The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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14 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK The Wolfpacker Podcast continues, although until the COVID-19 pandemic clears it is not recorded in its normal lo- cation at Amedeo's Italian Restaurant in Raleigh. The show is always available to listen to on TheWolfpacker.com, iTunes and most everywhere else podcasts can be downloaded. Here are some excerpts from when ACC and college football insider David Hale of ESPN joined the show in June to look back on the Wolfpack in 2019 and preview what's ahead this fall: When you analyzed NC State last year, broadly speaking, what went right and what went wrong on the field? "The takeaways that I had was I thought the running game was actually better than maybe most people thought last year. … They weren't really great at anything, but I thought they outperformed reasonable ex- pectations given all the other factors there. "Things weren't a lot better with [quar- terback Devin] Leary, for good reasons, but they were a little bit better. I think there is room for encouragement that with an offseason, with some better help around him and more stability in there that things are [better] as we go forward. "The back end of the defense was so banged up it's almost impossible to see how good they have been. … The biggest [improvement] has to start up front. You had a few games early on where some of those guys on the D-line were productive, but that production was not consistent throughout the year." What did you take away from the five starts that Leary made to end last year? "When you are talking about five games it's hard to extrapolate too much, espe- cially when everything going on around him was not particularly great, either. I think a couple of things that are important about this is, one, the offense was more functional with him than it had been, which is progress. "Then, No. 2, just the ability to have some stability, to know this is their guy. I thought for all the ups and downs last year it'd be very easy for the coaching staff to [open a quarterback competition]. That hasn't been the case. Dave Doeren has 100 percent bought in with Devin Leary. … I think it's safe to say behind the scenes there's a lot of confidence in him." In addition to injuries, NC State did not have a lot of luck last year. Is there data that says the law of averages will turn that around in 2020, or is that hop- ing against hope? Hale said NC State's ground game, which could feature more of junior Ricky Person Jr. if he stays healthy in 2020, "was actually better than maybe most people thought last year." PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN ESPN College Football Insider DAVID HALE PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS