NC State football scouting report: Week 1 vs. East Carolina

By Noah Fleischman

NC State is ready to tackle another team. It’s spent the last eight months training against itself, eager to go out and play someone wearing a jersey of a different color. Now, that time has come as East Carolina visits Carter-Finley Stadium on Thursday night (7 p.m., ACC Network).

Both programs are set to open the 2025 campaign in a rematch of last year’s Military Bowl at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The two squads, however, are extremely different going into this meeting. 

Let’s take a look at the Pirates going into the midweek clash in Raleigh.

5 ECU players to watch

1. QB Katin Houser

Although Houser didn’t win the starting job out of ECU’s fall camp last offseason, he was inserted into the lineup after a slow start. He took the reins, and the Pirates’ offense began to take off as he got more comfortable each week. Houser finished the year with 2,006 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on a 60.8-percent completion rate. 

The former Michigan State signal-caller had his best showing in a 49-14 win over FAU last fall with 343 passing yards and 5 touchdowns. He was somewhat effective against NC State in the Military Bowl, passing for 147 yards with 2 interceptions. Where he hurt the Wolfpack the most was with his legs — he didn’t run much before this game — as he posted 13 carries for 84 yards and 2 scores on the ground.

2. WR Anthony Smith

A name NC State fans know quite well, Smith enters his second season with the Pirates. After being buried on the Wolfpack’s depth chart for the first four seasons of his career, Smith broke out for a career-best 41 receptions for 799 yards and 6 touchdowns in the 2024 campaign. The wideout was aided by three 100-plus-yard performances, including a 4-catch, 121-yard effort with a touchdown at North Texas last November. 

While Smith caught 3 passes for 32 yards against NC State in the Military Bowl, this will mark his first trip back to Carter-Finley Stadium since he departed for ECU. That part is likely to be emotional for the wideout.

3. DB Ja’Marley Riddle

ECU’s top returning tackler, Riddle is looking to build on his standout freshman season last fall. He posted 64 total tackles with 3 interceptions and 4 passes defended in his first taste of college football. Riddle logged a career-best 11 total tackles in the regular-season finale against Navy, while he had a 2-interception game against Temple last October. 

NC State targeted Riddle twice in the Military Bowl, which led to a pair of catches for 16 yards and a touchdown. Thursday night’s game will be the first time Riddle has played in a true Power Conference road game.

4. WR Yannick Smith

After posting a solid freshman season with 25 receptions for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns last season, Smith is expected to take a step forward this fall. The wideout logged one 100-yard game last season with 7 catches for 112 yards and a touchdown at North Texas in a 40-28 win, a career-best effort. Smith posted 3 receptions for 56 yards with a carry for 7 yards against NC State in the postseason last December.

5. LB Ryheem Craig

A former NC State recruiting target in the 2021 class, Craig committed to Louisville before he transferred to ECU ahead of last season. He emerged as a starting outside linebacker last fall, posting a career-best 53 total tackles, including 1.5 sacks, during the 2024 campaign. Against NC State, Craig logged 5 total tackles with just 1 solo stop in the Military Bowl. A fifth-year player, Craig provides an experienced veteran presence within the Pirates’ defense.

3 keys to the game

1. Get to the quarterback

NC State defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot is known to have an aggressive scheme that gets into the backfield consistently. The last time Eliot commanded a college unit, he helped Temple rank eighth nationally in sacks per game (3.2) and ninth in tackles for loss per game (7.3). Bringing that style of play into this game is necessary as the Wolfpack pressured Houser nine times last season and he threw 2 interceptions during those snaps — he was 3-for-6 passing for 28 yards with the pair of picks. Look for Eliot to dial up some pressure on the Pirates’ QB in the opener.

2. Keep QB CJ Bailey clean

Speaking of passing under pressure, NC State sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey was able to find success under duress in the bowl, going 6-for-8 passing for 79 yards with a touchdown and an interception. But when he was kept clean against ECU, Bailey was 13-for-18 passing for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns. NC State has a new-look offensive line with three fresh starters: center Jalen Grant, right guard Kamen Smith and right tackle Teague Andersen. This will be a big test for them in their first true game action on the line playing with left tackle Jacarrius Peak and left guard Anthony Carter Jr.

3. Feed TE Justin Joly

If there’s a true NFL-caliber player on NC State’s offense, currently, it’s senior tight end Justin Joly. The former UConn transfer posted a career-best 661 yards with 4 touchdowns on just 43 receptions last fall. Now that NC State has to replace wideout Kevin “KC” Concepcion’s team-high 88 total targets from last season, Joly is a likely favorite to get a bulk of those. Joly was effective against ECU in the bowl last fall with 3 catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. That’s 13.7 yards per catch. If he can haul in five or six passes in the season opener, NC State’s passing attack would be doing well against the Pirates.

1 NC State player who could change the game

RB Hollywood Smothers

If there was any player who had the best game for NC State in the bowl, it was then-redshirt freshman Hollywood Smothers. He posted 15 carries for 139 yards, averaging 9.3 yards per attempt, despite not playing a single snap in the third quarter. Although he wasn’t on the field for an entire 15-minute period, Smothers accounted for 42.2 percent of the Wolfpack’s total yards of offense. It’s likely that he will be a game-changer this time around as NC State’s most elusive tailback since he forced 34 missed tackles in the 2024 campaign.