Trent Pennix could unlock sky-high potential with NC State's new offense

Last season did not go as planned for NC State tight end Trent Pennix. He suffered an injury in the season opener against East Carolina and played in just 5 games during the 2022 season. Pennix is extremely motivated coming into the 2023 season as a graduate student and one of the leaders of the team.

Based on how last year ended, the tight end said NC State has some unfinished business to handle this fall, and he plans on helping the Pack program reach new heights. 

For Pennix, that starts in the training room. He is healthy and wants to keep it that way. 

“Even though I’m still feeling good, I’m always still living in that training room,” Pennix said. “There’s not a day that I don’t go in that training room. 

“At about 5:30 this morning, I was up getting treatment.”

The tight end said he returned to NC State for a sixth season because he can see the “brightness” of the program’s future, and he wants to be a part of that. After watching Isaiah Moore and Grant Gibson lead the team last year, he plans on stepping up into that role alongside the program’s other upperclassmen leaders. 

“Do what [Gibson] and [Moore] did,” Pennix said. “Be that voice that everybody listens to, that they know that they can trust you and depend on you in practices, off the field, whenever you need them— and on game day.”

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Pennix signed with NC State as a three star prospect in the 2018 class. At that time, Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren expected him to either play running back or switch to defense and suit up as a linebacker. 

His skillset reminded Doeren of a former NC State star. 

“The experience we had with Jaylen Samuels here prior, we felt like he gave us kind of a similar weapon that we could use in a variety of ways and create matchup problems and because, in the line he was in, he just wasn’t getting enough reps, so moving him to a position like that gave us more opportunities to play him.”

When Pennix was on the field in 2022, he was a timely playmaker in the passive game, hauling in 8 catches for 2 touchdowns, averaging 13.9 yards per reception. Doeren acknowledged how the tight end’s skill set can change a game. 

“Well, he scores every time he plays, so it would be nice if we had him every week,” Doeren said. “He’s a talented young guy. He’s unique because he’s got running back skills and receivers skills, and he’s really physical, so you can use him as a blocker if you want to. 

“He’s been through a lot, just nagging things here or there, and hopefully we can manage keeping him on the field because, every time he plays, he’s an explosive player for us that puts points up.”

Offensive coordinator Robert Anae recognized Pennix’s potential and met with him once he joined the staff. The Wolfpack assistant told the tight end that he could develop the graduate student into one of the top athletes in the nation. 

“He was talking about ‘I can really make you an All-American if you just let me work with you,’” Pennix said.

So far, he is a huge fan of Anae’s system, which allows the Wolfpack athletes to play a variety of roles at a quick pace. 

“It’s just so much simpler in the way that we can move so much faster and not really think as much compared to Beck’s offense,” Pennix said. “No offense to Beck’s offense, it was helpful as well, but I feel like, with Anae’s offense, he really utilizes all his players’ ability.

“He could probably have me in motioning back in the backfield probably taking a snap, for all I know. He’s so creative with his schemes. It’s just unbelievable what he can do.”

Pennix has lofty goals for the Wolfpack this year and, if the team stays healthy, focused and puts the work in, he believes NC State can achieve them. 

“We’ve got a lot to prove, and we know we can make it far this year, make it to a New Year’s six bowl, maybe the [College Football Playoff],” Pennix said. “I say we just take each day at a time, don’t look down the road, just focus on now [and] work on getting better now.”