NC State Newsstand: Payton Wilson earns Reese’s Senior Bowl weekly award
Another week, another dominant performance on the field from NC State graduate linebacker Payton Wilson. His big night against North Carolina landed the Wolfpack’s star defender the Reese’s Senior Bowl Co-Defensive Player of the Week Award on Monday morning.
Wilson logged 15 total tackles, including eight solo stops with two tackles for a loss, a sack, a forced fumble, an interception and a quarterback hurry in the Pack’s 39-20 win over the Tar Heels.
It is Wilson’s second time winning the award from the Reese’s Senior Bowl, and he is the only defensive player in the country to win it multiple times. The only other player to receive a national player of the week award twice from the Senior Bowl is LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Wilson, a Butkus and Nagurski Award finalist, finished the season with an ACC-best 138 total tackles and a conference-leading 17.5 tackles for a loss. He also recorded six sacks (10th in the ACC), nine pass breakups (9th in the ACC), three interceptions (11th in the ACC) and two fumble recoveries (5th in the ACC).
The Hillsborough, N.C., native also moved up to fifth in NC State’s program history for all-time tackles with 402 in his career.
Tweets of the day
NC State football entered the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday.
NC State women’s basketball enjoyed its win over No. 3 Colorado on Saturday afternoon.
NC State’s recruits enjoyed watching the Wolfpack’s win over North Carolina.
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson continues to have an elite defense.
Quote of the day
Coach Dave Doeren on NC State’s five-game winning streak after it started the season 4-3:
“I think as a leader I was challenged,” Doeren said. “I was put in a tough spot, and if you’ve learned anything about me and my time here, I love being challenged. I like fighting when people are doubting me, and there was a lot of doubt. It was one of those things where you had to fight for your players, fight for yourself and we did that very well.”
Today’s top headlines
Sunday Superlatives: No. 22 NC State’s win over North Carolina
Recruits react to NC State’s win over North Carolina
How No. 22 NC State’s mid-season turnaround led to a 5-game winning streak
Payton Wilson leaves NC State in a better place than when he arrived
