NC State’s fall camp is almost here, and with a roster that’s been reshuffled in plenty of places, the Wolfpack still has a few familiar anchors to lean on. Quarterback CJ Bailey, right tackle Teague Andersen, center Spike Sowells Jr. and running back Duke Scott are back on offense, while Jackson Vick and Brian Nelson II return in the secondary. The Pack also dipped into the portal for help, landing Tulane edge Harvey Dyson, Penn State safety King Mack, Miami linebacker Popo Aguirre and left tackle Jimarion McCrimon.
Amid all that movement, junior punter Jackson Waller checks in at No. 19 on Pack Power 247’s list of NC State’s most important players for the 2026 season.
Waller arrived in Raleigh with a strong résumé. At Katy (Texas) Taylor, he played in 25 varsity games and punted 100 times for 3,749 yards, a 37.49-yard average.
He also showed plenty of leg, booming a 79-yard punt and another one that went 70 yards as a junior. Over two seasons, he dropped 26 punts inside the 20-yard line.
That production earned him a five-star rating from Kohl's Kicking and the No. 15 spot among punters in the 2024 class.
His path took a few turns before landing at NC State. Waller signed with SMU in the 2024 recruiting cycle but didn’t play that fall.
After the season, he transferred to Arkansas State, where he handled 59 punts in 2025 and averaged 41.3 yards per kick. He also placed 19 punts inside the 20 and had eight punts of 50 yards or more.
Once that season ended, he entered the transfer portal, visited NC State on Jan. 5 and committed during that trip. He made his intentions public the next day.
NC State’s punting tradition gives the job some weight. The Wolfpack have had Trenton Gill, AJ Cole and Caden Noonkester in the last decade alone, and Waller is now part of that lineage.
By all accounts, he made a strong impression on the staff during his first six months on campus. And with NC State facing questions on both sides of the ball - including the need to replace eight starters on defense - field position could matter a lot this fall.
The Wolfpack may be better on that side of the ball, but there are still going to be growing pains. That makes Waller’s role a real one: if NC State is going to hit its ceiling, he needs to deliver.
In Other News...
NC State Roster Update Just Changed How Wolfpack Fans View Eligibility
The NCAAs latest eligibility overhaul has already started to show up in NC States football roster, and it changes the way fans have to read the depth chart. With the Division I Cabinet approving a model that gives student-athletes up to five years of eligibility if they enroll on time, the old layers of redshirt rules and season-of-competition math suddenly look a lot less important, and the Wolfpacks roster page has been updated to reflect that new reality.
For a program trying to plan beyond the current season, the appeal is obvious: roster management gets simpler, and players can be tracked on a cleaner timeline instead of through a maze of waivers and exceptions. It also means some familiar names now carry longer runway than fans may have expected, with the roster showing extended eligibility across multiple classes as NC State adjusts to a system that is already reshaping how college football teams think about the future. [Read more 🡒]
Where NC States Offensive Transfers Landed As Rebuild Pressure Mounts
NC States offense spent the 2026 offseason losing more than just depth pieces, with several transfers taking proven production and future upside out of the program. Running back Hollywood Smothers, left tackle Jacarrius Peak, wide receivers Noah Rogers and Terrell Anderson, and quarterback Lex Thomas all moved on after making notable contributions in Raleigh, leaving the Wolfpack with a very different look as the roster turns over.
The departures sharpen the pressure on a unit that now has to be rebuilt with returning players and new additions in key spots. Duke Scott and Davion Gause are part of the answer at running back, Jimariou McCrimon is among the names expected to help, and the receiver room has to be remade quickly enough to keep the offense from feeling the full weight of those exits. [Read more 🡒]