NC State football availability report: WR Teddy Hoffmann, LB AJ Richardson good to go vs. UNC

After appearing on NC State’s availability report Thanksgiving night, Wolfpack wide receiver Teddy Hoffmann and linebacker AJ Richardson were both removed from it on the Friday night update, as released by the ACC.

Hoffmann was listed as questionable, while Richardson appeared as probable on Thursday’s iteration of the report. With both no longer appearing on the listing, the two are now expected to be available for the regular season finale against UNC on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ACC Network) at Carter-Finley Stadium.

UNC, meanwhile, had no changes from its initial report with 11 players listed as out.

Hoffmann, a freshman route runner, has appeared in each of the Pack’s first 11 games this season. He has logged 23 receptions for 299 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55-yard score in a win over then-No. 8 Georgia Tech on Nov. 1, while he also threw a 59-yard touchdown pass in the Pack’s loss at Pitt on Oct. 25.

The Delray Beach, Fla., native burst onto the scene with a five-catch, 93-yard game in his collegiate debut against East Carolina on Aug. 28. Hoffmann has since turned in three other games with at least 47 receiving yards, while he has logged at least one reception in nine of his first 11 collegiate games.

Richardson, on the other hand, played in the first two games of the season as a rotational linebacker before going down with injury. He has yet to return to the field since his five-tackle performance in the Week 2 win over Virginia, but appears to be ready to make his return against UNC.

A former Norfolk State transfer, Richardson will be able to redshirt this season since he will have appeared in just three regular season games to have two years of eligibility remaining moving forward. In a way, that helps NC State’s linebacker depth moving forward as the experienced defender arrived to the Pack with 169 career tackles from his first two seasons of college football.

Richardson, who was a freshman captain with the Spartans, has emerged as a leader in the locker room at NC State. It’s likely that he will have the opportunity to earn a starting linebacker spot next fall as graduate Caden Fordham departs due to exhausting his eligibility after this season.

Here’s a look at NC State and UNC’s availability reports going into Saturday night’s rivalry tilt.

NC State’s availability report

OUT

LB Sean Brown
S Rente Hinton
DB Isaiah Crowell
WR Jonathan Paylor
CB Jaren Sensabaugh
S Daemon Fagan
CB Jamel Johnson
S Daemon Fagan
LB Sterling Dixon
S Brody Barnhardt
OL Tyler West
OL Trent Mitchell
OL Kamen Smith

UNC’s availability report

OUT

DB Ty White
LB Chinedu Onyeagoro
LB Evan Bennett
LB Tyler Houser
OL Christo Kelly
OL Aiden Banfield
OL Chad Lindberg
DL Laderion Williams
DL Kamarion Thomas
TE Cort Halsey
TE Deems May