Isaiah Shirley emerges into major role for NC State football

Isaiah Shirley dreamt about his first sack with NC State ever since he committed to the program. Now a redshirt freshman defensive end for the Pack, the emerging lineman made the most of his first chance to bring down the opposing quarterback. 

And all he had to do was make a layup. 

On the final play of NC State’s season-opening win over Western Carolina, the Catamounts left Shirley unblocked. He sacked the quarterback and knocked the ball loose inside the Wolfpack red zone as the clock hit 0, forcing the program’s first turnover of the year. 

“No one actually blocked me on that play,” Shirley said. “We had a blitz on, everybody ran their blitz tracks, they didn’t have enough to block us and I just happened to be that guy on the edge that came free.”

Shirley has played 65 total snaps at defensive end this fall. Now that senior defensive lineman Red Hibbler is no longer on the roster, the redshirt freshman will likely take on an expanded role moving forward. 

The defensive end from Boone, North Carolina, committed to NC State a little over two years ago, picking the program over Virginia Tech, Duke and others. He played both sides of the ball for Watauga High and, as a freshman in Raleigh, played scout team defensive end while helping out as a blocking tight end as well. 

“I think that really helped my confidence in terms of like, ‘I’m strong enough to do this. I have the athletic ability to do this,’… It really made me feel like I was helping the team,” Shirley said. “I was always just like ‘What can I do to help the team,’ when I was on scout team, so I was giving the best effort I could, the best look I could to help my teammates because I wanted to win just like them.”

Even when he was not on the field much defensively, Shirley was filled with pride whenever he saw Anthony Belton pancake a defender because he helped prepare the offensive lineman during the week. 

He played 38 snaps at tight end over 5 games, including the bowl game, while preserving his redshirt year. The lineman was just excited to contribute in any way possible. 

“Whenever I actually got to get on the field and actually help the team and do something small but get to help the team, I was just really thankful,” Shirley said.

Shirley went into the offseason with a new level of confidence from his limited snaps as a freshman. He now stands 6-3, 276 pounds, and he’s ready to contribute at the position he was recruited to play. 

Over the first 4 games of the year, he recorded 6 total tackles, including 4 in the blowout loss to Tennessee. The defensive end showed Dave Doeren enough against Clemson to draw praise from the head coach. 

“I think Isaiah Shirley did a really nice job,” Doeren said. “He did the same thing in the Tennessee game when we put him in in the second half, so he’s a guy that has shown that he’ll compete no matter what. 

“He’s a guy that’s going to get more playing time because of that. It’s obvious when you watch those two games. I thought he was very competitive when he went in there.”

The redshirt freshman saw the field for 33 snaps vs. Clemson after he did not play at all vs. Louisiana Tech. Shirley also contributes on special teams with the punt return and field goal block squads. 

Practice felt like fall camp this week, the lineman said. Players were flying around, competing and communicating well. Shirley is putting his complete trust in the coaching staff because he knows they want to win just as much as he does. 

After the Clemson loss NC State is not taking Saturday’s opponent lightly. The Pack sits at 2-2 and needs to defeat a Northern Illinois squad that upset Notre Dame to avoid falling below .500. He feels the confidence from Doeren going into this game, and Shirley said the team responded to last week’s setback in practice this week. 

“He believes in us,” Shirley said. “I believe that he believes in us, and I think our teammates believe that. Obviously, it’s a gut check. You get beat like that, obviously, it’s going to hurt your pride, but I think we came out today confident that you wouldn’t even know we got beat like we did on Saturday.”