NC State’s offense may have drawn the loudest attention in the portal, but the Wolfpack defense had its own wave of departures - 11 players in all. The headliner was linebacker Kenny Soares Jr., and behind him came a string of reserves, young defenders and redshirts chasing better opportunities elsewhere.
Soares was the biggest loss by far. After injuries opened the door, he moved from the bench into the starting lineup and finished his lone season with NC State with 80 total tackles, 0.5 sacks, two pass deflections and one fumble recovery.
The former Northwestern transfer leaves Raleigh with 137 career tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and three sacks, and he’s headed back to the Big Ten with Michigan State. Even after finishing last season as a starter, his role for the coming year wasn’t locked in with multiple transfers arriving and AJ Richardson returning.
A few of the other departures are headed to places where they should have a cleaner path to the field. Cornerback Jivan Baly, who had one career start and nine tackles in 2025, is off to Old Dominion. Seven of those tackles came against Campbell in NC State’s 56-10 win.
Safety Terrente Hinton is moving on to Marshall after battling injuries through 2025. A former JUCO defensive back, Hinton was expected to play a major role last season and was one of the few experienced bodies left in the secondary after the post-2024 turnover. He leaves with 13 total tackles and one pass deflection, and he’ll reunite with Tony Gibson, who coached him in 2023 and 2024 after recruiting him out of junior college.
Marshall also picked up linebacker Kelvon McBride, a backup with 19 career tackles, one sack and one fumble recovery. Like Hinton, he was recruited by Gibson and played his most meaningful snaps under the current Thundering Herd head coach before Gibson’s departure.
NC State also sent a cluster of defenders to Sam Houston State. Defensive end Joshua Alexander-Felton, a redshirt sophomore reserve, managed three total tackles in 2024 and didn’t record any defensive stats in his second season.
Linebacker Elijah Groves, a former four-star Tennessee prep prospect, never broke into the rotation in Raleigh and now heads to Huntsville with three years of eligibility left. Defensive tackle Justin Terrell, who famously chose NC State over UNC at his announcement, logged just one career tackle in 2024 and some special teams work before joining the Bearkats.
All three of those players landed with former Pack nickels coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay, now Sam Houston State’s defensive coordinator. It gives the Bearkats a group of intriguing pieces to develop, while the players get a familiar coach and a chance to make an immediate push for playing time.
The rest of the list is mostly about players looking for a reset. Terris Dudley, a 2025 redshirt freshman and former Toledo flip, has landed at UConn after never seeing action for the Wolfpack. Linebacker Joshua Ofor, one of the more promising additions in NC State’s 2025 class, also never got on the field and is now headed to Arkansas State in search of immediate snaps in the Sun Belt.
Safety Zack Myers, a former four-star from Christ School in Arden, stayed close to home and transferred to Division II Mars Hill after injuries stalled his NC State career. He had four tackles in his only defensive action this past season. Safety Daemon Fagan, another former four-star who arrived in the 2024 class, is heading to Idaho with two years of eligibility remaining after never finding his footing in Raleigh.
When the dust settles, Soares is the only departure that really changes the shape of the defense. The rest is roster churn - young players and depth pieces looking for a better fit, while DJ Eliot heads into his second year with the defense leaning on transfers like Popo Aguirre and Dakaari Nelson and returners such as AJ Richardson, LaCorian Hodge and Ke’Von Carter.