NC State Football: Wolfpack could be option for Kelly Bryant

The NC State football team could be a potential option for Kelly Bryant, who will be looking to transfer after losing starting quarterback job for the Clemson Tigers.

The big news in college football this week is that the Clemson Tigers will be going with freshman Trevor Lawrence over Kelly Bryant. The senior quarterback has decided that he will be looking to transfer, according to Manie Robinson of the Greenville News. This is possible due to the new redshirt rule, which will give Bryant a chance to play one more year of college football in 2019.

The new rule allows a player to transfer and keep their year of eligibility if they have played in four or less games that season. Fortunately for Bryant, he played in exactly four games this season so he will have a chance to take advantage of the rule change.

This certainly opens up the question of where Bryant could end up and the NC State football team appears to be the favorite, at least according to Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller. In a recent ranking, the Wolfpack finished first and one of the reasonings being that head coach Dave Doeren has had success previously with transfer quarterbacks:

"And heaven knows Doeren loves his transfer quarterbacks with experience. Finley originally played at Boise State before transferring to Raleigh. Before Finley, Doeren got two solid years out of Florida transfer Jacoby Brissett. (Finley doesn’t run much, but Brissett is proof that Doeren can work well with a mobile QB.) And the year before Brissett—Doeren’s first with the Wolfpack—Colorado State transfer Pete Thomas got the lion’s share of the snaps at signal-caller."

It is certainly hard to argue with Miller’s reasoning and it would be good for this offense to continue to have experience at the position. The offense has been fortunate to have Ryan Finley leading this group and if they could replace him with a quarterback that started 18 games, and went 16-2 over that stretch, it is hard to think they wouldn’t be interested.

Now the coaching staff would likely have to change up the offense as Bryant is no where been as polished as a passer as Finley is. However, he is an incredible athlete and is able to make some incredible plays with his legs and as Miller notes, he was able to have success with Jacoby Brissett.

It will be interesting to see if the NC State football team and head coach Dave Doeren reaches out to Bryant and is able to bring him to Raleigh.