC football projected order of finish

The Wolfpacker's 2021 preseason All-ACC football teams

Here were the final results:

NC State Wolfpack football Zonovan Knight — NC State running back Zonovan Knight (right) and offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu (left) each earned top five positional rankings for the 2022 NFL Draft class by PFF. (ACC media)

2021 Preseason All-ACC Football Team (Total votes in parenthesis)

Offense

QB Sam Howell, North Carolina (118)

RB Zonovan Knight, NC State (96)

RB Mataeo Durant, Duke (49)

WR Justyn Ross, Clemson (110)

WR Zay Flowers, Boston College (101)

WR Jaquarii Roberson, Wake Forest (80)

TE James Mitchell, Virginia Tech (77)

AP Jahmyr Gibbs, Georgia Tech (56)

OT Ikem Ekwonu, NC State (83)

OT Jordan McFadden, Clemson (53)

OG Zion Johnson, Boston College (82)

OG Joshua Ezeudu, North Carolina (56)

C Alec Lindstrom, Boston College (77)

Defense

DE Myles Murphy, Clemson (108)

DE Amare’ Barno, Virginia Tech (63)

DT Bryan Bresee, Clemson (120)

DT Tyler Davis, Clemson (53)

LB Payton Wilson, NC State (99)

LB James Skalski, Clemson (95)

LB Nick Jackson, Virginia (37)

CB Andrew Booth Jr., Clemson (86)

CB Tony Grimes, North Carolina (55)

S Bubba Bolden, Miami (100)

S Nolan Turner, Clemson (85)

Special Teams

PK Nick Sciba, Wake Forest (69)

P Lou Hedley, Miami (84)

SP Jahmyr Gibbs, Georgia Tech (60)

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Statistically speaking, Knight is the best returning running back in the conference this fall. He's the league's top returning rusher and all-purpose yards producer, and he didn't even lead his team in carries last season. That will likely change this fall, and if it does, the video game numbers will only go up once again.

Ekwonu is the league's top returning run blocker according to Pro Football Focus's (PFF) season grades from 2020. He also led the Wolfpack with 50 pancake blocks and was named "the most feared lineman in the ACC" by The Athletic earlier this summer.

Wilson led the ACC with 108 tackles in 2020, becoming the first Wolfpack player to accomplish the feat since 2000. He produced a team-high 11.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, 6.0 quarterback hurries, 2.0 interceptions and 1.0 pass breakup. He was a consensus first-team All-ACC linebacker last fall.

The Wolfpack was also picked second in the ACC Atlantic Division in the league's preseason projected order of finish poll.