NC State football scouting report: Tennessee

By Ethan McDowell

Get ready for speed, power and a pace of play that will put a NASCAR race to shame Saturday night. No. 14 Tennessee (1-0) plays a rapid, field-stretching brand of football that, when combined with a talented defensive front, produces a potential College Football Playoff contender.

NC State, the No. 24 team in the country, won its season-opener over Western Carolina by 17 points. The Volunteers dispatched Chattanooga by 66 and racked up 718 yards of total offense. Tennessee is 14-2 in nonconference play under head coach Josh Heupel, with those losses coming against Purdue and Pittsburgh during his first season with the program.

This game could be a shootout, but either defense has the talent to disrupt the opposing offense if it executes well. Regardless, the margin for error in Bank of America Stadium will be much smaller than it was last week for the Wolfpack.

5 Tennessee players to watch

1) Edge rusher James Pearce Jr.

ESPN’s most recent NFL Mock Draft projects the Carolina Panthers, the host team of Saturday’s game, to select Pearce with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft. The 6-5, 243-pound edge rusher from Charlotte exploded onto the college football scene last year with an 8.5 sack total that caught the eye of professional scouts.

Those plays accounted for more than a third of his 24 total tackles, but the pass rush specialist has the ability to break a game. He only played 10 snaps in the season opener. During the 2023 season, Pearce recorded an elite 91.9 pass-rushing grade on Pro Football Focus (PFF) that ranked No. 5 nationally among defenders who logged at least 100 rushing snaps.

2) Quarterback Nico Iamaleava

Iamaleava is 2-0 as a starter and, over 6 career appearances, has not played in a game that finished within 24 points. He was the Vols’ QB1 for a bowl game against a ranked Iowa squad, and Tennessee defeated the Hawkeyes 35-0. During the win, the freshman completed 12 of 19 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, taking 6 sacks and running for 27 yards and 3 more scores. The 6-6, 215-pound quarterback followed that up with an elite 2024 debut that included 22 completions on 28 attempts, 314 yards and 3 touchdowns. On3 considered Iamaleava the No. 1 recruit in the country coming out of high school.

3) Running back Dylan Sampson

Tennessee has some serious firepower in the passing game, but this was a run-first squad last season. The Volunteers led the SEC at 204.8 rushing yards per contest, and at least one running back finished with more than 100 yards in seven of their games last fall. As a team, Tennessee averaged 5.4 yards per carry.

Sampson was the team’s second-leading rusher last fall and returns this season in the feature back role. The 5-11, 201-pound playmaker carried 12 times for 124 yards and scored 3 touchdowns against Chattanooga after racking up 471 yards in 2023. He also caught 17 passes as a sophomore, so he will likely factor into the passing game as well.

4) Center Cooper Mays

Mays was one of Tennessee’s two preseason All-SEC selections this year, and he also received preseason All-America recognition. The 6-4, 310-pound standout interior lineman allowed 1 quarterback hit over 531 snaps in 2023. He has been a key member of four consecutive Volunteer offensive lines, including the past two that made the Joe Moore Award semifinalist round — an honor that recognizes the top blocking unit in the country.

5) Cornerback Rickey Gibson III

Tennessee is extremely talented across the board, but the Vols do field an inexperienced secondary. Gibson’s showdown with the Wolfpack receivers will be one of the more interesting individual matchups to watch. The sophomore’s first start was Tennessee’s bowl game, and he missed the season opener due to a hamstring injury. Heupel said Gibson should be available Saturday. He’s an inexperienced defensive back who will have to deal with some serious talent in the Wolfpack receiver corps that showed a lot of promise week one. Gibson allowed 4 receptions on 10 targets last year for 14 yards. The cornerback also missed 23.1 percent of his tackling attempts.

3 keys to the game

1) Give the defense time to breathe

NC State will bring plenty of defensive depth into this game. The Pack has a solid rotation of 4-5 cornerbacks, 7-8 defensive linemen, 5-6 linebackers, 2 nickels and 3-4 safeties. Tennessee will put that depth to the test. The Volunteers ran 90 offensive plays against Chattanooga. Even though the SEC program has the talent to explode for a long touchdown, this squad is also happy to win through the cumulative effect of 1,000 4-yard paper cuts.

When the defense is able to force a change of possession, the Wolfpack offense cannot afford many three-and-outs. This game could be a high-scoring affair, so preserving the defense’s legs with long, clock-eating drives will help NC State maintain its energy late in the game. Every Wolfpack drive against Western Carolina, except for a one-play interception possession, spanned at least 5 plays.

2) Make the layups

When the first snap of the game hits a linebacker’s hands, the defender needs to pick it off. If there’s a receiver running open down the middle of the field on a post pattern, the quarterback needs to find him with an accurate ball. Mistakes like those did not hurt the Pack against Western Carolina, but NC State needs to play efficient, opportunistic football against Tennessee because there will probably be far fewer opportunities to make game-changing plays.

This sample size is quite small but, over Iamaleava’s 2 career starts and 4 other appearances, he has never thrown a turnover-worthy pass according to PFF. The quarterback did fumble in last year’s bowl game and put the ball on the ground again vs. Chattanooga. Those turnover opportunities will be critical for NC State.

3) Pressure the quarterback

Iamaleava dropped back to pass 61 times last season and spent 21 of those plays under pressure. When a defense collapsed the pocket, the freshman completed 2 of 8 passes for 42 yards, averaging 5.3 yards per attempt. He took 7 sacks in 2023. Opponents blitzed him on 29.5 percent of his dropbacks and held the talented quarterback to 3 completions on 12 attempts.

Chattanooga did not even try that strategy against Iamaleava last week, sending extra defenders on 6 dropbacks. In a clean pocket, he picked the FCS program apart for 303 yards and 3 touchdowns. He faced pressure on 4 dropbacks and completed 1 of 2 passing attempts for 11 yards. In his limited time on the field, his performance against the blitz is really the only area where he has struggled.

NC State can help its chances Saturday if the defensive line plays up to its billing and disrupts the standout freshman in the pocket.

1 Pack player who could change the game

Graduate quarterback Grayson McCall

McCall racked up 318 yards in his season opener in a mostly clean pocket. NC State’s offensive line gave up 6 pressures and allowed 1 sack on a scramble play that head coach Dave Doeren said should have been thrown away. He completed 65 percent of his passes, just below his career average of 69.7. His receivers also bailed him out on a few errant throws, and he missed some opportunities that could have led to explosive gains.

If McCall connects on those passes against an inexperienced Volunteer secondary, then NC State could match the SEC program’s explosive offense and make this a really fun ballgame. Tennessee knows how to manufacture offense, and the Wolfpack will have to remain efficient and minimize mistakes like sacks and turnovers against an elite, deep pass rush.