NC State football pair in On3 top 20 returning ACC players
The On3 Impact 300 ranks the best players in college football entering the 2022 season, with a full release coming in the next few weeks. Prior to the release of the inaugural list – which also factors into the calculation of the On3 NIL Valuation – On3 has revealed the Top 20 returning ACC players — with NC State football standouts represented.
Clemson had the most players on the list with four, but a pair of NC State football stars also are included.
At No. 13 is fourth-year junior linebacker Drake Thomas.
Earning first-team All-ACC honors last year, Thomas led the “Wolfpack in tackles in six of the team’s games in 2021,” On3 noted. “He can play multiple linebacker positions. He finished 2021 with 99 tackles, 6.0 sacks and three interceptions, and his current NIL valuation stands at $283,000.”
Thomas started all 12 games a season ago, the only member of the standout group of NC State football linebackers to do so. The return of Thomas plus fifth-year redshirt junior Payton Wilson and super senior Isaiah Moore gives NC State a linebacker unit that some, including ESPN’s David Hale, ranks as the top among the position groups in the ACC.
Also rated in the top 20, unsurprisingly, was NC State fifth-year redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary, although Leary may have checked in a bit lower than some expected at No. 17.
“Leary finished among the Top 25 most accurate passers in the country last season, and he had a terrific 7-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio,” On3 wrote. “He also had a penchant for coming through in the clutch, throwing 11 fourth-quarter touchdowns and leading a game-winning drive against Clemson and a comeback win over UNC. When the 2021 season ended, Leary was 283 of 431 passing for 3,433 yards with 35 touchdowns and only five interceptions.”
Leary’s collection of scoring passes was a new school record, breaking a mark previously held by potential future NFL Hall of Famer Philip Rivers.
In a loaded year for ACC quarterbacks, Leary was the fourth-highest rated on the list compiled by On3. Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke was tops among league signal callers at No. 5. Van Dyke has a NIL valuation of $775,000.
Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong was No. 8. Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman, who edge Leary for all-conference honors a season ago and helped the Deacs hold off NC State for an Atlantic Division crown, was No. 12.
For the full list of the top 20 ACC player in the On3 Impact 300, click here. NC State football joined Clemson (four), Miami (three), Virginia (three) and Boston College (two) in having multiple players on the list.
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