Wolfpack Players Named to Phil Steele Preseason All-ACC Team
Phil Steele's College Football Preview, one of the most respected preseason publications in business, has included seven players from NC State on its preseason All-ACC teams.
The list is headed by junior wide receiver Thayer Thomas, who was selected to the first team as a punt returner.
Thomas averaged 13.7 yards per return in 2019, third-best in the ACC and the seventh-best single season mark in school history. The former walkon had a 76-yarder for a touchdown in a 34-23 win against Ball State at Carter-Finley Stadium. As a receiver, he caught 31 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns while also throwing a pair of touchdown passes.
Punter Trenton Gill was a second-team selection.
Also a former walkon, the redshirt junior led the ACC and was No. 4 nationally with a school-record average of 47.6 yards per kick in his first season as State's punter. He is also handles kickoffs and is the holder for field goals and extra points.
Speaking of placekicks, junior Christopher Dunn was named by Steele to the All-ACC third team. Dunn ranks fifth in school history with 44 career field goals and is fourth in field goal percentage at .880 while connecting on his last 11 attempts.
Also earning third-team recognition are offensive tackle Ickey Ekwonu and linebacker Isaiah Moore.
Ekwonu was rated as one of the ACC's hightest-graded returning tackles this season by PFF College after a promising freshman season in which the led the 6-foot-4, 308-pound Charlotte native led the team in pancake blocks with 37 while allowing only two sacks in 641 snaps.
Moore was third on the team with 53 tackles last season, with five tackles for loss, two sacks, four quarterback pressures and a forced fumble.
Rounding out the group were fourth-team selections Tanner Ingle and Zonovan Knight.
Ingle, a senior nickel, was second on the team with 68 tackles to go along with four pass breakups. Knight, meanwhile, had a team-leading 745 rushing yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman.
Conspicuously missing from the four All-ACC teams were State's leading tackler last year, sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson, and arguably its best returning defensive player, tackle Alim McNeill.
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