Greg McElroy: NC State is ‘biggest sleeper’ in ACC entering 2025 season

Greg McElroy is buying stock into NC State for the 2025 college football season. The Wolfpack might not be a team on a lot of people’s radar, but the ESPN analyst is picking them as his “sleeper” team out of the ACC.

Speaking on his Always College Football podcast, McElroy had high praise for quarterback CJ Bailey, who is returning for his second year as starter. The ESPN analyst believes that having that having an extra year to develop will see Bailey take a big leap, helping NC State improve after finishing 6-7 this past year.

“The NC State Wolfpack are up next and I am a believer,” McEroy said. “…I think they are about to take a big step forward. This is the big sleeper in the ACC for me this year and a lot of it hinges on the development of their quarterback, CJ Bailey. He got thrust in as a true freshman last year and there were a lot of positives. Difficult circumstances, but a lot of positives and there was some promise shown by Bailey throughout the season.”

“…If you think back too, with the amount of turnover that NC State has had at quarterback the last two years, having the guy returning for a second year as their starting quarterback is not something they’ve had. It feels like four or five years in a row, they’ve had a new guy every year. They’ve had a guy at least situationally, four games and he transfers out. All this stuff. So quarterback’s been a little bit of a challenge for NC State when traditionally that’s been a big strength. It should be a big strength again this year assuming CJ Bailey takes a big step forward.”

Bailey stepped up to start nine games for the Wolfpack in 2024 after Grayson McCall went down with injury. He finished with 2,417 yards passing and 17 touchdowns to 10 interceptions along with 279 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the ground.

The QB also gets back receiver Noah Rodgers and tight end Justin Joly. McElroy was particularly high on Joly, who led the team in receiving with 43 catches for 661 yards and four touchdowns this past season.

“They also return six of their top seven receiving leaders from a year ago,” McElroy said. “I love Justin Joly, who is a preseason All-ACC selection. This guy is big-time and I think has a chance to have a big year this year. Hollywood Smothers is back at running back. He could have a breakout campaign.

“And you have a new defensive coordinator, DJ Eliot, who’s been around college for a very long time. They get back seven starters from a year ago, including their leading tackler Sean Brown. And they’ve done a pretty good job of going to the portal and maybe not overwhelming their roster from a portal standpoint, but reinforcing spots where they just were a little bit thin kind of across the board.”

All that is setting up for McElroy to like NC State to surprise some people and potentially compete with the best in the ACC. We’ll see how they stack up in their first conference game against Virginia on Sept. 6.