NC State Freaks List: Who are the Wolfpack’s most athletic players headed into the 2025 season?

By Noah Fleischman

NC State spent much of its summer inside the Wolfpack’s 15,000-square-foot football weight room, located just inside the Murphy Center’s first-floor lobby, working to improve for the 2025 campaign. 

The team wasn’t happy about last season’s ending, which featured a Military Bowl loss to East Carolina, which capped a 6-7 year — just the third losing season under Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren. The team was determined to right that wrong, and in doing so, it shined during the end-of-summer strength and agility testing.

Here’s a look at NC State’s most elite athletes going into the 2025 season in The Wolfpacker’s Freaks List, using intel from this summer’s weight room standouts. The list was inspired by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, who has ranked the top athletes across college football for the last 20 years.

Honorable mention: WR Wesley Grimes

Whenever someone runs faster than most at the NFL Combine, they’re due to make this list. That’s exactly what senior wide receiver Wesley Grimes did with his blazing-fast 4.24 time in the 40-yard dash, which led the Wolfpack as the fastest on the team. 

“He ran fast last year, but he ran even faster this year,” NC State Director of Strength and Performance Dantonio Burnette said of Grimes, whose speed he compared to former NC State safety Josh Jones. “His legs are stronger, he’s more explosive.”

Grimes’ track speed should pay dividends on the field in his final collegiate campaign. He posted 24 receptions for 319 yards and a touchdown during the 2024 campaign, but now with his career-best speed going into this fall, the 6-foot-2, 193-pound route runner is primed to be one of the Wolfpack’s burners at outside receiver in 2025.

5. S JJ Johnson

40: 4.58 // Pro Agility: 4.11 // Vertical: 38.9 inches // Squat: 455 // Bench: 335

NC State dipped into the transfer portal to find a starting safety this offseason, and it emerged with Georgia State transfer JJ Johnson. The veteran joined the program in January and quickly became one of the more impressive players in the Wolfpack weight room. 

Johnson was a fast learner and took to everything NC State’s strength and conditioning staff gave him. As a result, he showed impressive growth in nearly every test he did. The 5-foot-10, 200-pound defensive back logged the best broad jump (10-feet, 8.5-inches), the fourth-highest vertical jump (38.9 inches) and the fifth-best pro agility time on the team (4.11).

The Anguilla, Miss., native also performed well on the bench press and squat rack to earn his first nod on The Wolfpacker’s freaks list in his lone season with NC State.

4. LB Sean Brown

40: 4.47 // Pro Agility: 3.97 // Vertical: 38.6 inches // Squat: 520 // Bench: 365 // Clean: 325

After spending his first season with the Wolfpack linebacker group following three seasons as a safety, redshirt senior Sean Brown’s athleticism has only continued to stand out. It allowed him to make a smooth transition to the second level of NC State’s defense, where he became the team’s leading tackler with a career-best 94 total stops in 2024. 

And despite adding nearly 20 pounds since his safety days, Brown still moves like a defensive back. That’s a dangerous combination for a linebacker at 6-foot, 224 pounds — one that the Wolfpack hopes will help Brown take a step forward in his second season at the position full time. 

Brown logged the team’s second-fastest pro agility (3.97), while he had the fifth-best vertical jump (38.6 inches) to go with a 4.47 40-yard dash, a 520 max squat, a 365 max bench and a 325 max clean. 

“To see what he can do at 225 pounds … he’s pretty explosive,” Burnette said. “He’s a guy that you go, ‘He’s definitely a freak.’”

That freakish set of attributes not only landed Brown on The Wolfpacker’s list, but Feldman listed him at No. 75 on his annual Freaks List this offseason.

3. CB Jamel Johnson

40: 4.40 // Pro Agility: 3.93 // Vertical: 35 // Squat: 405 // Bench: 315 // Clean 315

If there was a player that could be the prime example of NC State’s player development in the offseason, Temple transfer Jamel Johnson is the one to look at. 

When he arrived on campus in January, he would only do seven reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. But when it came time to test in mid-July, Johnson blew that out of the water with 14. 

Not only did Johnson improve his bench press performance, but he was the Wolfpack’s top performer in pro agility at a blazing-fast 3.93. That time tied former wide receiver Thayer Thomas’ program record and was only one of two players to go under four seconds this offseason, while he also posted the fourth-fastest 40 with a 4.40

Johnson’s improvement is a byproduct of his work ethic in the weight room. He attacked every day with the same intensity, and it has paid off. The 5-foot-11, 196-pound defensive back will be a critical piece of NC State’s secondary this fall with his track speed on the backend.

2. OT Jacarrius Peak

40: 4.86 // Pro Agility: 4.37 // Vertical: 31.5 inches // Squat: 585 // Bench: 400 // Clean: 350

As NC State prepares to replace left tackle Anthony Belton, who was a second-round NFL Draft pick by the Green Bay Packers, it doesn’t have to look far. The Wolfpack is set to shift right tackle Jacarrius Peak, who has similar athleticism, to the critical position.

Peak, who was No. 31 on The Athletic’s Freaks list this summer, tested extremely well. He posted a 4.86 40-yard dash, while running a 4.37 pro agility, which would have been the best mark of any offensive lineman at the NFL Combine this past year. Plus, he added the second-best squat (585), the third-best clean (350) and the fourth-best bench press (400) of anyone on the team. 

Factor in his 31.5-inch vertical and 9-foot-3 broad jump at 308 pounds, and Peak has the traits to become one of the ACC’s best offensive linemen going into his final collegiate season.

“He’s super athletic,” Burnette said. “He can jump out of the gym.”

1. RB Duke Scott

40: 4.35 // Pro Agility: 4.32 // Vertical: 37.4 // Squat: 550 // Bench: 335 // Clean: 375

The player who generated the most buzz this offseason with a standout performance in the weight room was redshirt freshman running back Duke Scott. The young tailback turned heads with his testing at the end of the summer weight program, signaling a possible breakout campaign.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound runner logged NC State’s top clean at 375, outperforming several of the Pack’s strongest players, including Peak. He also logged the second-fastest 40-yard dash (4.35) with a 4.32 pro agility and an impressive 550-pound squat. 

For Burnette, who has witnessed a great deal in his more than two decades around college football, Scott is a unique player, one who is likely to continue to excel in weight room testing in the future.

“No-brainer. I think Duke will easily shatter the clean record,” Burnette said. “He’ll easily be squatting over 600 pounds. Just put it like this: Duke, he’s special. There’s no doubt in my mind that everyone on the team believes he’s going to be a guy that helps open up the playbook and run game.”

The Stockbridge, Ga., native is set to be the Wolfpack’s No. 2 running back behind redshirt sophomore Hollywood Smothers this fall. His ability to test at an extremely high level is expected to pay off with his downhill running as NC State’s bruiser in the backfield during the 2025 campaign.

Scott was also named to The Athletic’s Freaks List and checked in at No. 66, his first time on the annual ranking of the top athletes in college football.