Let’s get this show on the road.
The 2023 season was, I think we can all agree, pretty frustrating from the whole pass-throwing and pass-catching perspective. We had hoped that the team’s veteran group of receivers would produce a breakout, or at least more reliable targets, but none emerged. Fortunately, we did get a breakout player, just not one we saw coming.
But generally speaking the lack of talent at receiver was glaringly apparent and placed an obvious ceiling on the offense. Were it not for Kevin Concepcion’s emergence, it’s hard to imagine NC State getting to nine wins, or ever maturing beyond eye-gougingly unwatchable.
State’s coaching staff spent the offseason focused on improving the passing game around Concepcion, and the result is an almost entirely new receiving corps. Much of it unproven, but undeniably more talented than the 2023 group.
Bradley Rozner, a late add from the portal, had been good at Rice but flopped at State. While that wasn’t entirely his fault, there’s no question in hindsight that State was going to need him to be an impact target. Obviously not a great sign when you bring in a guy right ahead of camp to address a need like that. As it was the preseason, the ongoing hype train opted to look over this. I regret nothing on that score, personally.
Outside of Keyon Lesane, who was in for more than three-quarters of the snaps, you can see the staff spread the reps out pretty evenly in the sadly futile effort to see if one of those dudes felt like stepping up. Alas.
The biggest reason for optimism heading into 2024 is of course Kevin Concepcion, who won’t need any time to get his feet underneath him now. It took about a month for him to get going as a freshman, but once he did, he took off, and NC State’s offense forged an identity around him. He announced his arrival in the fourth game of the season, going for 116 yards and two scores at Virginia, nearly doubling his receiving yardage up to that point.
On the season, he accounted for about a third of the team’s catches and receiving yards, and more than half of its touchdown receptions.
He’ll continue to get the ball in his hands plenty, but NC State is now much better positioned to leverage misdirection here, especially with KC in the backfield. That’s particularly exciting.
The reason why: the portal adds. The returning production table is a tad misleading since I limited it to players on the roster last season; incomers Justin Joly and Wesley Grimes both played a lot for their respective schools in 2023. Joly led UConn in both receptions and yards and should be a major factor this fall. Grimes’ 330 yards receiving for Wake—another team that struggled throwing—would have ranked second on last year’s State team.
Noah Rogers is the x-factor, with the size and pedigree to be an impact performer; he just lacks the experience.
Dacari Collins could easily be a more prominent feature as well—Grayson McCall leaned on him in the spring game, which could well prove an omen.
The big thing with the added depth is the ability to leverage more matchups. Having KC as the center of attention will have a positive impact down the line, and now we’ll see more talented receivers in advantageous spots against opponents’ third- and-fourth best defensive backs. That’s the real difference, I think. Last year’s supporting cast just was not good enough to do anything with these scenarios—probably wasn’t better than the opponent’s third- or fourth-best DBs a lot of the time. This has changed, and I expect it’ll be apparent pretty quick.
NC State has an excellent freshman class to sort through as well—Jonathan Paylor, Terrell Anderson, and Keenan Jackson are players who could carve out roles over time. Perhaps one of them will prove as quick a study as KC, in which case, look out.