In a perfect world where the college football season goes off on time, Tuesday, June 2 marked 93 days till NC State’s season and ACC opener against Louisville, a Thursday night, road game that should be nationally televised, although a formal announcement on the network has yet to be made.

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

At the conclusion of defensive lineman Ray Agnew’s senior season for NC State, former Wolfpack head coach Dick Sheridan told The Wolfpacker, “Ray will be remembered as one of the best football players ever to play at NC State, especially among defensive linemen.”

It’s hard to make a case for any player wearing No. 93 for the Wolfpack better than Agnew. He finished his senior season in 1989 with 87 tackles, six sacks and two forced fumbles. Ironically, his high school teammate at Winston-Salem (N.C.) Carver High, Derick Dabman, was also a senior defensive lineman on that team and had 60 tackles while leading the squad with eight sacks.

As a junior, Agnew had 70 tackles, five sacks and 21 quarterback hurries.

In 1986, Agnew was named the ACC Rookie of the Year. The only other NC State defensive player to win that award was Jesse Campbell in 1988. Agnew ended his career with back-to-back first-team All-ACC mentions.

He parlayed his collegiate success into a long, successful career in the pros that remains currently active. He was drafted in the first round with the 10th overall pick in 1990 by the New England Patriots, and he would spend 11 seasons in the NFL. Only three defensive players in school history have been drafted higher out of NC State — Dennis Byrd, Mario Williams and Bradley Chubb.

In the NFL, Agnew had 448 career tackles, including 22.5 sacks. He helped the St. Louis Rams win Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, which would be his final season in the pros. Agnew was recently mentioned on The Wolfpacker’s NC State All-NFL Defense team.

Agnew is still with the Rams’ organization, and in 2017 he was promoted to Director of Pro Personnel. His son, Ray Agnew III, played college football for Southern Illinois and played briefly for the Cleveland Browns in 2014.

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