NC State's Defensive Grades vs. Pitt
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RALEIGH — The trip to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers didn't end well for Dave Doeren and the NC State Wolfpack. The game ended with Pitt on top 53-34 in one of the worst showings of the season for NC State's defense.
The unit allowed true freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel to throw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Pitt finished with 529 yards of total offense, thoroughly dominating the diminished Wolfpack defense all afternoon. The loss forced NC State to do some more soul-searching after a poor performance coming out of the bye week.
Pro Football Focus grades each member of the team's performance during the game. The model takes into account every play in the game and adds it all up to create the player's total grade. Any grade from the 70s to 80s is considered a good performance. The 60s are average. Below 60 would be poor, and above 80 would be elite.
How PFF viewed NC State's performance against Pitt
The Secondary
- Redshirt freshman safety Asaad Brown Jr. - 72.3
- Freshman safety Tristan Teasdell - 67.6
- Senior cornerback Jamel Johnson - 67.4
- Senior cornerback Devon Marshall - 64.2
- Redshirt freshman safety Ronnie Royal III - 60.4
- Junior nickel Jackson Vick - 56.4
- Sophomore cornerback Brian Nelson II - 54.0
Brown continued to be a standout in his new role as a safety, proving the coaching staff right in their efforts to cross-train him throughout the offseason at both nickel and safety. He finished with the second-highest tackling score of the day, grading out at 79.7.
Royal suffered an injury and left the game after 49 snaps, forcing the freshman Teasdell into action. In his second game of the season, Teasdell came away with an interception and nearly had two, but the first was wiped away by a penalty. The freshman finished with the highest tackling score on the team with an 81.2. Nelson finished with a grade below 60 for the second straight week and allowed three receptions for 94 yards, including a pair of touchdowns.
The Linebackers
- Graduate senior JACK linebacker Tra Thomas - 65.6
- Graduate senior weakside linebacker Caden Fordham - 60.6
- Graduate senior middle linebacker Kenny Soares Jr. - 59.8
- Graduate senior linebacker Cian Slone - 56.7
Still without Sean Brown, the linebacker group looked very thin in the loss to Pitt. In the losses to Notre Dame and the Panthers, Slone finished with his two lowest grades of the season and missed three tackles on Saturday.
Thomas performed well in the unique JACK spot in the eyes of PFF. The veteran proved particularly successful when he needed to make tackles, as he finished with a score of 75.2 in that category. Soares led the team with 10 tackles, but struggled when forced to drop back into coverage.
The Defensive Line
- Sophomore defensive tackle Isaiah Shirley - 70.3
- Graduate senior defensive end Sabastian Harsh - 66.4
- Graduate senior defensive end Chazz Wallace - 63.8
- Senior defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland - 58.7
- Freshman defensive tackle Josiah Victor - 54.6
- Redshirt freshman defensive end Chase Bond - 53.0
- Graduate senior defensive tackle Travali Price - 52.5
- Freshman defensive tackle Adrian Farrow - 50.6
Some different faces worked their way into the defensive line rotation as the game got increasingly out of hand for the Wolfpack. After playing his first-ever snap against Notre Dame, Farrow got in for nine plays against the Panthers on Saturday. Shirley finished the game as the second-highest rated defender on the team.
Harsh struggled to get home just a week after Syracuse sacked Heintschel several times, but still made an impact on the game as he always does. He finished with four tackles and three quarterback hurries in the loss. Price's performances continue to hurt the defense, as he's graded below 60 on four separate occasions despite getting significant snaps in all four games.
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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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