It’s not often a 1,000-yard season for a college wide receiver goes under the radar. Against the backdrop of what junior Kelvin Harmon, a likely NFL first rounder, is doing, that’s exactly what’s happened for redshirt junior Jakobi Meyers at NC State this season.
With a massive game in a regular-season ending blowout win against East Carolina Saturday (13 catches, 163 yards, one touchdown), Meyers is now up to 89 catches for 1,028 yards and four touchdowns on the season. That catch total sets NC State’s single-season school record, passing Wolfpack legend Torry Holt.
“It’s just disbelief,” Meyers said. “I can’t even put it into words. I just couldn’t believe it at first. I didn’t realize I was that first until somebody told me and I was like, ‘Wow’. And then they told me told me who had the record before and I was like ‘Wow; that’s really crazy.’ It makes you feel good about yourself.”
Meyers is one of just three receivers in the ACC with over 1,000 yards, and this is the first season in school history NC State has had two 1,000-yard receivers in a single season.
Meyers serves as a “safety blanket” when the Wolfpack needs to move the chains, often the go-to target on third down.
“I feel like when it’s serious time and a game on the line, I want them to think of my name,” Meyers said. “I want my name to cross their head as the guy we want to get the ball to. I feel like if I can keep performing in clutch situations, it makes me feel good.”
While Meyers may not make the volume of acrobatic catches that Harmon does, he still has a propensity for a spectacular play. Be it his second-quarter touchdown that saw him juke out a defender and cut back for a one-yard score, or his diving, one-handed catch in Chapel Hill last week, Meyers knows how to find the highlight reel.
“He’s so consistent,” Doeren said. “He’s such a good ball catcher. He makes incredible catches but he makes routine plays too. When you have an inside target, an outside target and a run game it’s challenging on defense. … Kelvin and Jakobi really benefit from each other.”
Graduate quarterback Ryan Finley knows how to find Meyers, too. The converted quarterback has emerged as a go-to target for NC State’s signal caller over the course of the last two seasons.
“He’s got a heck of a radius as far as a catch radius,” Finley said. “He makes unbelievable grabs. He’s shifty; in man-to-man coverage he’s our guy, lateral side-to-side. He’s just trustworthy. He’s got a lot of confidence in himself; he’s very sure of himself. For him to get 1,000 yards in the last game of the season at home is pretty special.”
Meyers has had quite the journey for the Wolfpack. He arrived as a quarterback in 2015, but had knee surgery, redshirted and switched to wide receivers. He played sparingly as a redshirt freshman in 2016 before breaking out last season, starting with a standout performance in the Wolfpack’s win in Tallahassee.
“I remember when they asked me to switch,” Meyers said. “I was like, ‘Receiver, I’m going to receiver? No chance. I’m just happy I went through and happy I stayed committed to it.”
Fast forward to now, and Meyers is wrapping up one of the most productive seasons from an NC State receiver, and there are questions about him entering the NFL draft a year early. Hard to imagine a position switch working out any better.
“I would have never thought, especially coming from quarterback,” Meyers said. “If you’d told me I would have had [a chance at] 100 catches two years ago, I wouldn’t know what to tell you. I would have been in shock then.”
Whether Meyers goes pro early, or comes back next season as the Wolfpack’s top target, he’s definitely left his mark as one of the best wideouts to don the red and white.
“God always has a plan for you,” Meyers said. “You never know what it is, but it’s always a plan.”
Redshirt junior wide receiver Jakobi Meyers hugs George McDonald, the Wolfpack's fourth-year wide receiver/passing game coordinator, before leaving the field for the last game of the season, Saturday, Dec. 1. Meyers had a record breaking day, playing a significant role in the 58-3 win against the East Carolina University Pirates.
