NC State football receiver Thayer Thomas is latest to announce return

The latest NC State football player to take advantage of his Super Senior option is wide receiver Thayer Thomas.

Thomas is NC State’s primary slot receiver/punt returner. He caught 51 passes for 596 yards and eight touchdowns this past fall. Thomas has 20 career scoring receptions, tied for third most in school history.

He also has a career average of 10.4 yards per punt return.

Seven other NC State football players have announced they would use their Super Senior year due to the NCAA freezing eligibility in 2020:

— First-team All-ACC nose tackle Cory Durden

— First-team All-ACC safety Tanner Ingle

— Third-team All-ACC center Grant Gibson

— Honorable mention All-ACC linebacker Isaiah Moore

— Honorable mention All-ACC nickel Tyler Baker-Williams

— Starting cornerback Derrek Pitts Jr.

— Safety Cyrus Fagan

Durden, a redshirt junior, took over and flourished as the starting nose tackle when redshirt freshman C.J. Clark went down with an injury three games into the season. Durden finished the year with 31 tackles, including 4.5 for loss and 3.5 sacks, and added seven quarterback hurries.

Ingle, who has started 36 games over the past four years, made the first-team all-conference squad after tallying 82 tackles, including 3.5 for loss, plus he had an interception and four pass breakups in 2021.

Moore was honorable mention All-ACC despite missing the final five contests of the year. Before suffering a knee injury, he had 43 tackles, including five for loss and a sack. He added three pass breakups, an interception and seven quarterback hurries.

Baker-Williams was named honorable mention All-ACC in 2021 after tallying 32 tackles, including three for loss. He also added two interceptions and four pass breakups in 10 games, missing two contests with injuries.

Fagan was injured in week two of the season. He had nine tackles and a pick at the time of the injury.

Pitts, a transfer addition last offseason from Marshall, will also be back. The redshirt junior had 43 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, in 12 games. He also had two interceptions, six pass breakups (tied for the team-high) and a quarterback hurry.

Gibson had 40 pancake blocks at center this fall, his third season as a starter at the position.

Both Moore and Gibson were team captains and considered invaluable leaders on the roster.

Also previously announcing his return was redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary.

Leary finished the regular season completing 283 of 431 passes, 65.7 percent, for 3,433 yards and 35 touchdowns with only five interceptions. He had a quarterback efficiency rating of 157.0. He broke Philip Rivers’ school record for touchdown passes in a season, and still has the Dec. 28 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl against UCLA left.

Leary also already has the sixth most passing yards and completions in a single season at NC State, and with a good bowl performance could shoot up to fourth in both, particularly in yardage where he needs just 120 to tie Wilson’s 2010 campaign.

The 65.7-percent completion percentage is the third highest in a season at NC State with a minimum of 100 pass attempts, and the efficiency only trails Rivers’ staggering 2003 rating of 170.49.

Leary was named one of five finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was selected honorable mention in the quarterback-heavy ACC.

His strong season fueled speculation that perhaps he would consider the NFL Draft.

In his interview with David Thompson of the Fayetteville Obsever, Leary also said that his roommate, redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson, would be back.

Wilson was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2020, when he led the conference in tackles despite missing two games. He was a contender to be the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, but a shoulder injury in a week two loss at Mississippi State cost him the rest of the year.

Two players have said they would not use the Super Senior option: junior running back Ricky Person Jr. and redshirt junior punter Trenton Gill.

Person walked on Senior Day after announcing he was entering the NFL Draft. He rushed 135 times for 636 yards and five touchdowns and added 28 receptions for 240 yards and two more scores.

Gill also participated in Senior Day and revealed Thursday afternoon his NFL Draft aspirations.

Gill was a first-team All-ACC after pinning 30 punts inside the 20, nine more than any other kicker in the ACC. The former walk-on averaged 44.4 yards on his 65 punts during the season.

Gill’s career average of 45.8 yards per punt is a NC State football record.

Also turning pro is sophomore running back Zonovan Knight.

Knight was a first-team All-ACC selection as a specialist. He returned kickoffs for touchdowns for NC State against both Wake Forest and Syracuse and finished the year with an average of 34.4 yards on his 16 returns. That is the best mark of any Power Five returner.

Knight’s career kickoff return average of 35.2 yards is also a new school record.

Knight was also honorable mention All-ACC as a running back after carrying 140 times for 753 yards and three scores and making 21 receptions for 156 yards.

It is widely expected that Knight’s classmate, unanimous All-American left tackle Ikem Ekwonu will also turn pro.

NC State football finished the regular season with a 9-3 overall record and 6-2 mark in the ACC, and ranked No. 18 in all of the respective polls.

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