NC State’s Patyon Wilson inducted to NC State football ring of honor :: WRALSportsFan.com
Former NC state linebacker Payton Wilson was inducted into the NC State football ring of honor on Saturday in the team’s home game against Stanford. He’s the 13th member of the ring of honor.
“Payton was the embodiment of ‘Hard. Tough. Together,’ NC State head coach Dave Doeren. “Watching him develop as a player and as a person during his time at NC State was one of the most rewarding parts of my career. I am so proud of him and honored to have been his coach.”
Wilson, a North Carolina native, played high school football at Orange High School in Hillsborough. He joined NC State in 2018, pushing through multiple knee injuries on his way to a final year full of accolades. Wilson won the 2023 Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker, as well as the 2023 Bednarik Award, which goes to the top defensive player in the country.
In classic Wilson fashion, during the ceremony between the first and second quarter, he talked smack at Stanford and gave his former teammates a few words of encouragement.
“I can’t really help myself sometimes,” Wilson laughed. “I love NC State to death, it’s what I was born and bred, just the culture that we’ve built here and how much we’ve put into it, it just means a lot to me when these guys play,” Wilson said.
“I am so grateful to be inducted into the Wolfpack Football Ring of Honor,” Wilson said. “It was one of my goals to have a career at NC State that would result in my name being listed among the all-time greats, and I’m proud that I accomplished it. I appreciate everything that Coach Doeren and Coach (Tony) Gibson did for me.”
Wilson was drafted in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Funny enough, he’s right next to others on the ring of honor with Pittsburgh ties: former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher and current Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson.
The Wilson’s talk plenty about their college days.
“I get on him all the time because he talks about Wisconsin sometimes, so I nudge him a little bit about that, but no, he’s just an amazing person, what you see is what you get.
In the five seasons he played, Wilson totaled 402 tackles, 50 tackles for loss, 15 sacks and 7 interceptions.
Source: wralsportsfan.com