NC State football countdown to kickoff: 98
The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 98 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 98 in Pack history.
NC State Football And No. 98
• The current No. 98 on the NC State football roster was a positive revelation from last season. When starting punter Shane McDonough suffered an injury late in the season, walk-on Caden Noonkester took over the duties. Noonkester performed so well he did not give the responsibility back for the final four games of the year.
Noonkester kicked five times for an average of 43.0 yards with a long of 67. McDonough had averaged 41.4 yards when he was punting.
Had Noonkester kicked enough punts to qualify for the ACC leaders, he would have ranked seventh in the conference, just 0.5 yards behind the fifth best punter.
The 6-foot-6, 205-pound native hopes to continue the recent NC State football tradition of strong punting. The Pack has two recent alums successfully kicking in the NFL in A.J. Cole (Las Vegas Raiders) and Trenton Gill (Chicago Bears). The fact that the Wolfpack did not pursue competition for Noonkester in the portal signals it is his job to lose in 2023.
• The greatest receiving season in NC State history came in 1998, when All-American and potential future NFL Hall of Famer Torry Holt grabbed 88 receptions for 1,604 yards and 11 touchdowns. The yardage total is over 200 more than any other Wolfpack wideout has ever accomplished in a year.
Holt twice caught over 200 yards in a game, including a school-record 255 vs. Baylor. He went over 100 yards eight times that year.
Holt was named the ACC Football Player of the Year, one of just six from NC State to receive that honor.
• The longest touchdown pass in NC State football did not involve Holt but it was a 98-yarder. Bruce Shaw connected with Pat Kenny against Penn State for a 98-yard touchdown in 1972.
• NC State football fans don’t want to remember much about that 2010 regular season finale at Maryland, when the Wolfpack lost in a game that would have clinched an Atlantic Coast Conference title game appearance with win.
There was a record set that game. NC State ran 98 plays from scrimmage, the most in a single game in team history. Coincidentally the most ran against NC State? Also 98, done so by Duke in 2001. The Wolfpack won that game.
