Our Best In State Most Outstanding Defensive Players for 2023 — NC State’s Payton Wilson, Gardner-Webb’s Ty French, Wingate’s Marquise Fleming and NC Wesleyan’s Ronechie Carter — only represent the tip of the iceberg of stellar defensive play this season.
Here is our 2023 NC Football News All-State Defensive Honor Roll. We used All-America teams, All-Region teams, All-Conference teams, season stats and other factors to choose our honor roll.
We are super strong at linebacker, have a stout defensive line group and plenty of ball hawks in the secondary. Players are listed by main position group and organized by division and the alphabet.
—> READ MORE about our four Most Outstanding Defensive Players here
—> READ MORE about our Most Outstanding Special Teams Players (with honor roll) here
2023 Honor Roll Defensive Line
- Aeneas Peebles | FBS | Duke
- D’Anta Johnson | FBS | East Carolina
- DeWayne Carter | FBS | Duke
- Eyabi Okie-Anoma | FBS | Charlotte
- Jasheen Davis | FBS | Wake Forest
- Kaimon Rucker | FBS | North Carolina
- Santana Hopper | FBS | Appalachian State
- Jaden Taylor | FCS | North Carolina Central
- Jonathan Hammond | FCS | Davidson
- Julian Rawlins | FCS | Davidson
- Marlon Alexander | FCS | Western Carolina
- Marvin Pearson | FCS | Elon
- Ty French | FCS | Gardner-Webb – Most Outstanding FCS Defender
- Adam Aiken | D2 | St. Augustine’s
- Andre Jefferson | D2 | Lenoir-Rhyne
- Anthony Binyard | D2 | Fayetteville State
- Boris Lewis | D2 | Mars Hill
- Bryan Bordeaux | D2 | Wingate
- Damipi Lamboni | D2 | Mars Hill
- Daniel Morrison | D2 | Wingate
- Jamae Blank | D2 | UNC Pembroke
- Kyle Camar | D2 | Winston-Salem State
- Marquise Fleming | D2 | Wingate – Most Outstanding Division II Defender
- Raydarius Freeman | D2 | UNC Pembroke
- Saevion Gibbs | D2 | Shaw
- Traevon Mitchell | D2 | Chowan
- Andrew Bradshaw | D3 | Methodist
- Robert Dorsey | D3 | Brevard
- Ervine Gardner | NAIA | St. Andrews
- Xzavier Fields | JUCO | Louisburg
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2023 Honor Roll Linebackers
- Andrew Parker Jr. | FBS | Appalachian State
- Cedric Gray | FBS | North Carolina
- Demetrius Knight II | FBS | Charlotte
- Nate Johnson | FBS | Appalachian State
- Payton Wilson | FBS | NC State – Most Outstanding FBS Defender
- Power Echols | FBS | North Carolina
- Tre Freeman | FBS | Duke
- BJ Turner | FCS | North Carolina A&T
- Brandon Tyson | FCS | Elon
- Brendan Jackson | FCS | Gardner-Webb
- CJ Tillman | FCS | Campbell
- Jayden Flaker | FCS | North Carolina Central
- Marco Patierno | FCS | Elon
- William McRainey | FCS | Gardner-Webb
- Benari Black | D2 | Johnson C. Smith
- Dexter Fitzpatrick | D2 | Mars Hill
- Dontorian Best | D2 | Wingate
- Jack Smith | D2 | Johnson C. Smith
- Jaden Echols | D2 | Livingstone
- Jameison Alston | D2 | St. Augustine’s
- Jon Ross Maye | D2 | Lenoir-Rhyne
- Landon Honeycutt | D2 | Mars Hill
- Matt Smith | D2 | Barton
- Percy King | D2 | Lenoir-Rhyne
- Saige Ley | D2 | UNC Pembroke
- Shane Perry | D2 | Barton
- Charles Sias | D3 | North Carolina Wesleyan
- Joey Strong | D3 | Guilford
- Max Steele | D3 | Greensboro
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2023 Honor Roll Defensive Backs
- Aydan White | FBS | NC State
- Ethan Johnson | FBS | Appalachian State
- Julius Wood | FBS | East Carolina
- Malik Mustapha | FBS | Wake Forest
- Shavon Revel | FBS | East Carolina
- Tyrek Funderburk | FBS | Appalachian State
- Andreas Keaton | FCS | Western Carolina
- Brandon Codrington | FCS | North Carolina Central
- Caleb Curtain | FCS | Elon
- Daniel Carter | FCS | Davidson
- Jaidyn Denis | FCS | Elon
- Ja’Kai Young | FCS | Gardner-Webb
- Jamari Brown | FCS | Gardner-Webb
- Jason Chambers | FCS | North Carolina Central
- Keyshawn Pickett | FCS | UNC Pembroke
- Booker Peake | D2 | St. Augustine’s
- C’Darius Kelley | D2 | Lenoir-Rhyne
- Deno Wardlow | D2 | Catawba
- Dequan Mosley | D2 | Wingate
- James Ussery | D2 | Lenoir-Rhyne
- Justin Fleming | D2 | Winston-Salem State
- Kolby Merritt | D2 | Fayetteville State
- Monroe Sanderson | D2 | Mars Hill
- Sean Hill | D2 | UNC Pembroke
- Tre Morrison | D2 | Wingate
- Tristan Rankin | D2 | Mars Hill
- Jaden James | D3 | Greensboro
- Larry Jones | D3 | Greensboro
- Ronechie Carter | D3 | North Carolina Wesleyan – Most Outstanding Division III Defender
- William Paithorpe | D3 | Greensboro
- Lavarius Heath-Lewis | NAIA | St. Andrews
- Brandon Perry | JUCO | Louisburg
—> READ MORE about our four Most Outstanding Defensive Players here
—> READ MORE about our Most Outstanding Special Teams Players (with honor roll) here
