In a perfect world in which the college football season goes off on time, Thursday, June 18 marks 77 days until NC State’s season and ACC opener against Louisville, a Thursday night road game that will likely be nationally televised.

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

On the list of all-time greats of NC State football, much of the attention tends to be focused on the modern day stars or the long list of legendary quarterbacks, but make no mistake, former defensive lineman Dennis Byrd is on the Mount Rushmore of Wolfpack defensive players.

On the legendary “White Shoes Defense” of the 1967 football team, arguably the greatest squad in school history, Byrd was the headliner. The defensive lineman wearing No. 77 was already an All-American in 1966 and a two-time first-team All-ACC performer entering that year.

In 1967, Byrd became NC State’s first-ever consensus All-American. He helped lead NC State to No. 3 in the AP poll before a close 13-8 loss at No. 8 Penn State derailed the Pack’s national title hopes. NC State still finished 9-2 that year after defeating Georgia in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

Byrd would be drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 1968 NFL Draft by the then-Boston Patriots, but a knee injury he sustained as a senior for NC State limited him to just one season in the pros. He started 14 games during that rookie season. He then became the high school football coach at West Lincoln High in Lincolnton, N.C., retiring in 2004.

In 2011, Byrd was officially inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, he passed away in July of 2010. He went into NC State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.

His No. 77 is also retired by the Wolfpack.

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