Bishop Fitzgerald motivated to grow from Notre Dame loss with expanded role in secondary 

NC State junior safety Bishop Fitzgerald had a free shot at Notre Dame tight end Holden Staes in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, but he missed the tackle, which allowed the Irish to score via a simple pass and catch that turned into a 40-yard touchdown. 

It didn’t take long for Fitzgerald, who is in his first season with the Wolfpack after transferring from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, to see the clip circulate through social media after the nationally televised contest against the No. 10 team in the country. 

“Obviously you don’t want that on ESPN, but once you see it, my friends watching it on TV, it’s like, ‘Dang, you’re really here,’” Fitzgerald said Wednesday afternoon. “As a kid, you obviously want to play against a top-10 team all the time. Notre Dame was that ‘I’m here moment.’”

The Woodbridge, Va., native was underrecruited out of Gar-Field High School, where he played quarterback. With his impressive speed, Coffeyville converted Fitzgerald into a safety, and he can play at all three spots in the secondary. 

In his new role at Coffeyville, Fitzgerald excelled with the Red Ravens. He posted 57 tackles with 1.5 tackles for a loss, 6 interceptions and a forced fumble in 17 games at the junior college level. With those numbers and an elite knack for defense, Fitzgerald was rated the No. 1 junior college safety in the country.

The 6-foot, 195-pound defensive back chose NC State over the likes of Arizona State and Utah State to name a few of the interested programs in late January. He arrived in Raleigh in June after finishing the spring semester at Coffeyville, and picked up the defense rather quickly. 

“I obviously had a little bit of nerves built up from JUCO, coming with high expectations,” Fitzgerald said. “But I feel like the coaches helped ease me into it a little bit. Once I picked it up, they threw me out there. I had a few knick-knack injuries in fall camp, a hamstring, but it honestly boosted me and made me learn it faster.”

There’s a world of differences between Coffeyville and NC State, from a more complex defense to flights to an away game instead of the six-hour bus ride that Fitzgerald was used to at the junior college ranks. 

It doesn’t end there, as Fitzgerald has gotten used to the Wolfpack’s access to resources at its disposal. 

“The resources are just unlimited here,” Fitzgerald said. “You can get any cleats, any gloves you want. Food, obviously, at JUCO you have to have McDonald’s some nights. I’m just blessed to be in this position.”

Fitzgerald didn’t practice with NC State until the first day of fall camp, but with his ability to learn the defense quickly, he became a key depth piece to the Wolfpack’s secondary. 

While Fitzgerald noted that his minor bumps and bruises allowed him to pick the defense up faster, he wasn’t the only one to notice his impact on the defense. 

Senior linebacker Jaylon Scott raved about Fitzgerald and the progress he’s made since he arrived on campus three months ago. 

“Bishop is a ball player, I rarely say that,” Scott said. “And I say that because you can be a DB, but a lot of people don’t have good ball skills. Bishop is probably one guy that’s really good at tracking the ball, finding the ball, being able to make plays on the ball. … Bishop picked up on the defense pretty fast, I’d say, for him being a transfer coming in and instantly getting reps. I feel like that’s a good addition to our defense.”

Through the Wolfpack’s first two games, Fitzgerald has posted 4 tackles, including 1 solo stop. But with senior safety Jakeen Harris out for the rest of the season with a torn pec, Fitzgerald will be leaned on more by the Wolfpack at free safety. 

In the depth chart ahead of Saturday’s game against VMI, Fitzgerald was listed alongside Sean Brown at starting free safety. 

But while Harris isn’t going to patrol the secondary for the rest of the season, that doesn’t mean his impact won’t be felt in other ways. Fitzgerald noted that Harris has been giving the safeties pointers, almost acting like another coach. 

“Jakeen’s been here for a while, he’s kind of coaching us,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s almost like a graduate assistant out there, honestly. Obviously he’s dealing with his pec, and rehab and all that, but when he can be out there, [he’s out there.] I’m blessed for him, and I appreciate Jakeen.”

Without Harris on the field, Fitzgerald’s role will expand, and his missed tackle against Notre Dame continues to serve as a daily motivation. He, along with the rest of the NC State secondary, is eager to show that was a fluke in the final 10 games of the season.

“The coaches have been hard on me since then, as they should,” Fitzgerald said. “Kind of on the whole back end [of the defense] about our eyes, missed tackles, and stuff like that. It makes us look bad. It’s kind of a slap in the face, but now we have to show the world the rest of the season what we can do.”