North Carolina State University running back Shadrach Thornton made the 2015 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Preseason Football Team list, which was released Thursday.

The team was selected by a vote of 163 media members who were credentialed for the ACC Football Kickoff earlier this week at Pinehurst Resort.
Thornton, who played at Liberty County High School, was one of two running backs chosen to the team.

Thornton averaged 5.5 yards per rush last year, scoring nine rushing touchdowns. He was 1-for-1 on an 18-yard touchdown pass during a trick play and made 15 receptions for a total of 133 yards and a touchdown during the Wolfpack’s 2014 campaign.

Thornton and the team are enjoying their new state-of-the-art Close-King Indoor Practice Facility this year. The indoor training center was privately funded, costing $14 million and boasts a full length field complete with goal posts, 15 retractable windows, a viewing platform for coaches and a high ceiling, according to a report in The News and Observer.

The newspaper said the facility opened in June and has players and staff excited.
“I love it,” Thornton, a senior in 2015 told reporter Aric Dilalla. “To become a championship team, you gotta have championship things, and this is one of those things.”

Thornton said weather would no longer delay practices and he believes the facility will help attract recruits.
“Not many (colleges) can have an indoor facility. That’s one of the ways that we can kind of separate ourselves from the other schools,” Thornton said in the report.

But Thornton was also quick to add the team has to do their fair share to make 2015 successful.
“It’s what we do in it,” Thornton said. “That’s the big picture.”