NC State running back is making a name for himself early this college football season
N.C. State coach Dave Doeren already had answered questions Monday about playing Texas Tech, the coaching opening at Nebraska, his thoughts on a 12-team College Football Playoff and the value of having 83 players get in the Charleston Southern game when he was asked about Demie Sumo-Karngbaye.
That’s the sophomore running back from Willingboro, New Jersey, who has a team-best 149 yards on 21 carries for the No. 16 Wolfpack. He’s averaging 7.1 yards per carry, second in the ACC.
Sumo-Karngbaye didn’t have offers from Power Five schools other than N.C. State out of high school. Temple was interested, and a few others such as Buffalo and Toledo. Others took a pass.
But at a time when the pandemic was limiting college coaches to making zoom calls and analyzing videos of recruits, the Pack coaches liked what they saw of Sumo-Karngbaye, known as “Sharko” to his Wolfpack teammates.
“We saw a really good football player,” Doeren said during his Monday news conference. “Tough. A guy who has vision, accelerates quickly, catches the ball well, physical, the yards after contact — all the things you see now.”
Jordan Houston, a junior, was the starter in the 2022 season opener at East Carolina but Demie Sumo-Karngbaye quickly opened some eyes. He broke off a 24-yard run for a touchdown in the first half and had a tackle-busting 22-yard run early in the fourth quarter that came up a yard short of the end zone.
With four cracks from the ECU 1, the Pack could not score. There were some whistles by the refs that stopped play twice and disjointed things, but in the end Sumo-Karngbaye had four tries at it and could not get the ball in as ECU’s defensive front got the better of it.
The Pack did win, 21-20 – Doeren noting Monday that a lot of teams would have been happy this past weekend with one-point wins.
One of those teams was Nebraska, upset at home 45-42 by Georgia Southern. That loss caused coach Scott Frost to be fired and Doeren’s name to quickly join the inevitable social-media speculation about Nebraska’s potential short list of candidates.
Doeren dismissed that subject Monday, saying, “Dude, it’s week three of the season, man. I’m so fired up to coach my team this week.”
‘Always room for improvement’
Steve Everette was Sumo-Karngbaye’s coach at Willingboro High in the Philadelphia suburbs. During a telephone interview last week, he didn’t wait for the first question to end before breaking in.
“What can I say about Demie Sumo? I want him back!” Everette said, loudly
“He’s definitely one of the best we’ve had around here. Demie was probably one of the smartest players we had in the program. He was the type of kid who worked extremely hard, not just at the physical part of the game but the mental part of the game. Whatever it took.”
Everette said Sumo-Karngbaye was the type to text him at any point about questions he had about the playbook, noting, “Texted me one time at 2 in the morning.”
And not just about offensive play calls. Everette said Sumo-Karngbaye also was a “dynamic” defensive player, adding to the amount of video study and preparation he put in each week.
“He was just an absolutely incredible player for us,” Everette said. “He may not have had all the measurables everybody is looking for, but the things that he does you can’t measure.”
At NCSU, Sumo-Karngbaye has been working with offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who said he has been pleased with the effort in the first two games from his group of backs: Houston, Sumo-Karngbaye, Delbert Mimms III and Demarcus Jones II.
“I love the way he plays,” Beck said of Sumo-Karngbaye, who is listed at 6-foot and 210 pounds. “He loves football, all elements of the game. He loves to practice, loves everything it takes to be a running back.
“He’s not a selfish player who says ‘I need the ball.’ He’ll do what it takes to help the team win.”
Sumo-Karngbaye, who wears No. 0, did not have a carry as a freshman last season and was used on special teams. He finished with a team-high 79 yards on 14 carries against ECU, but graded himself only a “high-C” for the game.
“That’s just the person I am. I’m always tough on myself,” he said last week.
What could he have done better?
“Slow my mind down. I was playing too fast,” he said. “There’s always room for improvement.”
Of note
▪ The Pack’s game Sept. 24 against Connecticut at Carter-Finley Stadium will have a 7:30 p.m. start, it was announced Monday.
▪ Marshall has replaced Cincinnati on NCSU’s 2023 home nonconference schedule. The Bearcats last week canceled a pair of scheduled games against the Pack.
