The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK Wolfpack Will Add Former Florida State Quarterback In The Spring Former Florida State quarterback Bailey Hock- man, a three-star product in the 2017 class out of McEachern High in Powder Springs, Ga., announced his commitment to NC State via Twitter Sept. 17. Hockman is State's 22nd pledged newcomer, joining 21 high school recruits that have already committed to the Wolfpack. Hockman redshirted in 2017 for the Seminoles and decided in August to transfer out of Florida State. In the spring game for the Noles, he was 11-of-22 pass - ing for 203 yards with one touchdown. Hockman led McEachern to the state Class AAAAAAA semifinals while throwing for 2,604 yards and 25 touchdowns his senior year. Rivals.com rated him as the No. 15 player in the Peach State and the No. 44 pro-style quarterback in the 2017 class. Hockman, who is 6-2 and 206 pounds, was an offi - cial visitor for NC State's 41-7 win over Georgia State Sept. 8. He matriculated to Hutchison (Kan.) Commu- nity College after leaving FSU, which will allow him to transfer to NC State and play next season when the Pack has a wide-open quarterback competition to replace Ryan Finley, who is a sixth-year senior this fall. However, Hockman is not playing football this fall at Hutchison. The only other scholarship quarterbacks currently on NC State's roster are redshirt freshman Matt McKay and freshman Devin Leary, who is expected to redshirt this fall. NC State, though, does not appear to be fin- ished with recruiting the quarterback position. In October, it extended a scholarship offer to Payton Thorne from Naperville (Ill.) Central High. The 6-2, 185-pounder made a verbal commitment to Western Michigan in May over offers from, among others, Cincinnati, Kent State, Toledo, Central Michigan, Bowling Green and New Mexico. Rivals.com rates Thorne as a three-star recruit. — Matt Carter Our staff has enjoyed getting to know various guests on The Wolfpacker Podcast nearly every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. inside of Amedeo's Italian Restaurant in Raleigh. The podcast is always available to listen to on TheWolfpacker.com, iTunes and most everywhere else podcasts can be down- loaded. Here are some excerpts from when for- mer basketball star and national champion Dereck Whittenburg hopped on to the pod- cast Oct. 16 and helped answer some NC State men's basketball questions from The Wolfpacker subscribers: What are your expectations for this year's NC State men's basketball team? "We expect to be in the [NCAA] Tour- nament, so that is a given. Coach [Kevin] Keatts has done a wonderful job with that team. He has a lot of new talent, obviously. He misses a lot from last year. Let's not for- get with Omer [Yurtseven, who transferred to Georgetown], that's practically your sec- ond-leading scorer. [Allerik] Freeman was your leading scorer. Sam Hunt, I think he had a tremendous year and won a lot of big games for us. He was a guy that came off the bench and could shoot the ball. He was an auto- matic three-point threat. "It all starts with your guard play. I think this team is more conducive to Coach Keatts' style of run- ning and pressing. It's go- ing to be a deep team, but they have to jell. It's going to take time to learn each other and everyone under- stand their roles. If they grow and mesh, this could be a very good team going forward. "There are going to be some adjustments. All of a sudden you played seven guys, and now you have the potential to play 11 guys. … It's going to be a fun team to watch." Who is the upside or surprise player this season in basketball? "The transfer from Wilmington, C.J. Bryce, he could be the surprise guy. He sat out and I think he was a very integral part of Keatts being successful in Wilmington. If he can have a good year, he can make up for [Allerik] Freeman leaving. That's going to be key. "This game is about experience and To- rin Dorn will be a huge key for us. If a [fifth-year] senior can step up and show these guys the way, it will really take the pressure off some of these new guys. C.J. and Torin as a combination, they will take this team as far as they want to go." Is the defense going to be better, worse or the same? "Coach Keatts' identity is pressure bas- ketball, but you have to score the ball in order to be in the press. … The big guys, hopefully [DJ] Funderburk can help in shot blocking and what have you, but we'll miss some scoring there. The scoring will have to come from the perimeter. If you don't score and you can't press, and that is where small ball comes into play, then you play in half court against teams that are much bigger than you. "The three-point shot is the X-factor to the game today. If you can't make three- point shots, you aren't going to win a lot of games, especially a lot of key games. "This team could be very exciting. The depth is going to be a plus for them." Do you think the staff will target the transfer ranks in recruiting as hard as they have so far? "[The increase in trans- fers] is partly due to the new mentality that with your high school team or AAU, if you aren't happy or you aren't starting, then it becomes, 'I have to move to the next best situation.' "On the positive side to the transfer, you might have a young man or young woman who has done well at the lower level, but is playing better or has the potential to play at the ACC level, and that person can transfer and help your team. You are trying to get the best recruit you can and that person may be better than a high school player. They are obvi- ously more experienced. "I've recruited 31 pros, so I know a little bit about this, if you can't get a top-50 player out of high school … more than likely anybody that is 50 and above may not help you right away at the ACC or [Power] Five level. "Look at Al Freeman, he sat on the bench down at Baylor, and he wasn't a starter and barely averaged 10 points, and he comes in and has a great year for us. I think it's a positive thing." PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS Bailey Hockman picked the Seminoles coming out of Powder Springs (Ga.) McEachern, and then redshirted during his first year in Tallahassee in 2017 before opting to transfer this past August. PHOTO BY JACOB GRALTON Former NCSU star Dereck Whit- tenburg shared his thoughts on the 2018-19 basketball team and what to expect out of it this season on The Wolfpacker Pod- cast. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE