NC State’s defense has spent fall camp talking about a missing ingredient, and Harvey Dyson looks like the cleanest answer on the roster.
Defensive coordinator DJ Eliot said last week that his group has the personnel to do what he wants in year two at NC State, and the Tulane transfer is the kind of edge rusher who can change the math fast. Dyson arrived in Raleigh this offseason with one year of eligibility left, and he brings exactly the sort of résumé Eliot was searching for after last season’s pressure didn’t turn into enough sacks.
“Harvey, the good thing about him is he's a veteran player, right?” Eliot said.
“Pass rush is a great skill set of his and a lot of that comes from experience. He's had a lot of reps against a lot of tackles in a lot of situations.
And so, it's good to have a veteran player as an edge rusher.”
The production backs it up. In 2025 at Tulane, Dyson piled up 36 total tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and a conference-best eight sacks.
He earned Third Team All-American Athletic Conference honors and helped the Green Wave reach the College Football Playoff. Pro Football Focus gave him a 90.4 pass-rush grade, one of the strongest marks for any edge defender in the country.
There’s also some familiarity baked into the transition. Dyson’s college career started at Texas Tech, where he played alongside current Wolfpack defensive lineman Joseph Adedire.
For Eliot, though, the bigger issue isn’t getting into the backfield. It’s finishing there.
“Last year, Sabastian [Harsh] and Cian [Slone], they got their fair share of pressure, but we didn't get our fair share of sacks,” Eliot said. “And so the big part this year is the finish.
The finish. It's not just the hit on the quarterback.
It's the finish. It's making sure that we sack him.
We don't just hit him.”
He drove the point home even further.
“We want to sack the ball.”
Dyson already has that mindset. In Tulane’s College Football Playoff first-round game against Ole Miss, he had a sack and a forced fumble, exactly the kind of ending Eliot has been hammering during camp.
Asked about the emphasis, Dyson didn’t leave much room for interpretation.
“No, definitely 100 percent,” Dyson said. “I had two forced fumbles last year coming off of sacks.
But with that being the point of emphasis when I got here, I just feel like that's something that's already instilled in my mind. And I feel like by bringing my previous knowledge and my experience, I could do a good job with helping that issue.”
Dyson also made it clear he understands the kind of statement NC State wants its defense to make this fall.
“When I hear NC State, I think about defense,” Dyson said. “Even if that mindset has transferred the last few years, well, we're here to bring it back. NC State is a defensive team.”
The numbers are one thing. The edge presence is another. But Dyson has also made an impression in the room, and defensive tackle Josiah Victor said the transfer has already helped set the tone.
“Oh man, that's my dog,” Victor said. “I remember this one play I made.
He came up to me, and he smacked the crap out of my head. I turned around, and he was like, 'Let's go!
Let's do this.' So after that, he motivates me a lot.
He motivates me a lot. He's an older dude.
He's going to be in the league after this year.”
Dyson only has one season in Raleigh, and that urgency has been obvious. The staff knows it.
The locker room knows it. And for a defense trying to reestablish itself under Eliot, that kind of edge can matter just as much as the sacks.
Virginia is 25 days away, and Dyson plans to use every one of them.
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