NC State DL Brandon Cleveland, OL Val Erickson suspended for first half vs. ECU due to Military Bowl ejections

NC State will be without starting defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland and reserve guard Val Erickson for the first half of its season opener against East Carolina, coach Dave Doeren announced Tuesday. 

The suspensions stem from the result of fighting ejections issued to NC State’s DK Kaufman, nickel Tamarcus Cooley (now at LSU), Cleveland and Erickson in the waning seconds of the Wolfpack’s 26-21 loss to ECU in the Military Bowl last December. 

“I’m embarrassed as a coach,” Doeren said on the rainy night in Annapolis, Md. “I know our players are, too. That is not how people of this program, the players of this program, staff of this program, want anything to do with something like that. To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there are no excuses for it. I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.”

Kaufman exhausted his eligibility and is pursuing a professional career. The rest of the Wolfpack’s roster is unaffected by the suspension and is eligible to play.

ECU, meanwhile, had three players ejected from the Military Bowl fight: defensive back Dontavius Nash (now at Michigan State), wide receiver Jhari Patterson and offensive Jayson Tarpeh. Tarpeh, who appeared to push Cleveland into an official during the brawl, is serving a one-game suspension and is not on the travel roster for the season opener, according to an ECU spokesperson.

The suspensions stem from NCAA Playing Rule Section 5, Fighting Article 1, which states:

“Ejection for the remainder of the game and the first half of the next game. For fighting in the last game of a season, those with remaining eligibility shall serve suspensions during the first game of the next season for which they are eligible.”

It’s unclear, at the moment, if Cooley and Nash have been reprimanded for their actions by the NCAA. LSU opens the season at Clemson on Saturday night, while Michigan State hosts Western Michigan on Friday night.

While NC State only has two players serving a suspension for the fight, Cleveland’s absence is sure to be felt in the first two quarters against ECU. He is one of the Pack’s veteran defensive players and is expected to be the anchor of NC State’s front this fall. 

The Tampa, Fla., native started all 13 games for the Wolfpack last season as he racked up 36 total tackles, including 3.5 for a loss, with 0.5 sacks, a pass defended and a fumble recovery. Cleveland had been working as NC State’s starting nose tackle through fall camp, but now the team will have to manage without him. 

NC State will likely lean on former Colorado and Old Dominion transfer nose tackle Chazz Wallace, who redshirted last fall, and redshirt freshman Justin Terrell for the first half of the 2025 season opener. Wallace owns 62 career tackles, while Terrell logged 1 tackle in 24 total snaps across four games last season. 

Erickson, meanwhile, was expected to be the Wolfpack’s top guard reserve to start the season. He was battling redshirt sophomore Kamen Smith for the starting right guard spot, but it appears that the former three-star recruit out of Wilkesboro (N.C.) High earned the top spot going into the 2025 campaign.

Although this is likely the final repercussion to come from the ejections after the bowl game, NC State has been working to better itself on and off the field this offseason. Doeren said it was a focus from the night it happened, and he doesn’t expect a similar fracas to break out moving forward.

“The standards and the culture of this football program, on and off the field, are to do things a certain way,” Doeren said. “How you react versus respond is part of maturity. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It doesn’t matter what somebody else does. It’s how we respond to what happens. In a game — and in life — it’s all the same. Just having the maturity, the leadership, and as coaches, doing our part to educate. It’s an ongoing topic.”