NC State LB Jayland Parker intends to enter transfer portal
NC State redshirt junior linebacker Jayland Parker intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal when it opens on Dec. 9, he announced via social media Monday morning.
Parker is the second Wolfpack player to announce his intention to transfer since the season finale, joining sophomore wide receiver Kevin Concepcion. The reserve linebacker has one year of eligibility remaining.
Parker played 124 total snaps across 10 games this season at NC State. He was mostly on special teams, while he did play 47 snaps at linebacker in the season opener after Caden Fordham was ejected due to targeting. Parker had played just 43 career defensive snaps before he was thrust into action in the Pack’s 38-21 win over the Catamounts, where he logged a career-best seven total tackles, to begin the season.
“I tried to play my best ball,” Parker said postgame. “Play fast, play physical and play inside our game plan tonight.”
Parker logged five assisted tackles with two solo stops in that career-best effort against Western Carolina as he played with a mentality to be around the play at all times, something he said he learned from Payton Wilson.
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“I wanted to make sure I was around the ball tonight,” Parker said. “Coach Doeren says when we take a snapshot, he wants to see how many guys are around the ball, so I wanted to make sure I was around the ball. I made as many tackles as I could tonight.”
But after that contest, Parker played just 16 more defensive snaps the rest of the season. Redshirt freshman linebacker Kamal Bonner slotted into Fordham’s spot once the Pack’s anchor of the linebacking corps went down with a season-ending knee injury.
Parker was a special teams standout for his four seasons on campus, including a career-best 98 snaps on the unit during the 2023 season. He played just 56 total special teams snaps this season, 41 of which came on the Wolfpack’s kickoff coverage unit.
NC State currently has 10 scholarship linebackers set to be on the 2025 roster, a position of need in the transfer portal for the Wolfpack.
