The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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46 ■ THE WOLFPACKER FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2018 BY TIM PEELER R oman Gabriel still gets a kick out of educating the young guys he sees every day at the gym — the 60-year-olds and younger who think they know a thing or two. The 77-year-old Gabriel, who lives south of Wilmington near Little River, often gabs during his workouts about NC State's quar- terback heritage, something he began 60 years ago when he arrived in Raleigh in the fall of 1958 from New Hanover High School as a three-sport athlete with an unlimited future. "It makes me feel great," Gabriel said. "When I'm in the gym, working out beside someone who just moved down here from a different part of the country and doesn't know anything about NC State, I start talk- ing about our guys in the NFL. "They know all about it by the time they are done with their workout." With four quarterbacks currently in the NFL — Philip Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers, Russell Wilson of the Seattle Se- ahawks, Mike Glennon of the Arizona Cardi- nals and Jacoby Brissett of the Indianapolis Colts — and sixth-year senior starter Ryan Finley rated among the top three quarterbacks for next year's NFL Draft by ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., the Wolfpack has rightly earned the reputation as Quarterback U. Finley could have opted to go into April's draft, but chose to return for his final season of eligibility in the hopes of improving his game even more than he has in his first two years as the Wolfpack's starter and perhaps to put on a little extra weight he will need at the next level. He will be the 10th NC State quarterback during the ACC era to start for three years. Obviously, the success of Finley and his predecessors has been a big sell on the re- cruiting trail — the Wolfpack added highly touted Devin Leary of Sicklerville, N.J., as part of head coach Dave Doeren's 2018 recruiting class. Leary is his home state's two-time Ga- torade Player of the Year after throwing for 9,672 yards and 117 touchdowns during his career, both state records. But how did the Wolfpack become the go-to place for quarterbacks in recent years? Gabriel was the first signal-caller from NC State to reach the pro ranks. The No. 1 overall pick of the AFL's Oakland Raiders and the No. 2 overall selection of the Los Angeles Rams, he spent 16 years in the NFL with the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles. The next Wolfpack quarterback to make the NFL was Erik Kramer, a two-time All- ACC pick and the 1986 ACC Player of the Year who was not taken in the 1987 draft. He got his brief shot later that season with the Atlanta Falcons because of the 1987 players' strike, then played three seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Kramer returned to the NFL in 1991 and spent nine years with the Detroit Lions, Chi- cago Bears and San Diego Chargers. Rivers, who set the NCAA record with 51 career starts at quarterback and is the ACC's all-time passing leader, was taken in the 2003 draft, followed by Wilson in 2012 (after a year at Wisconsin), Glennon in 2013 and Brissett in 2016. Quarterbacks Of Interest Gabriel was the first to make it from NC State to the NFL, but he's certainly not the Wolfpack's first quarterback of interest. In fact, there's some fascinating informa- tion about the quarterbacks who played the position before college football became the festival of throwing that we know today. Dur- ing the school's first eight decades of playing football, passing was secondary to a strong run game. In 1895, shortly after the North Carolina School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts began playing football, Teisaku Sugishita was the quarterback for two seasons, back when the position was not the central part of the of- fense. He is believed to be the first native of Japan to play college football. The first quarterback to complete a pass at NC State was Tal Stafford, who guided the 1910 team to a 4-0-2 record and its second South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Asso- ciation championship in four years. Stafford also played baseball and basketball for the Farmers during that era. He later became the head football, basketball and baseball coach at his alma mater, and succeeded Harry Hartsell as the school's second athletics di- rector (1918-20). Running backs like Jack McDowall, who led the Wolfpack to the 1927 Southern Conference championship, often threw pas- ses out of single-wing formations. Perhaps the first NC State quarterback to draw attention for triple-threat skills was "Little" Artie Rooney, first cousin of NFL founder and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney, He was named the best quarterback in the Big Five (State, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest and Davidson) and one of the best in the Southern Conference, even though coach Doc Newton's program never had a winning season in Rooney's career. Through the 1940s, the Wolfpack used a series of halfbacks, wingbacks and block- ing backs, but had no prominent quarterback leading the way. Instead, it relied on players like All-Southern halfback Howard "Touch- down" Turner for its offensive production. QUARTERBACK U NC State Has A Rich History Of Producing Outstanding Signal-Callers Philip Rivers amassed an NCAA-record 51 starts, an ACC-record 13,484 passing yards and 95 touchdown passes (second in league history) during his decorated Wolfpack career. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS