What Does the NC State Spring Practice Schedule Look Like?
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RALEIGH — While there are more than seven months before Dave Doeren leads NC State onto a football field for game action again, the Wolfpack is already preparing for the 2026 season. The program reloaded around returning quarterback CJ Bailey in the transfer portal, shaping the offensive identity, while supplementing with talented defensive transfers as well.
The next step in those preparations is spring football and camp. The Wolfpack revealed the schedule for its spring practices, which will be crucial for integrating new members of the team, whether they are freshmen or incoming transfers. Doeren and his staff will need to be ready by March 3 for a full month of practices to build the team's confidence before it returns to game action months later.
More on the schedule
According to a social media post from assistant director of recruiting LaFayette Stewart, the Wolfpack is set to practice 12 times across March and April, with a week off mixed in because of spring break on the academic calendar. The graphic posted by Stewart included no mention of a spring game, something many programs have ditched with the new reality of the transfer portal. NC State did not have one in 2025.
The program's transfers will need to get up to speed in Kurt Roper's offense and DJ Eliot's defense, but it should be a different situation than it was a season ago. Now, the players returning to the Wolfpack are familiar with what those systems look like when they are working and can help onboard new faces. In 2025, it was a learning process for everyone involved, including the coaching staff.
The Wolfpack has 21 mid-year enrollee freshmen joining the program, so getting them up to speed and fully integrated into the program's developmental process will be crucial throughout the 12 spring practices. With academic calendars becoming more flexible across high schools in the country, an increasing number of high school recruits are joining their new programs for the spring term, giving them a head start on some of their future teammates in learning the ins and outs of the team.
That sizable chunk of youngsters has more time to learn, while the incoming transfer class must take advantage of the spring practice window. The team added four new wide receivers and a pair of new tight ends. That new corps of pass catchers needs to get up to speed with Bailey quickly.
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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