The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1436409
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 ■ 25 Leary already has the sixth-most passing yards and completions in a single season at NC State, and with a good bowl perfor- mance could shoot up to fourth in both, particularly in yardage, where he needs just 120 to tie Wilson's 2010 campaign. The 65.7 percent completion rate is the third-highest in a year at NC State with a minimum of 100 pass attempts, and the ef- ficiency only trails Rivers' staggering 2003 rating of 170.49. Simply put, Leary had one of the best years of any quarterback in school history, and that is saying a lot. Defensive MVP Redshirt sophomore linebacker Pay- ton Wilson began the season as a leading contender for ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors, but he went down with a shoulder injury in the second game. Redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Moore was then earning support for the award at the midway point of the campaign, but at Miami he hurt his knee and was lost for the final five contests of the year. In a sign of NC State's depth at line- backer, sophomore Drake Thomas helped limit how much the Wolfpack missed Wilson and Moore. Thomas finished the season with 100 tackles, including 13.5 for loss, both of which were team highs. He also led the Pack in interceptions with three, one of which was a pick-six, and was tied for the team lead with six sacks. Thomas was fourth in the ACC in tack- les, and he ended up being the second- highest vote-getter on defense for the all- conference team. Special Teams MVP Sophomore running back Zonovan Knight earns a mention after scoring on kickoff returns in back-to-back games — at Wake Forest and then home versus Syra- cuse. Knight's average of 34.4 yards per return was tops in the nation at the Power Five level. However, the edge goes to redshirt junior punter Trenton Gill, who like Knight was named first-team All-ACC. Gill pinned 30 punts inside the 20, nine more than any other kicker in the league, and he finished the year averaging 44.4 yards on his 65 attempts. Gill's ability to flip field position played a major role in the Wolfpack's success this season. Game of the Year A strong case can be made that the dou- ble-overtime victory over Clemson, which rallied from a slow start to its season to win seven straight games and rank No. 19 in the final College Football Playoff poll, was the most important win. NC State provided the first dent in Clem- son's ACC armor, and the recruiting rami- fications of a high-profile win that had at its peak 4.5 million viewers tuning in to a national broadcast on ABC should be felt down the road. But the old saying that nothing is finer than beating Carolina applies, especially when the win is one for the history books. NC State took an early 14-3 lead on the Tar Heels, but UNC used a series of fortu- itous bounces and breaks to help reel off three straight touchdowns and take a 24-14 edge. When UNC kicker Grayson Atkins nailed a 50-yard field goal with 2:12 re- maining, it provided the Heels with a seem- ingly insurmountable 30-21 advantage. Just 1:03 later, according to the game clock, NC State was up 34-30 thanks to a pair of touchdown passes from Leary to se- nior wideout Emeka Emezie and an onside kick recovery by the kicker himself, junior Christopher Dunn. Then it came down to making one more stop. Heralded UNC quarterback Sam Howell lobbed what may have been the final pass of his college career, but NC State intercepted the Hail Mary in the end zone, giving the Wolfpack a victory over the stunned Heels. Individual Offensive Performance Of The Year Leary reached peak efficiency in a lop- sided 41-17 win over Syracuse on Nov. 20. He completed 17 of 24 passes, or 70.8 percent, for 303 yards and a pair of touch- downs without an interception. Leary had a QB rating of 204.4 in the win and averaged 17.8 yards per completion. That came against one of the better pass defenses in the conference. Syracuse en- tered the contest allowing 193.9 passing yards per game, which was second fewest in the ACC at the time. Individual Defensive Performance Of The Year Facing the most athletic quarterback in the ACC in Louisville's Malik Cunningham, Redshirt junior Devin Leary enjoyed one of the greatest regular seasons of any quarterback in school history, with 3,433 passing yards, 35 touchdowns and only five interceptions. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN