NC State’s 73-0 rout of Richmond opened the door for a full defensive roll call Friday night at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Wolfpack didn’t just cruise on offense. On the other side, they spread the work around so widely that 36 different defenders saw the field in the home opener, with several young players getting their first college action and a handful of veterans stacking up career-high snap totals.
Free safety Brody Barnhardt led the entire defense with 32 snaps despite not starting. Popo Aguirre paced the linebackers with 31, while Jaren Sensabaugh and Brian Nelson II each logged 31 at cornerback. On the defensive front, Adrian Farrow topped the line group with 21 snaps even though he wasn’t a starter and wasn’t on the two-deep entering the game.
The snap chart was full of notable swings. AJ Prim, a second-string defensive lineman, put together a career-high 20 snaps after not playing at all in 2025 following his arrival from the JUCO ranks before the season.
He actually out-snapped starter Isaiah Shirley, who finished with 11. Omarian Abraham, listed third on the depth chart before kickoff, got the start over KaTron Evans and Josiah Victor and played 17 snaps, compared with 16 for Evans and eight for Victor.
Colby Cronk also made his time count, recording a career-high 16 snaps and producing half a tackle for loss plus a Quarterback Hurry.
At linebacker, Harvey Dyson III started at JACK and led the position with 27 snaps. True freshman Jordan Moreta got his first college game under his belt with 19 snaps.
Bailey Benson started at WILL after AJ Richardson suffered a season-ending injury and played 13 snaps, while Penn State transfer Da’Kaari Nelson also finished with 13 in his first defensive work in a Wolfpack uniform. Ziggy Moore made his collegiate debut with 10 snaps, and Sterling Dixon added a career-high eight.
The secondary brought its own twists. Tristan Teasdell started over King Mack at strong safety and played 18 snaps, but Mack wound up with 26.
Ronnie Royal III started at free safety and logged 18, though Barnhardt ended up leading the whole unit. At nickel, Jackson Vick started and played 16 snaps, while UNC transfer Ty White posted a career-high 23, the most at the position.
There was one defensive player who didn’t see the field at all: Asaad Brown Jr. He played 22 snaps in the opener against Virginia, but sat out against Richmond. His status is something to watch heading into next week’s matchup against Vanderbilt.
The blowout also gave NC State a chance to get new faces onto the cornerback rotation. Georgia transfer Ondre Evans played six snaps, marking the first defensive snaps of his college career.
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After two weeks of college football, ESPNs FPI ratings have already started to shuffle the board, and NC State is among the teams that quietly benefited from the early movement. The Wolfpack moved back up after their 73-0 win over Richmond, a lopsided result that gave their projection a noticeable boost as the national model recalibrated around the early results across the sport.
The bigger picture, though, is still about where the season can take NC State from here. ESPN now projects the Wolfpack to six wins, which keeps bowl eligibility firmly in view while leaving plenty of room for the schedule to decide whether this team can turn a fast start into something more meaningful. The playoff talk remains a long shot, but even in September, the numbers are already showing a team that has put itself back in a more favorable spot. [Read more 🡒]
NC States Next Three Games Will Test This Start Fast
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For the Wolfpack, the timing matters as much as the opponents. The next few weeks will show whether that early momentum travels against better competition and whether the growing expectations around this start are built to last. A clean showing could make the Richmond win look like the first step in something real, while any slip would quickly turn the conversation toward how much margin NC State actually has. [Read more 🡒]