In essence, football is basically organized pushin’. That guy’s pushing, that other guy there is pushing, that fellow on the other side of the field is pushing. Everybody’s constantly pushing each other around the field. So it follows that to be successful, you need to be the pusher more often than the pushee.

B.J. Hill knows a little something about that, as he is coming off an impressive sophomore season in which he recorded 50 tackles, 11 of those for a loss. Already a large and strong human, he appears to have gotten even stronger this offseason.

That’s a lot of weight. That’s like benching three of me. Or roughly 12,000 McNuggets. (And after spending time actually calculating that number, I feel somewhat disappointed that pounds is the standard for weightlifting benchmarks, and not McNuggets. How many McNuggets ya bench, bro?)

Anyway, Hill is just one of several members of the Wolfpack football team showing off impressive weightlifting numbers, as ESPN’s Andrea Adelson explained on Twitter this afternoon:

NC State returns eight starters on defense and should be led by its front seven, bigger and stronger than any group Dave Doeren has had with the Wolfpack. Seven players power cleaned over 350 pounds during the offseason: defensive ends James Smith-Williams, Kentavius Street and Bradley Chubb, along with defensive tackles Justin Jones, Eurndraus Bryant, B.J. Hill and Monty Nelson. When Doeren arrived four years ago, he only had one player hit that mark.

Let’s hope this helps lead the defense to a better season, because between the unknown QB situation and the schedule, the defense has to be better. Maybe these guys, what with their improved strength and therefore improved pushing skills, can simply sack the quarterback on every play. Boy that would really help out a lot.