Huge Year Ahead For Jakobi Meyers
Jakobi Meyers continues to grow as a wide receiver. His best days are ahead. To become a complete player, he plans on working hard while also utilizing the skills he acquired playing quarterback.
When a sophomore goes for 727 yards receiving on 63 catches, with five touchdown receptions, the layman might think that player has honed his craft.
Meyers closed the 2017 season at his best. He had 34 catches for 387 yards in NC State’s final five games. He also hauled in two touchdowns during that span, including one in the Wolfpack’s Sun Bowl win over Arizona State.
That would seem to mean Meyers has the nuances of his position down pat. That is not his point of view this spring. He feels the upside of his game is still a ways off.
“I feel like I can always make improvements,” Meyers said of playing wide receiver. “I am still making that transition. I didn’t really stop making that transition just because I have played there a year. I am still trying to get things that I know that I don’t have right now as far as working at receiver, like working route techniques and certain ways to attack the ball. I am still working on being a better receiver every day.”
The context of his improvement is not something that will translate into statistics, at least not personal numbers. For Meyers, it is simply a matter of maximizing his potential and leading the Wolfpack to greater heights.
“Of course I want to be the best me I can be," Meyers said. “I am not really worried about awards or anything. As long as we are winning, that is really all I care about. Stats are not really my thing now. I am more worried about us having the best season since I have been here.”
Three of NC State’s top four receivers from last season will return in 2018, including Stephen Louis and Kelvin Harmon along with Meyers. The trio combined to catch 169 passes for 2,327 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2017.
Each one is looking to expand his game and according to Meyers there is much more in the wide receiver group for NC State to work with.
“I think we have got a lot of talent,” Meyers said. “There are a lot of weapons in the room right now. Thayer [Thomas], Steph, Kelvin, C.J.[Riley] Emeka [Emezie]-- there is so much talent out there that people have not even seen yet. I think we are pretty loaded right now. If we come through and we keep working during the offseason, I feel like it will show.
“Thayer and C.J. didn’t really get to prove themselves last year. Thayer redshirted, C.J. didn’t play as much. I think people should keep an eye out for them. They can show more than people think.”
To expand on his game, Meyers often finds himself leaning on what he learned as a quarterback.
While the lack of experience at wide receiver may be a hindrance at times, knowing the mindset of a signal-caller can neutralize things in the secondary and underneath.
“A lot of times, being a slot receiver, I have got to find holes within the defense,” Meyers said. “I kind of know where to settle down a little bit. Not everything is a full-out sprint. I know where I need to stop in the middle of the zone or where I need to break out or just to do a certain amount of steps. It definitely has helped me a lot.
“I feel like I can relate to the quarterback. I know what they are thinking before it happens. Other people probably have missed out on that. I can kind of figure in certain cases, like he will want to get rid of the ball because he is not looking to take the hit and so on.”
Others see its positive impact as well.
“I think anytime you play quarterback and you move to a position you have insight into what the quarterback is looking at and where you would need to go,” NC State wide receivers coach George McDonald said. “I think that helps him a lot in terms of understanding where he needs to put his body in order to make the catch and just knowing where he would want the ball throw, so him and Ryan have a unique ability to kind of see the same thing and use the same windows at times to make some tough catches.
“I think the biggest thing with Jakobi is he came in as a raw piece of clay in terms of being a quarterback, then switching over to receiver. Watching him grow as the years have gone on, my time here, you are always proud when you see a guy go from really the infancy stage of a position to see him starting to see the light, to develop and to start to him really contribute in games to help our team win -- it is a great thing in that way.”
The spring is the infancy of a season in many ways. NC State will host its Spring Game on Saturday with the season opener at home almost five months away.
The aspirations for the Wolfpack mirror the goals for Meyers in that building off the work that has been done and taking steps forward is the objective.
The scrimmage Saturday will be a marker for where the program is in terms of preparation for the 2018 campaign and a potential showcase to publicly display the fact that NC State is not resting on its laurels.
“Every time I step foot in Carter-Finley, even if we are doing conditioning, it just makes me feel better,” Meyers said. “The offense, I hope you see the weapons we have. Everybody thinks, with a lot of the defensive line leaving last year, we might fall off but I hope we come and show them that we can pick up the slack.”
And what about NC State’s prospects in 2018?
“I am thinking more along the lines of just shock the world,” Meyers said. “I think if we just come out and keep pushing and keep getting better, every body push each other -- because they think we have got a lot of young guys and we are not going to be up to par but I think we will shock the world.”
