NC State’s tight end room is almost completely new, but the Wolfpack believe they’ve got enough talent to keep the position productive.
After losing Justin Joly and Cody Hardy from last season, NC State is asking Preston Douglas, Hunter Provience and Vander Ploog to help fill the void. Head coach Dave Doeren has liked what he’s seen so far.
"I'm really impressed with Hunter [Provience]. You can tell he's played a lot of football," Doeren said.
"He's a winner, as you guys know. A [national] champion [at Montana State ].
He carries himself in a really good way. Has high expectations.
Holds himself accountable. He's good with his teammates.
Vander [Ploog]'s put on really good weight. Big athletic frame.
I'm so excited about him. Preston Douglas has been very consistent in training camp.
In the run game and the pass game."
Douglas is the only returning tight end on the roster with any real game experience in a Wolfpack uniform. As a true freshman, he caught one pass for 18 yards and played 52 snaps, the most of any tight end on the team. Now, with the position up for grabs, he sees a real chance to expand his role.
"It's definitely huge," Douglas said of his opportunity this offseason. "Having three seniors last year who were great influences really helped me prepare for this next season.
I've had to step up as a leader after bringing in some new guys on the team. I'm really ready for this season."
Douglas also had a front-row seat to Justin Joly’s breakout year and took notes along the way. Joly finished with 49 receptions for 489 yards and a career-high seven touchdowns, and Douglas said that helped show him what the move tight end spot can look like at NC State.
"He definitely helped me a lot," Douglas said of Joly. "He recognized that we had similar skillsets and could catch and run a little bit. Throughout the season, he would just teach me little skills and stuff like that to help me be prepared for this season and take it on."
Ploog brings a different kind of résumé to Raleigh. The Oregon transfer was a former four-star and Top247 tight end out of Fullerton, Cal., and redshirted last season for a Ducks team that went 13-2 and reached the College Football Playoff Semifinals. He spent that year behind future first-round pick Kenyon Sadiq before deciding to transfer.
Now, after about eight months with the Wolfpack, Ploog says the fit has been strong.
"It's been awesome being around a staff that really cares about the development of their players," Ploog said. "Our tight end room is super connected, so it's a bunch of guys that are going to push each other. We're guys that are all coming in early and staying late and watching film together."
He has also made major physical gains since arriving. Ploog entered January as one of the lightest tight ends on the roster, but after Dantonio Burnette’s strength and conditioning program, he’s up from 228 pounds to 253. That puts him just 10 pounds behind Provience, who checks in at 263.
Ploog also arrived from a situation where Dante Moore was under center, and Moore is projected to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in next year’s draft. At NC State, he’s already developed a connection with CJ Bailey and likes what he sees from the quarterback in Year 3.
"I've been blessed by always having an absolute dog at quarterback," Ploog said. "CJ's a kid who's got an absolute cannon of an arm and really knows football.
But I think what's most impressive about him is that he's got an ability to connect with everybody on the offense. To have that relationship with a guy that's throwing me the ball is awesome."
With Douglas, Provience and Ploog all competing for snaps and no clear order set yet, the room could easily turn tense. Instead, Ploog said the opposite is true under tight ends coach Gavin Locklear.
"It's been awesome," Ploog said. "It's a bunch of guys who are super close, so there's no animosity towards each other.
We're all here to make each other get better. The three we had last year all pushed each other and all made it to where they wanted to go.
That's the dream for us -- just to be able to keep pushing each other and be at the best ball we can get to."
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