NC State left Virginia with plenty to sort through on offense, and the snap counts tell a pretty clear story about where the Wolfpack was leaning - and where it probably should look harder next.
In a 34-8 loss to the Cavaliers, second-year center Spike Sowells was the only offensive player to stay on the field for all 56 snaps. He was also NC State’s best pass blocker up front, a strong follow-up to the Freshman All-American recognition he earned last season.
The rest of the line mostly matched the expected starters. Kamen Smith played 54 snaps, Yousef Mugharbil 52 and Teague Andersen 50.
The wrinkle came at left tackle, where Jimarion McCrimon was limited to 33 snaps after leaving for part of the game with an injury. Rico Jackson stepped in and handled 35 snaps, giving the Wolfpack a veteran option who can move around the line.
He saw work at right and left guard, too. McCrimon, though, was productive while he was in there, finishing with NC State’s best overall PFF grade on the offensive line and the top run-blocking grade as well.
At receiver, the starters naturally led the way. Keenan Jackson played 37 snaps, Victor Snow 31 and Jojo Trader 23.
The surprise was Ashton Locklear, the fourth-year walk-on, who logged 20 snaps and ranked fourth among the wideouts. Half of those came as a run blocker, and he was targeted once.
It’s a nice story for Locklear, but it also raises an obvious question about how much trust the staff has in the more expensive portal additions.
That’s where Davion Dozier stands out. The Appalachian State transfer had the fewest snaps of NC State’s scholarship receivers, finishing with 16.
Still, when he was on the field, Bailey seemed willing to find him. Dozier tied for second on the team with three targets and caught two passes.
Chance Robinson and Tyran Warren combined for three targets and did not record a catch. With the Wolfpack struggling to separate against Virginia, Dozier feels like a name worth watching when Richmond comes to town on September 11th.
The backfield usage was even stranger. Davion Gause played 17 snaps and never touched the ball, either as a runner or a receiver.
That stands out even more because it wasn’t as if NC State had a huge ground workload to distribute; starter Duke Scott finished with just 7 carries. Gause still got a meaningful chunk of playing time, but the offense never gave him a chance to do anything with it.
Tight end brought one of the more intriguing developments. Hunter Provience was listed as the starter before the game, but the “OR” between his name and Preston Douglas ended up looking justified. Douglas played 26 snaps, while Provience was right behind him at 24.
And then there was Vander Ploog. The second-year tight end, who transferred in from Oregon this offseason, played only 8 snaps but made them count.
He caught 2 passes for a team-high 25 receiving yards. Small sample, sure, but Ploog looked like the most complete tight end NC State put on the field.
Given how the offense looked Saturday, that’s the kind of production that could earn him a longer look against Richmond.
In Other News...
Former NC State Players Made Some Tough NFL Roster Decisions Interesting
The NFL preseason wrapped up with a familiar cluster of former NC State players scattered across rosters, trying to turn August snaps into something more permanent. Thirteen ex-Wolfpack standouts took part in the finale for different teams, and the last game action offered one more snapshot of who helped themselves with steady tackling, pressure off the edge, catches in traffic or clean coverage before roster cuts begin to hit.
For a program that keeps pushing talent into the league, these late-summer showings matter because they often shape the difference between a practice squad opportunity and a more secure spot elsewhere. Not every former Pack player was available for the finale, but the ones who did suit up left enough behind in the stat sheet and the grading reports to make the decisions around them a little more interesting than the average preseason final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
NC State Sent A Big Wave Of Talent To NFL Rosters Again
The NFL preseason has wrapped, and once again NC State has a sizable footprint across the league. When all 32 teams trimmed to their initial 53-man rosters for 2026, 18 former Wolfpack players had made the cut, a group that even included two undrafted free agents fighting their way onto opening-week rosters.
There was still some hard news mixed into the final round of decisions, with 11 others waived during roster cuts. And in Carolina, offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu will begin the season on the Panthers PUP list as he continues recovering from injury, a reminder that even as NC State keeps sending talent to the NFL, not every path into the fall is a clean one. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Won But One Worry Still Looks Very Real
Week 0 brought a mix of results around college football, but one of the more sobering ones for NC State came in a 34-8 loss to Virginia. The Wolfpack were limited to just 168 total yards, a sign that the offense never found much rhythm while the Cavaliers controlled enough of the game to make the margin feel even larger than the final score.
Virginia also got a big debut from Beau Pribula, who added a new layer to what the Wolfpack had to defend and never really settled into a comfortable groove against. For NC State, the concern is less about one bad afternoon than what it suggested about how quickly the group can respond when the schedule starts asking tougher questions. [Read more 🡒]