{"id":78645,"date":"2024-12-20T11:30:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/nc-state-dl-justin-terrell-josh-alexander-felton-could-have-increased-roles-in-military-bowl\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T11:30:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T17:30:07","slug":"nc-state-dl-justin-terrell-josh-alexander-felton-could-have-increased-roles-in-military-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/nc-state-dl-justin-terrell-josh-alexander-felton-could-have-increased-roles-in-military-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"NC State DL Justin Terrell, Josh Alexander-Felton could have increased roles in Military Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freshman defensive lineman Justin Terrell\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> first six months on NC State<\/a>\u2018s campus have been full of learning experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He arrived in Raleigh over the summer, and he noted he didn\u2019t have the right mentality for preseason conditioning. Eventually, he worked through it and felt like himself again. Later on this fall, Terrell had his \u201cWelcome to College Football\u201d moment on the practice field as graduate center Zeke Correll<\/a><\/strong> pancaked the young nose tackle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That, too, was a learning opportunity for the former three-star recruit \u2014 one he can laugh about now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my best moment,\u201d Terrell said with a smirk this week, \u201cbut I got him back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Terrell and fellow freshman defensive lineman Josh Alexander-Felton<\/a><\/strong> have the chance to see increased playing time in the Wolfpack\u2019s Military Bowl appearance against East Carolina on Dec. 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NC State is without redshirt sophomore nose tackle DJ Jackson<\/a><\/strong>, the primary backup to Brandon Cleveland<\/a><\/strong>, since he entered the transfer portal (and committed to Liberty), which opened the door for Terrell to earn more snaps. The defensive tackle now is listed as NC State\u2019s top reserve at nose tackle on its bowl depth chart. Alexander-Felton, meanwhile, continues to impress on the practice field and could find himself on the field at defensive end more often as well.<\/p>\n

The two defensive linemen played a total of 28 total snaps on defense this season as both preserved their redshirts and can use the bowl game to their advantage. Alexander-Felton appeared in two games and made one tackle, while Terrell played in three contests this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to see what they do,\u201d Cleveland said of Alexander-Felton and Terrell last week. \u201cThey\u2019re like little brothers to me, so I\u2019m going to keep pushing them and help them be the best they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for Terrell, who seemed to earn a slightly bigger role by the end of the regular season with rotational snaps at Georgia Tech and North Carolina over the final two weeks, the leap he has made since he joined the Pack has been immense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rome, Ga., native admitted he wasn\u2019t prepared for the Wolfpack\u2019s preseason conditioning, which led to a negative mentality. He was able to flip that switch in his head, which in turn, allowed Terrell to continue to develop along NC State\u2019s defensive line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen good, positive change in myself,\u201d Terrell said. \u201cWe have great coaches who want you to work, want you to play early and had a great plan for me when I first got here. When I came here in the summer until now, it\u2019s a big change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound defensive tackle said he tuned out all the outside noise and wasn\u2019t worried about not playing as a freshman. Of course, his goal was to make an impact on the field, but he was more focused on improving himself for the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And both seemed to happen down the stretch of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you first come in here, a lot of people do tell you you might not play,\u201d Terrell said. \u201cI just learned to keep my head up, keep working, keep grinding. Now, I\u2019m here. It\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Alexander-Felton and Terrell have the opportunity to earn a season-high snap count in the Military Bowl, the extra practices NC State received ahead of its postseason game might be more valuable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NC State coach Dave Doeren<\/a><\/strong> is a proponent of a development program, which NC State hangs its hat on each year, and the opportunity to see young players with increased practice reps is the ultimate prize of a bowl game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s so important about the bowl for the team is the visual for the coaches to see where these guys are at and to be able to provide really honest feedback going into the offseason for them,\u201d Doeren said.<\/p>\n

The Wolfpack has seen a glimpse of the future along the defensive line as Alexander-Felton and Terrell continue to take steps forward on the team\u2019s practice fields. Now, they\u2019ll have an opportunity to put that on display at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium next Saturday against the Pirates.<\/p>\n

The post NC State DL Justin Terrell, Josh Alexander-Felton could have increased roles in Military Bowl<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freshman defensive lineman Justin Terrell\u2019s first six months on NC State\u2018s campus have been full…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}