Emezie Ready for Fresh Start, Big Finish
The Senior Bowl annually selects a "Preseason 250" list of players it identifies as potential candidates for college football's most prestigious postseason game.
Only one NC State player made the list for this year's game, which is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021 in Mobile, Ala.
Wide receiver Emeka Emezie.
It's a nice honor for the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Waxhaw native, even though he still has to go out and prove himself on the field before he earns an actual Senior Bowl invitation.
If nothing else, the recognition provides Emezie with a little extra incentive to finish his Wolfpack career with a flourish.
Not that he needs the motivation.
After a 2019 season he openly calls a disappointment, Emezie is determined to bounce back with a vengeance.
"I just know that I have to make plays regardless," he said during a Zoom conference earlier this week. "I just come in every single day and I’m the same person. That’s the biggest thing I’ve been working on, just doing the same thing every single day.
"I just to bring energy for the receivers every single day, going against the DBs or whatever. I feel like giving that 100% on the blocks or whatever it is, is just going to translate to the games.'
It's not as if Emezie was terrible last season.
He still managed to lead the Wolfpack with 56 catches, 19 more than anyone else on the team, for 576 yards and two touchdowns. But after watching his mentor Kelvin Harmon and fellow receiver Jakobi Meyers both post 1,000-yard seasons in 2018, he expected much more once he assumed the mantle of State's go-to guy in the passing game.
In retrospect, the pressure Emezie put on himself to follow in Harmon's footsteps may have contributed to a performance he described as "soft."
"I was really, really working hard," he said. "I felt like I almost drained myself out before the season even started. That was the first thing. The second thing, I just felt like I was just trying to please other people. I was listening to a lot of people, what everybody was saying.
"It doesn’t matter who it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s your best friend. You can’t listen to outside noise. That’s what I was doing last year, I was just listening to a lot of different people. ... I’m not listening to outside noise (now). I’m just doing my work, coming in every single day being consistent regardless of the result."
As an outward symbol of his new attitude and commitment, Emezie has switched back from the No. 3 he wore last season in honor of Harmon -- who also wore the number -- back to his original 86.
"A number is a number, it doesn’t matter really," he said. "But I feel like it is just a change of mindset with everything. I feel like I had already been through a lot of adversity with 86. I was able to battle through those things. With three, I felt like I was kind of really soft.
"I felt like last year I just wasn’t the player I wanted to be. I just want to be who I am, be my own person. I can’t worry about what everybody’s thinking and putting extra pressure on myself. I’ve just got to be myself."
Coach Dave Doeren said he's already seen a difference in Emezie. And not just in his play on the practice field.
"I think at times he has been his own worst enemy, getting in his own head about his expectations and disappointments," Doeren said. "Right now he’s just consistent. He’s taking it one day at a time. He’s having fun. He’s very aggressive in practice.
"It’s just part of the process of growing up and dealing with all of the things that you have. I’m proud of the growth that he’s made and really just the way he is approaching the day right now. He is very focused, but he is having a good time out there. He’s smiling more than I’ve seen him smile in three years."
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page. Also be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook -- ACC Insider
Twitter -- @WolfpackMaven and Brett Friedlander at @BFriedACC
