“Has a former NC State quarterback ever handed off to a former NC State running back in an NFL game?”
Someone — OK, former Wolfpacker editor Todd McGee — asked this question on Twitter, setting me on a search to find the answer with no regard for my interest in the outcome of the preseason game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens.
I freely admit that the only reason I was watching the game to begin with was to see how former NC State quarterback Jacoby Brissett and running back Nyheim Hines might be used in the Colts’ offense during the coming football season. By the time the question was posed, I had seen enough to satisfy my curiosity.
With so many former Wolfpack quarterbacks having played in the NFL since Roman Gabriel made his professional debut with the Los Angeles Rams in 1962, it didn’t take long to find the answer. The difficulty came when trying to figure out if it has happened more than once.
It has.
However, it was the same quarterback — 1986 ACC Player of the Year Erik Kramer — who handed off to a fellow Wolfpack football alum both times. The interesting thing is that Kramer also connected with one of those players for a touchdown pass as well.
The first time it happened was Oct. 11, 1987, during the 1987 NFL strike season, when the league turned to replacement players for three consecutive weeks to fill out their rosters while most of the other players sat out.
Both Kramer, a junior college transfer from California, and Joe McIntosh, a decorated college running back from Lexington, N.C., were signed as replacements by the Atlanta Falcons. Kramer, a two-time first-team All-ACC selection, had not been selected in the 1987 NFL draft. McIntosh, who still ranks No. 2 behind Ted Brown with 3,642 career rushing yards at NC State, was a fifth-round pick of the Detroit Lions in the 1985 draft but had never made an NFL roster until the fourth game of the 1987 season.
In their first of two games together, Kramer handed off to McIntosh twice for seven yards. He also threw a five-yard pass to McIntosh in a 25-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the first time an NC State quarterback ever connected on a touchdown pass to a fellow Wolfpack alum.
The next week, the two players — who never played together while at NC State — joined again, with Kramer handing off to McIntosh three times for four yards. They also connected on two passes for 10 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown in what turned out to be a stunning 24-20 comeback victory for the Falcons.
Both players were cut from the Falcons when the NFL strike was settled following that game. McIntosh never returned to the NFL, but Kramer, after a couple of seasons in the Canadian Football League, got another shot with the Detroit Lions in 1991. He spent three seasons with the Lions and five seasons with the Chicago Bears.
In 1999, his final NFL season, Kramer played for the San Diego Chargers, which had signed former Wolfpack running back Tremayne Stephens as a free agent the year before.
Stephens, who ranks behind Brown and McIntosh as the school’s third all-time leading rusher with 3,553 yards, played in 13 games as a rookie, gaining 122 yards on 35 carries with one touchdown. He caught one pass each from quarterbacks Craig Whelihan and Ryan Leaf that season.
The next year, Kramer split starting duties with Jim Harbaugh. Kramer started four games while Harbaugh, the current head coach at Michigan, was out with an elbow injury. On Oct. 10, 1999 — nearly one dozen years after he handed off to McIntosh for a scoring play — Kramer handed off to Stephens for a three-yard touchdown run in a 20-10 win over Detroit.
Early in the Chargers’ eighth game, Kramer suffered a neck injury that ended his season. He announced his retirement at the end of the year.
Stephens was eventually waived by the Chargers and picked up by the Indianapolis Colts before the 2000 season. However, he did not make the final roster that season, ending his NFL career.
If Brissett hands off to Hines or connects with him on a pass, it will be the third time a Wolfpack quarterback connects with a Wolfpack alum on offense in a regular-season NFL game.
Contact Tim Peeler at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
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