The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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44 ■ THE WOLFPACKER FOOTBALL 2014 not paying more than $55,000 in owed bills and sentenced to 60 days in jail plus three years probation. Finally at NCSU, Underwood has blos- somed. He redshirted his freshman year, and his big break came at Virginia in 2011. "I remember being in a hotel room with T.J. [Graham] the night before, and we were talking about how tomorrow is going to be a big day," he said. "I was like, 'Yeah, yeah. I probably am hardly going to get to play.'" Starter Graham was being held out of the opening half for discipline reasons. In his place was expected to be Tobais Palmer, but Palmer collided with fellow starter Jay Smith in warm-ups. Palmer dusted himself off and went back to the locker room to presumably shake off the cobwebs and get back onto the field. Problem was Palmer could not remember the plays, and doctors quickly surmised he had a concussion. With Graham sitting out and Palmer sidelined, Underwood was next in line. "I remember thinking, what's about to happen?" he said. "Then the coaches yelled, 'Underwood! You are the starter! Get your stuff together!'" Naturally the rookie admitted he "freaked out," and his nerves showed with a couple of early drops. Underwood willed himself to settle down. First came a 33- yard touchdown, and then a 79-yard catch- and-run score that reminded him of his breakout at Cleveland Heights. "When I caught that, I was basically saying to myself, 'Show everybody how fast you are,'" he said. "I remember seeing the highlights and seeing how a guy had an angle on me and I remember thinking, 'Don't let him touch you.' I just put on the burners and went." The Streak Former NFL coach Buddy Ryan once said about his receiver Cris Carter: "All he does is catch touchdowns." Ryan's catch- phrase would have applied to Underwood in 2012. Underwood's dogged determination got him onto the field against Tennessee. In the fourth quarter trailing 32-14 at the Tennes- see 5-yard line, Underwood was supposed to be a decoy by running a corner route to open up the underneath. Glennon, though, was pressured out of the pocket and the underneath receiver was covered. Underwood and Glennon impro- vised, and Underwood swept away his de- fender and cut back toward the middle of the end zone. He got open and caught a score. For the next seven games, Underwood would continue to catch touchdown passes. He finished one game shy of former Vir- ginia star Herman Moore's ACC record of nine contests in a row with a touchdown reception. The streak meant little to Underwood, though. "If we lost the game and I got a touch- down, I wasn't thinking that I got my streak alive," noted Underwood, whose team went 5-3 during that stretch. He has a similar attitude about last year, during which he admittedly had to get in better shape to adjust to the fast-tempo of- fense being installed by head coach Dave Doeren and offensive coordinator Matt Canada. He broke his collarbone in the seventh game, just as he was showing his increasing comfort in the offense. "Whether I was going to be a factor or not, I would just have rather been in there with them and fighting my butt off and playing with them just trying to do what we can as a unit to win the game," he said. "It was just hard seeing them play without me. It was just a tough period." Underwood is now the old man in the locker room. In December, he will graduate from NC State — a day that he knows will be an emotional end to his anything but normal Wolfpack odyssey. "It's going to be tough," Underwood concluded. "I can see it now, when my mom comes and watches me, there are go- ing to be a bunch of tears that day. "It's going to be tough knowing that I am officially done here at NC State." ■ Touchdown After Touchdown A game-by-game look at fifth-year senior receiver Bryan Underwood's streak of eight consecutive contests with a touchdown catch during the 2012 season: • Aug. 31 versus Tennessee in Atlanta: Underwood and quarterback Mike Glennon ad lib after Glennon was flushed out of the pocket. Underwood broke back toward the middle of the field for a five-yard touchdown. • Sept. 8 at Connecticut: A 46-yard go route that he hauled in on his fingertips at full speed, a high degree of difficulty reception in a game that had frustrated Underwood. Of all the scores in his streak, Underwood appreciated this one the most. NCSU defeated the Huskies 10-7. • Sept. 15 versus South Alabama: A 44-yarder when he ran to the safety and then broke off into a go route, and a diving 20-yarder while completing an in route across the entire length of the field. • Sept. 22 versus The Citadel: The Wolfpack scored touchdowns on five of its first six drives and held a 35-0 lead at halftime. Late in the first quarter, Underwood grabbed a short pass from Glennon and took it to the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown catch. The Pack went on to win 52-14. • Sept. 29 at Miami: He caught two more scores, a four-yarder as the result of a quick out route and then a 28-yarder when he ran a clear out and the defenders bit on the underneath receiver. • Oct. 6 versus No. 3 Florida State: His most memorable touchdown: a two-yarder on fourth- and-goal on a dart route with 16 seconds left that gave NCSU a 17-16 upset. • Oct. 20 at Maryland: A 68-yard TD on a post route during a 20-18 win. • Oct. 27 at UNC: He torched the Tar Heels, scor - ing on a 20-yard double move against the corner and a 55-yard post route. — Matt Carter Underwood enters his fifth-year senior campaign ranked 10th in school history with 13 career touchdown receptions. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN 42-44.Bryan Underwood.indd 44 6/27/14 11:53 AM