NC State Football: 2024 Year in Review

The 2024 football season was one that was covered in praise and expectations preseason. This was the time that Dave Doeren would finally reach the 10 win mark in a season. “ACC Championship or bust” was the mindset for so many of the Wolfpack faithful, some even looking ahead to how State could find itself amongst the teams selected in the new 12 team College Football Playoff bracket. After the miraculous run to the Final Four we saw Kevin Keatts and the Wolfpack men’s basketball team make, the faith in football began using the same mantra…why not us. Think about it, why not the Pack? The 2023 team won 5 games in a row to close out the regular season and yet again sat at the 9 win mark. Considering all the offensive talent NC State brought to Raleigh in the ‘24 offseason which on paper was far more talented than the offensive personnel in ‘23, the return of KC Concepcion (who was named Rookie of the Year in the ACC), returning multiple key players on an NC State defense that was one of the country’s best the last few seasons, and lastly what appeared to be a very favorable schedule. 2024 was the year of the Wolfpack. A long awaited ACC Championship for the men’s basketball team, Final Four appearances for both men’s and women’s basketball, Elliott Avent returned the Wolfpack baseball team to Omaha for the 3rd time in 11 years. Football had been so close to reaching those levels of success, but hadn’t yet reached the mountain top. 2024 had to be the year to do it, right? Right? That was not even remotely the case. A comedy of errors held NC State even farther back from those goals than what had been seen in years past. Many of these mistakes we had seen before in the Doeren era that proved to be detrimental then and even more so in ‘24. So many things can be said about the embarrassment that was the 2024 NC State football season, but these are my thoughts.

Let me begin by saying I do believe that the offseason moves made by NC State were the right ones. It was apparent that more offensive firepower and weapons were needed. KC was quite literally just about the only threat State had on the field last season. Bringing in other talented guys to help him out was never the wrong move. What really soured things though is HOW these new personnel pieces were used, or lack thereof. Entering this season, and even after week 1, KC was still target #1 and deservedly so. After an unreal freshman campaign and then appearing as he hadn’t skipped a beat in the season opener, the philosophy was to get the ball to him early and often. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It worked in ‘23 and appeared as it would in ‘24 too. The KC we all had come to know and love was withering away as the season went on though and it was quite obvious. His body language changed (something I pointed out early on and received tons of criticism for), arguments on the sideline, just walking on and off the field. It was apparent that KC in ‘24 wasn’t what he was in ‘23. One would think that some different methods to move the football would be used, no? Wrong again. The incessant need to get KC the ball by Robert Anae went through the progressions of smart early on, to head scratching as it happened more, and finished at down right mind boggling. Over and over and over KC would be given the ball behind the line of scrimmage, outnumbered by defenders many times, and just left out to dry to make a play. The entire point of the transfer portal haul was to surround KC with weapons. Guys like Noah Rogers, Wesley Grimes, and Justin Joly were all sparingly used as the continued efforts to get Concepcion the football and make plays (in such an ineffective method I might add) continued. The flashes we saw from those guys were quite encouraging, especially from Joly, and yet Anae’s philosophy was still to give Concepcion touch after touch in situations where the likely rate of success is miniscule or hand out snaps and/or targets to what seemed like every receiver on the roster. Joly is an NFL talent, everyone knows that. Rogers was criminally underutilized early in the season, and Grimes has been Mr. Consistent for the receivers all year long. Anae had no problem whatsoever in giving KC persistent targets, why wasn’t this the case with Joly? The upside and potential to run an offense smoothly through any of the other 3 receivers mentioned was higher than forcing the ball to Concepcion time and time again. The passing game felt like trying to force a square block through a circle shaped hole.

Similar problems were seen in the run game. State struggled to form a rushing attack for several weeks into the season. Duke transfer Jordan Waters wasn’t quite what we had hoped to see, Kendrick Raphael was taking a bulk of the carries, and Oklahoma transfer Hollywood Smothers was in the mix. But then something clicked in the Stanford game. From that point forward State rushed for over 100 yards in every remaining game except for one (83 rushing yards vs Duke). How can that be bad you might ask? Well while the run game as a whole was better, the hot hand still wasn’t being fed. Hollywood Smothers proved to be that guy more often than not, with Waters and Raphael still having their quality moments as well, but whoever may be the hot hand on that day was still not getting the ball consistently. The most blatant example of this is against ECU where Hollywood Smothers rushed for 139 yards on 15 carries and did not touch the ball a single time in the 3rd quarter or in crunch time when State had the opportunity to put the game away. The philosophy of Anae, Doeren, whoever it may be is almost as if it’s a youth league team. Everyone gets to play and touch the ball so no one gets upset. This is division I, power 4 conference football. Winning is the ONLY thing that matters. Receivers and running backs are your skill players, the best ones need to touch the ball the most. State had ELEVEN players get targeted in the Military Bowl. What OC in their right mind would willingly pass around touches/targets like it’s a bowl of candy? And to continue that, what head coach allows it to happen? The rotational pieces just make absolutely no sense and are so predictable. Whenever Demarcus Jones, Reid Mitchell, or Matt McCabe entered the game at any given point this season myself and other fans sitting around would audibly say what was coming up. And I heard similar stories of people doing the same seated all over the stadium. If us fans are figuring that out, then coaches on opposing sidelines have to just be laughing at how obvious some of Anae’s sets were. 

The quarterback situation was unfortunate (heard that before?). Nobody can help that Grayson McCall got injured and then suffered a career ending injury just mere plays into his return. But that doesn’t mean there were still some question marks regarding the situation prior to all of that occurring. Doeren, Anae, and Roper were well aware of McCall’s injury struggles. Not to mention the fact that McCall only appeared in a few games last season due to injury and was yet to play a complete season his entire collegiate career. Three-time Sun Belt player of the year speaks for itself and is very tempting don’t get me wrong, but knowing the injury history with McCall, was pulling the trigger on him truly the best move for State? Especially since the QB situation for the Pack had been topsy-turvy for the last 2 seasons prior. Stability was the name of the game at that position. We will never know what the “correct” decision was since the injury bug for McCall reared its ugly head yet again. In the time we did see him on the field though, McCall didn’t appear to be as sharp as expected. The ball came out slow, appeared to be timid to run, arm strength was a little off, and the head scratching thing was the decision making was slow. Again, sadly we will never know if those things would’ve improved with time for McCall. We know what McCall had in the arsenal and I’m not saying he would’ve shown it, but I’m also not saying he wouldn’t have gotten the job done either. The role we can all remember Grayson McCall for is the mentor to CJ Bailey. Bailey was thrown into an unfair situation and performed better than any true freshman QB could be expected to. Yes there were the freshman “growth” moments. Some questionable decision making at times, some indecisiveness, but overall CJ gave the Wolfpack what was needed and that’s solid QB play. For the first time since the offseason heading into ‘22, State knows who the starting QB for next season is as soon as the bowl game ended.

Defensively, this season was quite frankly a disaster. The bread and butter of Tony Gibson defenses over the years has been to stop the run. Above all else, stop the run. Boy was that not the case this season. NC State’s defense gave up 157/ypg on the ground at nearly a 5 yards per carry clip. The Pack defense gave up over 100 yards on the ground in 10 of 13 games this season. Out of those 10 games, State’s defense gave up 200+ rushing yards on 3 separate occasions and allowed a 300+ rushing yard game against ECU. We knew Payton Wilson was irreplaceable, but he covered many more holes than we thought. The season ending injury to Caden Fordham did Gibson and co. no favors either. At the time of his injury, Fordham led the ACC in tackles and was the designated “green dot” helmet communication player. Heading into the season, after the departure of Wilson many people circled Davin Vann and Ayden White as leaders of the defense. Both veteran guys who had moments of brilliance during their time in Raleigh up to that point. Vann lived up to the expectations in ‘24 and was without a doubt State’s best defensive player. White on the other hand was quite the let down. After being a lock down corner the past two seasons, White was exposed time and time again in 2024. Devon Marshall even took over that corner position for a period of time. Having a player that was slated to be a cornerstone of the defense perform at an all time low is never a recipe for success. There were some bright spots defensively though, the emergence of Bishop Fitzgerald and Kamal Bonner coming to mind, as well as the play of Brandon Cleveland down the stretch. Those three return for the Wolfpack in ‘25 and hope to be the anchors of the defense next season.

Lastly, and this is my biggest issue, is where is the backbone of this coaching staff and administration? This was supposed to be THE year. More than likely the schedule isn’t going to get any more favorable than what this team was given this year. Players are the ones out there actually throwing the ball, making catches, blocking, tackling, all that good stuff, and there were plenty of moments where mistakes were the fault of a player. But above all, the errors and inconsistency we saw this season I am putting on the coaching staff. We have seen Doeren led teams fold late in games before, playing “not to lose” rather than to go out and take the game. This year that was personified tenfold. Wake Forest, Syracuse, Duke, GT (I realize the turnovers here), and ECU are all losses where some sense of urgency and uptempo aggressiveness could have gone a long way. Turn around those games and we are viewing this season in a completely different light. Doeren is a defensive football coach, we all know that. He would much rather win a game in a defensive slugfest than a 51-50 shootout. Dave relied on his defense in crucial moments time and time again the last couple of seasons. But this year, the defense just didn’t have what it took to win State a football game. Yet when it got down to crunch time with a lead rather than running what was working offensively, we saw just about every time the offense go into a shell and produce a 3 and out. Completely passive. No chances, no aggression, nothing. 3 inside gives and a punt more times than not. The struggling defense then has to get a stop with around 2 minutes left which it failed to do so many times. The unwillingness to change from DD and even other coaches is beyond me. Extra possessions in each of the losses I mentioned earlier without a doubt could have won the game. In game stuff aside, the performance against in-state foes was completely unacceptable. Losses to Wake Forest, Duke, and ECU with the lone in-state win coming against UNC. Doeren has shown over and over he can beat UNC with regularity, that’s not the issue. It’s struggling with the other 3 that is. State has more talent on the roster than each of the 3 of the in-state schools that came in and beat the Pack this season. How far is just beating UNC going to take you? I love beating those guys from Chapel Hill but when the coach and staff of NC State proclaim that the Wolfpack is the football brand in North Carolina going 1-3 against in-state teams doesn’t cut it. Doeren has shown fire and angst against UNC but really hasn’t against the other in-state foes and has struggled with them far more than he has the Tar Heels. These games matter. I hate losing to the other 3, especially Wake Forest and ECU. Us fans will remember the comments made and actions shown from ECU people, we will be ready to rock-n-roll come August 30th but it really bothers me that I question if our head coach and staff will have the same fire and motivation to not let that happen again. Those same 4 in-state opponents are on the schedule in 2025 as well, what will the response be? My final point is regarding the state of the program moving forward. We are already replacing Gibson at defensive coordinator. Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay had his “test run” as DC in the bowl game and it was a disaster. If State settles for FAL as the new DC then I truly question the commitment to winning from the program. Our questions regarding Robert Anae’s future at NC State have been answered just today. Kurt Roper will be taking over as offensive coordinator. Roper has been in the program as a position coach for several years but is being handed the reins of the offense. Don’t love the move, would have really liked to see State pursue a young up-and-comer. But don’t hate the move either. If Roper can show us some more aggressiveness and willingness to use key players as they should be used, you won’t hear many complaints from me. Kind of just feeling “meh” about that hire at the moment but willing to give Roper a chance. I worked for him with the QB’s in the spring of 2019.

I love NC State football and no matter what happened this season I will be back at Carter-Finley on August 30th. The Pack has talent, the Pack has experienced players. Playing smart and playing aggressive is the KEY to success moving forward. Thanks for reading, it really means a lot! Go Pack!

-Bobby Black