Jaylon Scott sets an example at NC State for underclassmen to follow
Jaylon Scott arrived at NC State in 2019 and played immediately, appearing in 6 games as a freshman during a 4-8 campaign. In the years following that disappointing season, the senior linebacker helped build the program into what it is today.
“In 2019, there wasn’t no sitting around and you’re just going redshirt or anything like that,” Scott said. “We had to play.”
He started 8 games over the next 3 years, competing for reps and waiting patiently behind the All-ACC trio of Isaiah Moore, Drake Thomas and Payton Wilson.
The linebacker rarely comes off the field now, racking up a career-high 47 total tackles through 8 games. He recorded a thunderous hit on Clemson Cade Klubnik that forced a fumble last week.
Now, he has two games left inside Carter-Finley with a program that means a lot to him.
“I’ve taken it all in since the very beginning of the season,” Scott said. “If you notice, even in my interviews and stuff like that, I just harp on my teammates, my team. I just love these guys because I know it’s coming to an end soon.”
Miami is the next team standing in the way of Scott’s senior sendoff. The Hurricanes are 2-0 against the linebacker during his career with NC State. In those two matchups, the Pack lost by a combined 4 points— 44-41 in 2020 and 31-30 the following year.
Scott recorded 5 total tackles in that 2021 contest. Those results are still at the front of his mind, and he said the opportunity to face the Hurricanes one final time means a lot to him.
“It has always been last-play type wins for them,” Scott said. “I feel like, if we just go out and dominate and execute the game plan and do what we have to do, we will be sitting really, really good at the end of the game.”
In addition to playing 514 snaps this season, which ranks second on the Wolfpack defense behind only nickel Robert Kennedy (517), Scott is mentoring the next generation of Wolfpack stars.
When he talks, the underclassmen listen. Even if he makes a mistake during practice, Scott said those players will sometimes run onto the field and make the same error because they follow the example that the senior linebacker sets.
“I’m kind of a reflection of them because, whatever I do, they kind of do too,” Scott said.
He complimented one underclassman on each side of the ball— freshman wide receiver Kevin Concepcion and redshirt sophomore linebacker Caden Fordham.
“KC is by-far one of the best wide receivers I’ve seen here since I don’t know when,” Scott said. “He’s that good.”
“Caden, he’s a bit of a younger guy, but he’s good. He fits the run, he does whatever coach tells him to do absolutely how we need him to.”
NC State head coach Dave Doeren thinks very highly of Scott, praising the linebacker’s play so far this season. To him, the Wolfpack senior exemplifies a mentality that is missing throughout the country.
Doeren said parents are “robbing young people of adversity” by encouraging transfers from school to school, but Scott did not run from the competition. He put in the work and made the plays when he entered the spotlight, and he plans on making the most of the time he has left on the collegiate stage.
“I’m proud of Jaylon, really proud of him,” Doeren said. “It wasn’t easy, and he wasn’t always great with it. There were times where we had to get after him, and he hung in there.
“He’s going to be a college graduate, he’s playing really good football and he changed the trajectory of his life because he hung in there.”
