Notebook: Devin Leary, offense struggle to get untracked
WINSTON-SALEM — NC State redshirt freshman quarterback Devin Leary had all the eyes of Wolfpack Nation on him Saturday.
No. 22-ranked Wake Forest rolled to a 44-10 win against visiting NC State (4-4 overall, 1-3 ACC), and as the score indicated, Leary had a rocky first start. He went 17-of-45 passing for 149 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and he rushed five times for 14 yards, battling a steady supply of a Demon Deacons’ (7-1, 3-1 ACC) pass rush.
“I think we struggled a little bit getting into a rhythm,” Leary said. “We definitely are capable of doing it. We just have to take it one play at a time.
“Me personally, it’s tough because we didn’t get the win. That is what we all set out there to do.”
The offense battled some untimely drops, penalties and certain positions were getting thinned out due to injuries. Add in a difficult Keyon Lesane fumbled kickoff at NCSU’s 3-yard line that gift wrapped seven points in the first quarter, and the floodgates were open early. NC State was down 21-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter, altering any game plan the Wolfpack entered the contest with.
“The whole first quarter didn’t go our way,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “They were able to play a lot more defend coverages at that point. You get up on somebody by three scores, you don’t have to defend the run the way you would in a tight game. He was facing cover two a lot on first and second down, which isn’t normal for Wake Forest.”
The hope was that Leary would end the quarterback merry-go-round once and for all this season — he’s the third quarterback to earn a start — but he showed that he is still raw and learning on the job the tough way.
“He did some bad things, too, so it’s going to be a great game to learn from, a tough way to learn,” Doeren said. “Devin just keeps fighting. I thought our guys didn’t quit.”
NC State’s Defensive Line Struggles To Muster Pass Rush
Wake Forest redshirt junior quarterback Jamie Newman was able to get plenty of time in the pocket to get comfortable and deliver accurate passes.
NC State managed to get two sacks against the athletic Newman, who attended nearby Graham (N.C.) High, but the most telling statistic is WFU went 10 of 19 on third-down conversions, including 6 of 9 in the first half when the game mattered most.
“They converted on third down three times on that one drive [in the first quarter],” Doeren said. “We had them third-and-long three times. They just converted and made plays, and we didn’t.”
Wake Forest didn’t give up a sack in the first half in building a commanding 34-10 lead, and took the foot off the pedal in the fourth quarter. Doeren remarked that the first quarter proved difficult thanks to the third-down struggles.
“We didn’t get off the field on third down,” Doeren said. “Field position was pretty critical in this football game on the road, and we didn’t have any.”
The lack of a pass rush put added pressure on a secondary that was without senior Nick McCloud, junior Chris Ingram, sophomore Teshaun Smith and redshirt freshman Taiyon Palmer, who are all cornerbacks. NCSU had to switch sophomore De’Von Graves to cornerback and paired him with redshirt freshman Malik Dunlap.
Fifth-year senior defensive end James Smith-Williams returned from injury — he had missed three of the last four games and part of a fourth contest — to finish with five tackles.
“It is really important to put pressure on them and come with blitzes, and keep them guessing,” Smith-Williams said. “He had a lot of yards, so we obviously didn’t do our job up front. Newman is a good player.”
Newman, who was returning from an injury of his own, went 25-of-38 passing for 287 yards with three touchdowns, and he added 30 rushing yards and two scores in three quarters of action.
“They had a lot of time to throw and I don’t feel like we pressured or beat them with our pressures,” Doeren said.
Smith-Williams simply said it’s time to go back “to the lab.” No need for rah-rah speeches at this point in time.
“We are banged up but you can’t make excuses,” Smith-Williams said. “You can’t give up 44 points. We have to play better as a defense.”
Injured Wolfpack Becoming Thin At Certain Positions
NC State entered the game beat up with at least 10 players unavailable to injury, and three more exited the contest Saturday.
The three main positions that have been decimated are cornerback — previously mentioned four players — and tight end and tackle are both missing two players. Now add running back to the hit list. The Wolfpack were without sophomore Ricky Person Jr. going into the contest, and then freshman Zonovan Knight and redshirt freshman Trent Pennix exited the contest. Knight had a pair of carries midway through the first quarter before exiting. Pennix went to the locker room with a little under seven minutes left in the contest.
“I thought Jordan Houston played really well today,” Doeren said of Houston’s 48-yard effort. “That was the best I’ve seen him run. Trent did some good things and hopefully he’ll be OK.”
Doeren wasn’t sure if either were seriously injured, affecting their status for the Clemson game next Saturday, but it left the Wolfpack offense with just freshman Houston left standing as a recruited scholarship running back that has played this season.
“It is code red and we have a lot of guys out,” Doeren said. “We had 11 starters out when we got to this game. I don’t know the status of any of those guys. We are down to the bottom at some position groups.”
NC State also lost redshirt sophomore middle linebacker Isaiah Moore during the game, which led to increased snaps for freshman Drake Thomas, who was second on the team with eight tackles plus 1.5 sacks.
With so many young players on the field, playing important snaps earlier than maybe expected due to injuries, Doeren knows what he’s looking for.
“I can’t look at score right now, I just have to get better,” Doeren said. “We had 10 penalties and three turnovers. There is a lot to fix.
“The guys that we can play with, and we had more injured today, what can we do to help them be in the best place they can be mentally and physically.”
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