In May, we originally started a countdown to NC State football's season and ACC opener against Louisville, a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3.

In mid-June, the game was moved up a day to Wednesday, Sept. 2 in order to not conflict with the Kentucky Derby which was postponed from the traditional first Saturday in May to Saturday, Sept. 5 over Labor Day weekend.

In late July, the ACC scrapped its original football schedule to create a new 11-game model due to challenges presented from the coronavirus pandemic. A week later, NC State learned the dates of its new schedule which was set to begin Saturday, Sept. 12 in a road game against Virginia Tech.

Then an identified COVID cluster within the NC State athletic department shut down fall camp for eight days in late August, prompting the Pack to push back the opener against Virginia Tech to Sept. 26. Now NC State will open its season at home against Wake Forest on Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. on ACC Network.

Today, Sept. 10 marks 9 days from the Wolfpack's season opener.

Each day, The Wolfpacker will do a countdown to the season with a reflection on the significance of that number to NC State.

Legendary NC State defensive linemen Mario Williams and Bradley Chubb both wore the No. 9 during their Wolfpack careers and have their jerseys honored in Carter-Finley Stadium.

The unblockable duo was separated by roughly a decade. Williams played for the Pack from 2003-2005 while Chubb spent four seasons in Raleigh from 2014-2017.

Both rank one and two in school history for career sacks at NC State. Williams originally set the record in 2005 ending his career with 25.5 sacks but Chubb broke the record in 2017 finishing his tenure with the Wolfpack with 26 total sacks.

Despite Chubb edging out the career record for recorded sacks, Williams still holds the NC State record for most sacks in a single season and a single game. As a junior in 2005, Williams had 14.5 total sacks including 4.0 in a single game twice. Both of which happened in Carter-Finley Stadium, the first in a 21-17 win over Southern Miss and the second in a 20-14 win over Maryland.

In 2005, he had 62 total tackles, 23 of which went for a loss. Williams became the first defensive player at NC State to be selected with the first overall pick in an NFL Draft when he was selected at the beginning of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Hoston Texans. The only other player in school history to be taken No. 1 overall was Roman Gabriel in 1962 by the Oakland Raiders, but he instead elected to sign with the Los Angeles Rams as the No. 2 pick in the 1962 AFL Draft.

After only appearing in two contests as a freshman, Chubb dominated the final three years of his college career tallying a total of 198, including 54.5 for loss, six forced fumbles and one interception.

He went on to become the second-highest draft pick by a defensive player in NC State history when he was selected fifth overall in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.

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