The Wolfpack and Grant Gibson Shift Their Focus to Furman

RALEIGH NC – The Wolfpack and Grant Gibson and have remained focused and optimistic despite the disappointing showing at Mississippi State a week ago and losing their two defensive stars for the rest of the year.

“We do not want last week to define our team and define us as a group because we know we can play better, and that is what we plan on doing this weekend” Grant said to the media regarding moving forward from the loss and fixing their mistakes when they host Furman this Saturday.

Grant, a team captain and one of the team’s most reliable offensive linemen and leaders, has continued to build on his terrific career at NC State. The multi-year starter ranked as the 9th overall center in the nation according to Pro Football Focus in 2020. He has started 26 consecutive games for the Wolfpack, and the only snaps he has missed in that span came in last year’s Gator Bowl against Kentucky.

The Pack will look to rally behind their star when hitting a bit of a wall in their first defeat of the campaign. The center is hoping to see the offensive line come back together and be more effective in run situations. It was night and day for the Pack’s running game comparing the first two games. Versus USF, they nearly went for 300 total yards on the ground, and against the Bulldogs, they had trouble surpassing 40 yards.

“So as an offensive line, we hold ourselves to a high standard, and we know last week the things we put on tape were not our best. So we worked together this week, and we sat down, and we watched the film together as a group every day. We understand we could have done some good things, but we had to go out there and execute on the field. So obviously, last week, we were upset, but we learned from those mistakes, and we are going to try to fix them this week.”

The offense depends on this offensive line as it all starts up front, and the tale of two games proves that. So now more than ever, Gibson will be leaned on to take this unit under his wing, and it starts on Saturday against Furman in a game they must come out victorious.