Cian Slone and Sabastian Harsh were late pickups in the transfer portal for NC State. The duo made an immediate impact for the Wolfpack in its season-opening win.
Slone and Harsh caused havoc from the defensive edges to combine for 14 tackles (five solo), 2.5 tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, and a pass breakup in NC State’s 24-17 triumph over East Carolina on Thursday at Carter-Finley Stadium.
It was Slone who addressed the media following the win. The former Second Team All-Mountain West was enthused about beginning the NC State portion of his college football career.
"It was honestly just great to be out there with my brothers,” Slone said. “There is no other place in the world I would rather be right now. With just the atmosphere from the fans to the preparation we had going into the game, there is no way I was not going to go out there and play it as hard as I can.”
NC State head coach Dave Doeren explained the need for depth at the defensive end position group, which led his staff to seek late reinforcements in the winter.
“We wanted to be better off the edge,” Doeren explained. “We wanted to create more tackles for loss this year and more sacks, and not have to blitz all the time to create those things. We wanted to be able to do it with four or five guys, and so there was a huge emphasis on finding some edge players [like] Cian Slone, Kenny [Soares, Jr.], and Tra Thomas. We got some good snaps out of several players.
“We wanted to have guys that could play outside, play in space, and give us pass rush. That was a huge emphasis by the staff and recruiting, and it obviously paid off.”
Although he was absent from the postgame, the work Harsh put in was not far from the minds of his teammates.
“[Harsh] is my boy,” Slone said. “He was on my visit when I first committed here. He is an outstanding player. There is no one who plays harder, who plays more physical, than Sabastian Harsh. It was just an honor playing on the other side of him. We both made a pretty good impact in the game.”
“They're both veteran guys in college football,” junior linebacker Caden Fordham said. “They played a lot of a lot of snaps, and you can see it on the field. They came in day one, a new defense for all of us. They learned right away, really got in the playbook together, and started picking up on things. They started in practice in preparation. I could tell just by the way they practice, how hard they practice, and how serious they took it that they were going to be great players, and it showed tonight.”
The Wolfpack jumped the Pirates early but was unable to put ECU away.
After leading 17-0 less than 20 minutes into the contest, East Carolina rallied to close the gap to a one-possession deficit (seven points) with over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Facing a fourth down deep in Wolfpack territory, the Pirates were stopped short with less than a minute remaining to seal the opening night win for NC State.
“They are a respectable team,” Slone said. “We knew that going in. It is a game of runs. They went on a couple of runs. When it came down to it in our red zone, we [held] up and stopped them on fourth down, and we won the game. It was just a great game.”
While there will be questions and concerns, Slone, with the help of players like Harsh, feels there are plenty of positives to draw on as the Pack starts preparations for hosting Virginia on Saturday, September 6th.
“Obviously, there is still a lot to learn, and I still have to get a lot better,” Slone said. “I am not where I want to be at right now, but I would say, from effort and how I played, I am definitely satisfied with what I did out there. I understand that there is more to be done, and I am not where I want to be yet, but it was just a great team win all around.”
