NC State football countdown to kickoff: 15
The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 15 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 15 in Pack history.
NC State Football And The No. 15
• Wearing No. 15 this year for NC State football is super senior receiver Keyon Lesane. The Lumberton, N.C., native played his high school football at Butler High near Charlotte and was the subject of a spirited recruiting battle between the Wolfpack and archrival North Carolina.
Lesane was able to play as a true freshman, catching 13 passes for 93 yards. However, Lesane struggled to break through against a crowded receiver depth chart, and over the next two seasons caught a combined 11 passes for 103 yards.
The 2022 season represented Lesane’s breakout. He hauled in 31 passes for 342 yards and a pair of scores. As the leading returning pass catcher, Lesane is expected to be among the top options for new NC State starting quarterback Brennan Armstrong.
• In 2016, NC State football had a quarterback competition battle between Jalan McClendon and Ryan Finley.
The former was a smooth athlete with a cannon arm and prototype size. The latter a tall, lean (almost skinny) QB with decent arm strength and impressive accuracy. The former was a popular player on the team from Charlotte and a member of head coach Dave Doeren’s first full recruiting class. The latter a Boise State transfer who had just arrived weeks before the start of training camp.
The competition lasted through the 2016 season opener, an easy 48-14 win over William & Mary. Each player were given a first half opportunity to lead the NC State offense. Finley began with two touchdowns drives. McClendon threw an interception on his first possession.
The QB competition was over, and the job would firmly belong to Finley.
Finley would wear No. 15 for the next three seasons as a starter at NC State and find himself second behind Philip Rivers on many of the NC State passing records. One mark he did set was completions in a game, 45 in the season-opener in 2017 against South Carolina. He also broke the record for highest career completion percentage at NC State at 64.5 percent.
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Finley’s 10,505 passing yards make him the second in NC State football history to go over the 10,000-yard mark, and his career-yards per game average of 269.4 edged Rivers’ 264.4 for a new school best.
In 2018, Finley in passing yards (3,928) on his way to being named first-team All-ACC, a year after he was a third-team all-conference selection.
Following his days at NC State, Finley was drafted in the fourth round by the Cincinnati Bengals, where he played two seasons in the NFL, including making four starts. He has not been in the NFL since being waived by the Houston Texans, who had acquired Finley in a trade, during the offseason following the 2020 season.
Finley’s younger brother Ben Finley started two games last season for NC State before transferring to Cal.
For those who wonder, McClendon transferred from NC State to Baylor, where he was a part-time starter to finish out his career. However, McClendon’s physical skills were so obvious that McClendon was still able to receive a training camp invite with Washington in the NFL.
