Injuries Mounting For Wolfpack Defense

NC State didn't come out of the loss against South Carolina unscathed, as the Wolfpack sustained a major injury in the defensive backfield to junior nickelback Freddie Phillips.

"He did tear his Achilles and is out for the year," Dave Doeren said of Philips at his weekly press conference.  "So tough break for a young man that's done a great job. The surgery was successful. I know Freddie will do everything just like he did this last year to get back. This will be a redshirt year for Freddie since he did not redshirt as a freshman or sophomore."

On Monday, a school official also confirmed that sophomore reserve nickelback Trae Meadows is currently no longer with the team.  Meadows, who was one of just two true freshmen to play defensively last season for NC State, was expected to be the new backup at the position, but now the Wolfpack has to move around players to account for the lack of depth behind starter Shawn Boone. 

Redshirt freshman linebacker Brock Miller is listed as the backup behind Boone, and junior linebacker Germaine Pratt can also play nickelback according to Doeren.  As for Boone, he performed well in his first start at the position.

"Shawn played two positions in the game, and he had a key sack," said Doeren.  "There was one coverage where he should have been deeper which would have helped us on a play-action pass, but I thought he was pretty steady. He tackled well and played different positions against an offense that does quite a bit of things.

"I thought he did his job well, and I know he'll tell you there are things he wants to work on."

The Wolfpack also suffered a big injury at linebacker as junior middle linebacker Riley Nicholson left the game after being injured on the opening kickoff.  Doeren stated the injury was minor, but Nicholson is likely out this week.

"Unless they tell me otherwise I don't think he'll play this week," Doeren said of Nicholson. "We should have him back after that. It wasn't a major injury, but they thought he'd be [out] at least a week. 

"Airius can play Will and Mike, but Louis [Acceus] is listed as the backup and we know Airius can swing over... the depth chart is listed to show two people but there are guys that can play multiple positions for us within our scheme."

Redshirt junior free safety Dexter Wright sustained a groin injury in the second half which led to sophomore Tim Kidd-Glass playing 17 snaps down the stretch.

"I thought Tim did a great job when he came in," Doeren said.  "He actually graded out higher than Dexter did. You know he wasn't in there as long, but I thought he did a good job. He communicated well, he fit in the run game where he was supposed to fit... he was in the right places.

"He didn't make a lot of plays, but they weren't there to make on his side of the field at times. You didn't notice that you had a young kid in the game. He's a sophomore and he played on special teams as a true freshman last year."

As for Wright, Doeren provided a brief update.

"Dexter just tweaked his groin a little bit," he said. "I don't know if he's 50 percent or 100 percent. I haven't met with the training staff yet today, but he was walking around yesterday during the walk-through and it seemed like he was feeling pretty good so hopefully, he'll be back this week."

It isn't all doom and gloom on the injury front for NC State, as the Wolfpack appears to be on the verge of adding senior cornerback Mike Stevens back to the lineup.
 
"Mike looked great yesterday," Doeren said.  "He was running around, backpedaling. He's ahead of schedule.  I don't think he'll play this week, but we should have him for Furman."