NC State building depth along offensive line during spring practice
NC State’s offensive line is in a good place among its starting five pieces. The Wolfpack returned four starters from a year ago and replaced center Dylan McMahon, who is in the NFL draft process, with Notre Dame transfer Zeke Correll.
While the Wolfpack knows what it has on its starting offensive line, NC State is working to strengthen its depth behind those five players. This spring has been pivotal in that, including for the pair of early-enrolled freshmen: Robby Martin and Trent Mitchell.
Developing those two players, along with a bevy of redshirt freshmen and sophomores on the line, is key this spring for NC State coach Dave Doeren.
“Every rep matters when you’re developing a player,” Doeren said. “So these spring reps where you’re not trying to get ready for a game, it’s really fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You can slow your install down when you need to and speed it up when you can.”
While development is key at this point of the football calendar, building quality depth on the offensive line is a priority for the Wolfpack during this 15-practice slate.
“We’re building depth at every position,” Doeren said. “Like right now, particularly at center. We’re trying to get more and more guys going in there. … That’ll help when we get to the fall to be a more ready play and all the reps that those guys get.”
Martin, the former No. 1 recruit in the state of West Virginia, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, has been working at center this spring in an effort to bolster that position behind Correll. NC State has also used graduate Sean Hill at center to continue to construct a three-deep type depth at the position.
While Martin has been thrown into an important spot during practice before his true freshman season, starting right guard, graduate Timothy McKay, has been able to relate to him and Mitchell. McKay, who has played 2,015 snaps in his NC State career, was just 16-years-old when he enrolled early with the Wolfpack.
“I see myself a lot in them,” McKay said. “I just tell them to keep persevering. I feel like coming in as an offensive linemen, especially as an early enrollee, things are really fast. I just tell them to stay consistent and keep working each day.”
Just as Doeren looked at this time of the year as an opportunity to create a deep offensive line unit, McKay thought the same. But he added that it is also a good time to continue to create chemistry on the line with the starting group, as well as the reserves in the event they are needed on the field in the fall.
“Springtime is a great time to get depth pieces,” McKay said. “Matt McCabe has really stepped up there at left guard. I feel like we’re really meshing together and the spring is really important. It’s really important to come into spring workouts and mesh together.”
The Wolfpack is excited about what it has on the offensive line, and Doeren’s goal is to have a complete depth chart for all five spots on the Pack’s front. It is something that has been hard to do during his first 11 years in Raleigh, but it is the goal for the Wolfpack’s 2024 campaign.
“If you can have a true three-deep on the o-line, I don’t know if I’ve ever had that, that’s what you try to get to,” Doeren said. “A lot of times it’s a pair and a spare in some cases, where you’re traveling 10 to 11 but you’re really only playing six or seven. You’d love to continue to build that depth where you’ve got a true two-deep all the way across the board with the young group that you’re bringing in.”
