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NC State football countdown to 2023 kickoff: 51

MattCarterby:Matt Carter•07/11/23•

TheWolfpacker

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Former NC State offensive lineman Jim Ritcher is honored at Carter-Finley Stadium. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 51 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 51 in Pack history.

NC State Football And The No. 51

• No one on the current NC State football roster wears No. 51. That is because No. 51 is retired.

The number will now forever be associated with former NC State star Jim Ritcher, who is arguably the greatest Wolfpack offensive lineman in school history. In 1979, he became one of just eight ACC players to win the Outland Trophy, given each year to the country’s best lineman.

He also won the ACC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy in both 1978 and 1979, given to the league’s best offensive lineman. Ritcher was the last player to do that at NC State until Ikem Ekwonu won the award in 2021.

Ritcher was a two-time consensus All-American, and his efforts on the field were rewarded by NC State football on Feb. 8, 1987, when Ritcher’s No. 51 was permanently honored. In 1998, Ritcher was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame, and he was one of the first inductees into the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame.

Ritcher played 16 years in the NFL, participating in four Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills, who drafted him in the first round in 1980. His final two seasons were spent with the Atlanta Falcons. Ritcher was a three-time All-Pro choice and two-time Pro Bowl selection. He played more games (225) for the Bills than any other Buffalo player and was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

• The 1951 season was the last for Beattie Feathers as the NC State football head coach. Feathers coached eight seasons in Raleigh, which was the second-longest tenure until Dave Doeren surpassed him. Doeren is about to start his 11th year on the job. Earle Edwards owns the longest tenure in Raleigh at 17 seasons.

Feathers was considered a superstar hire for the Pack. He was an All-American tailback at Tennessee and a NFL star, becoming the first-ever player to break 1,000 yards rushing in a season at the pro level. On the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Bears franchise, Feathers was rated No. 90 among all-time top 100 players for the team.

At Tennessee, Sports Illustrated speculated that Feathers would have been the Heisman Trophy winner in 1933 had the award been around then.

Feathers had some success at NC State, including its first ever final top-25 ranking in the AP poll in 1946 — 18th after an 8-3 record. He even was the head coach of the baseball team for one season. However, after going 37-38 in eight years he was let go following the 1951 campaign.

Four years later, Feathers was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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