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NC State has added 11 new football players from the transfer portal in an overturn of the roster that could be described as "very normal" in 2024. Here, I take my swing at evaluating the portal additions with the tape I had available to me. I always make a point to try and find the film of these guys against the toughest competition they face. I watched Jeremiah Johnson against Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, Tra Thomas against Oklahoma, Jalen Grant against Ohio State, etc. Some guys have more tape than others, which is why I added a confidence level to each projection. Let's get into it.
Teague Andersen
Tape watched versus: USC, Hawaii, Colorado State
Andersen is a plug-and-play right tackle for NC State in 2025. The Pack has some building blocks on the interior, but it desperately needed to add a tackle. Andersen is a true tackle at 6’5, and the pass protection tape is solid.
He moves his feet well on the edge and does a good job keeping his body square to speedy edge rushers. He’s also good about not overplaying the edge rush and getting ran under by a counter move. He gave up one sack in this scenario against Southern Cal in the film I found. He's very comfortable in a vertical set against speed coming from a wide technique.
I think his hand placement can widen more than it should occasionally, but overall he’s a pretty polished tackle who should be a lock to start across the line from Jacarrius Peak. I don’t think an Andersen/Peak tackle combo is an upgrade from Belton/Peak, especially not in run blocking where Belton could wreck some guys, but it’s a good combo for sure.
Projection: Starting right tackle
Confidence: 10/10
Cody Hardy
Tape watched versus: Duke
Hardy is going to be the steal of this portal class. Nobody gets amped over the phrase “Elon tight end” except for total nerds like me, but this guy has the juice. He is coming here to run block, and he is a violent run blocker. He plays with excellent pad level and he moves guys and sometimes plants them into guy-sized holes in the turf. I love Cody Hardy. If you’re a member of Trinity Road Times Premium, you know how much I love Cody Hardy.
I like this rep below. It's a reach block on the 5 tech and he actually gets stood up at first, but is able to run under and still reach the end. He runs well, is physical, and he's a fighter post-contact.
Hardy only had five receptions in 2024, but he ran plenty of routes. This is not a lead shoes guy. He can run, and this is the kind of player who has a larger impact on the playbook than you might expect. State shrunk its run game dramatically last season because its attempts at running counter were disastrous at best. The H position was a bit of a mess for most of the season. Hardy solves that, and that can expand the run game playbook quite a bit while also making concepts like split zone more effective and adding juice to zone insert variations and iso plays. State wanted Hardy for a reason.
Projection: Starting H
Confidence: 10/10
Brock Stukes
Tape watched versus: Wake Forest
Tape on Stukes was hard to find as he’s coming from NC A&T, and there just isn’t a lot of that out there. I caught the Wake Forest game from this year, but he got injured early on, so this evaluation is definitely a bit underdeveloped. That said, I thought he had some good run blocking reps in the game against an ACC defensive line. Granted, Wake’s run defense was trash, but still an ACC group.
Stukes looks like a strong kid. He played left guard in a run scheme that embraced variety, and he worked a couple productive combination blocks against the Wake Forest front. Some of the pass protection stuff wasn’t as good. I credited him with two pressures allowed. He then got knocked out of the game only four minutes into the second quarter and that was it for the film study.
I think Stukes can fit in at an ACC level, and he may compete at center. State seems to like Kamen Smith and Val Erickson as guards, it gets Anthony Carter back on the left side, and it adds Jalen Grant. The competition is not lacking volume. Stukes is likely a reserve interior lineman next year, with his chance to start probably coming in the middle
Projection: Second-string interior lineman
Confidence: 5/10
Jalen Grant
Tape watched versus: Ohio State, Virginia Tech
Grant’s history at Purdue is bizarre. He was a starting guard in 2023, and I thought he looked solid. He then played 50 total snaps in 2024 on a team that was 117th in sack percentage as an offense.
Grant film was much easier to find as he played for a Big Ten team in 2023 (Purdue) before playing for an FCS team in 2024 (Purdue). In my opinion, he has a strong chance to win the starting right guard spot. Purdue threw the ball a lot in 2023, but had a variable run scheme. I thought his run game tape left some stuff to be desired. He can't change the fact that he isn't the fastest guy ever, but I think he could stand to be a little more physical. His pass blocking was what I got excited about.
I watched Grant against Ohio State in 2023. He played all but one snap and spent most of the game matched up on Mike Hall and Tyleik Williams. Hall was a second-round pick and Williams might be a first-round pick, and Grant did pretty well for himself. He only allowed one hurry in the game.
He plays low with a good base, he was on time to blitzes, spikes, and stunts, and he had good hands most of the time. When he got into trouble, it was on the punch. The one hurry he allowed to Hall was a product of bad hand placement.
I’m not sure exactly what happened in 2024. Maybe someone with more insider access could shed some light on that, but his pass pro tape is solid to me. Regardless, there is going to be a competition for this guard spot, but he's near the top.
Projection: Starting right guard
Confidence: 6/10
Tra Thomas
Tape watched versus: Oklahoma, Coastal Carolina, Navy
Thomas is a DJ Eliot connection coming in from Temple, and he’s really interesting. The transfer played most of his career in Philly as a stand-up 5 technique defensive end. He's a good athlete who might need to develop some more depth to his game as a pass rusher if that's how State plans to use him. I'm not sure it is, though.
He was not an overly productive pass rusher, amassing 5 sacks in two years. He has good get-off at the snap. You can see the explosiveness, but Oklahoma and Coastal both had success protecting the edge against him. It's mostly speed off the edge for him, but he flashed some speed to power ability that was intriguing. Against Navy, he was more productive and created a little more havoc against the run.
It’s unclear to me exactly what kind of fronts Eliot wants to play. When Thomas was at Temple, he was the 5-tech in a lot of over fronts. I’m not sure State has the personnel to do this, nor am I certain that the scheme Eliot employed at Temple is exactly what he’ll run here. Thomas would fit in as an outside linebacker in the 3-3-5 that Gibson played, and I think he probably profiles as a rotational linebacker and third-down pass rusher.
Projection: Rotational linebacker
Confidence: 4/10
Jamel Johnson
Tape watched versus: Oklahoma, Coastal Carolina, Navy
Jamel Johnson is also a Temple connection for Eliot, and he fills a pretty important need at corner. I think Johnson could start opposite Devon Marshall.
Temple trusted him a lot in press man looks and he fared well. He's a true corner and he can run. He's in press man below against an outside fade from OU receiver Brenen Thompson, a track superstar who ran a 10.32 100 meter. He's in phase the whole route and is able to make a play on the ball because of it.
Corners are generally harder to find tape on, so my confidence level on this pick goes down because of how little I was able to find. I think this kid has the goods though, and I'm betting on him to start.
Projection: Starting corner
Confidence: 7/10
AJ Richardson
Tape watched versus: ECU, Florida A&M
Richardson is part of State’s quest to add bodies to a linebacker room that didn’t have a great go of things in 2024. He was an FCS All-American at Norfolk State where he did a lot of tackling.
Richardson is smaller and not an athletic marvel, but he is a very good tackler. I found his tape from ECU and FAMU, and the first thing that happened was he busted a counter run fit, which gave me PTSD, but he was mistake free after that.
I think Richardson will compete for snaps at linebacker. He might be too small for a mike, but could fit at the sam spot. In my opinion, he's a low ceiling but high floor addition to the room.
Projection: Rotational linebacker
Confidence: 6/10
JJ Johnson
Tape watched versus: LSU
Johnson comes from Georgia State as a twice all-conference safety. From the film I had, which was against Jayden Daniels at LSU, he was the post safety in a lot of cover 3 structures and he played some in the box but not a ton.
Johnson pops on film as a tackler. He's rangy and a very good tackler in space. This was not the only point in the game where he did something like this.
He did get burned for a long touchdown in the fourth quarter off a double move, which was probably the lowlight of his season. State doesn't have a ton of bodies at safety, so I can't imagine they saw Johnson as anything other than a favorite to start.
Projection: Starting safety
Confidence: 10/10
Sterling Dixon
I have no tape on Dixon.
Projection: Rotational linebacker
Confidence: 1/10
Jaren Sensabaugh
I have no tape on Sensabaugh
Projection: Reserve DB
Confidence: 1/10
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