Injury update: NC State LB Sean Brown ruled out vs. Campbell, 3 DBs listed out for season

It’s no secret that NC State’s defense has been bitten by the injury bug this season, but now it’s official as the season hits the halfway mark against Campbell on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium. 

The Wolfpack officially listed graduate linebacker Sean Brown out against Campbell, while defensive backs Isaiah Crowell, Terrente Hinton and Jaren Sensabaugh are all out for the season due to injury, according to the program’s game notes. 

Additionally, starting nickel Jackson Vick has missed the last two games due to injury, but his status wasn’t updated in the game notes. Redshirt freshman safety Brody Barnhardt, meanwhile, exited the Virginia Tech loss this past weekend with a lower leg injury, but the Wolfpack hasn’t officially updated his status for the Week 6 clash with the Camels.

“The injuries are mounting up on the defensive side of the football,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said in his weekly press conference Monday afternoon. “There’s a lot of guys that are getting playing time now that are inexperienced and young, and that’s not an excuse, that’s the reality.”

“We’re gonna have to work really hard as coaches to give these guys the best opportunities that we can to play well. That’s why they came to NC State and chose this school, was to have an opportunity to play.”

NC State is going to start redshirt junior linebacker Kenny Soares at WILL linebacker with Brown out, while graduate linebacker Caden Fordham will take over at MIKE linebacker this weekend. Fordham has experience wearing the communication earpiece, which he will do against the Camels, doing so in the first six games last season before tearing his ACL.

In the secondary, meanwhile, redshirt freshman Asaad Brown II could make his third straight start at nickel if Vick can’t go against Campbell. He has played 56 and 57 snaps in the last two games, respectively, while he has recorded 11 total tackles this season — headlined by a season-best nine total stops in the loss to Virginia Tech. 

Crowell and Hinton suffered season-ending injuries before the campaign even began, but were not made official until this week, which left the Wolfpack’s secondary thin. Add in Sensabaugh, who was injured on special teams in the season-opening win over East Carolina, and NC State’s nickels room has been depleted as it prepares to go into the toughest part of its schedule with the final six games of the season looming. 

With this weekend’s game being a non-conference bout, NC State is not expected to release an official availability report ahead of kickoff other than the four updates provided in the game notes.