Engels first attended North Carolina State with an athletic scholarship. During his freshman year, he was redshirted and experienced chronic injury problems. In the summer after his freshman year, he traveled with the US junior national team to Colombia to compete at the 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, where he won the 1500 meters. Just four months after this, during winter break, Engels decided to terminate his enrollment at NC State. He considered stopping competitive running altogether, but was urged by his high school coach, Chris Catton, not to quit. During his winter of uncertainty, he sent gifts individually to his teammates at NC State as a sign of goodbye, and also bought a used recreational vehicle on Craigslist, which broke down immediately after purchase.