NC State has the luxury of returning two 3-year starters at linebacker in Jerod Fernandez (MLB) and Airius Moore (WLB). Fernandez was second on the team in tackles behind Josh Jones last season with 88, and Moore is the second highest graded returning linebacker in the ACC according to ProFootballFocus.
You would think that NC State head coach Dave Doeren would be singing the praises of his Senior linebacker duo, but that hasn’t been the case. It’s not that he has said anything negative about either of them, but he just hasn’t been able to stop talking about their ‘backups’ Riley Nicholson and Germaine Pratt.