NC State picks up five preseason All-ACC selections
In a culmination of all of the hype surrounding the 2022 football season, five NC State athletes were voted into the ACC media’s 2022 preseason all-conference team. Quarterback Devin Leary, center Grant Gibson, safety Tanner Ingle, linebacker Drake Thomas and linebacker Payton Wilson all made the list for the Wolfpack.
With a total of five selections, NC State finished with the second most in the ACC behind only Clemson, who totaled six. This is an increase from last season, when three NC State athletes made the preseason all-conference list. Wilson is the only returning member from that group that included Zonovan Knight and Ikem Ekwonu.
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Leary also won the preseason player of the year vote. The Wolfpack signal caller received the fewest All-ACC votes of anyone who made the squad, likely due to the stacked group of quarterbacks in the conference this season.
“NC State’s Leary is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he became the first and only quarterback in ACC history to hit the 35 (touchdowns)-5 (interceptions) threshold in a single season,” the ACC’s statement said. “He set a new school single-season record with his 35 passing touchdowns, breaking the previous mark of 34 held by Philip Rivers (2003).
“Leary led the 2022 ACC Preseason Player of the Year balloting with 40 votes, followed by Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman (30) and Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (21). A total of 11 players received votes.”
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Gibson joins the quarterback on offense, a mainstay in the NC State offensive line for the past few years and one of the top interior linemen in the nation. He led the team in snaps last year and is a two-time team captain.
Thomas and Wilson are the team’s leaders in tackles the last couple of years, and each of them spent time on the all-ACC first team previously. The former led all linebackers with 92 votes, and Wilson received 60 coming off of last season’s injury. Both linebackers have hit the 100-tackle milestone in a season and will be two parts of one of the best linebacker cores in the country along with Isaiah Moore.
Ingle put together a great season last year, finishing with the second most tackles on the team at 82. He’s a hard-hitting force in the NC State secondary who was named first-team all-conference last year.
The complete 2022 preseason All-ACC team
QB Devin Leary, NC State (56)
RB Sean Tucker, Syracuse (125)
RB Will Shipley, Clemson (112)
WR Josh Downs, North Carolina (128)
WR A.T. Perry, Wake Forest (111)
WR Zay Flowers, Boston College (104)
TE Will Mallory, Miami (69)
AP Keytaon Thompson, Virginia (70)
OT Jordan McFadden, Clemson (127)
OT Zion Nelson, Miami (82)
OG Caleb Chandler, Louisville (104)
OG Christian Mahogany, Boston College (67)
C Grant Gibson, NC State (90)
DE Myles Murphy, Clemson (120)
DE Habakkuk Baldonado, Pitt (54)
DT Bryan Bresee, Clemson (116)
DT Calijah Kancey, Pitt (62)
LB Drake Thomas, NC State (92)
LB Trenton Simpson, Clemson (82)
LB Payton Wilson, NC State (60)
CB Kei’Trel Clark, Louisville (70)
CB Josh DeBerry, Boston College (65)
S Jammie Robinson, Florida State (93)
S Tanner Ingle, NC State (63)
PK B.T. Potter, Clemson (99)
P Lou Hedley, Miami (101)
SP Josh Downs, North Carolina (57)
