Devin Leary: Master conductor of two-minute offense

NC State quarterback Devin Leary’s first start of the 2020 season came Oct. 3 at No. 23 Pittsburgh. With 1:44 remaining in the game and the Pack leading 24-23, Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett, a 2021 Heisman Trophy finalist and first-round pick of the hometown Steelers in April this year, barely snuck in for a touchdown on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

An ensuing 2-point conversion pass was dropped, but Pittsburgh was up 29-24, and NC State was out of timeouts.

Little did NC State fans know at the time, but what they were about to witness was the first glimpse of the development of Leary into a bona fide elite college quarterback.

After a short kickoff return, the Wolfpack took over at its own 21-yard line with 1:38 to go. Coming out to the huddle, Leary couldn’t help but feel the excitement.

“My first start of 2020, and I was like, ‘Nothing could be better than this,’” Leary recalled thinking. “I get to prove myself. I get to go out there, show my teammates that I am going to leave it all out there for them.”

Leary looked in the huddle and saw receiver Devin Carter and center Grant Gibson. At that point, Leary loosened up what may have been normally been a tense situation by letting out a chuckle.

On first down, Leary threw a quick dart to receiver Emeka Emezie, who had a few yards of open space ahead of him before stepping out of bounds for a 10-yard gain.

“Coach [Tim] Beck always says get the first completion,” Leary noted, referring to NC State’s offensive coordinator. “That’s the biggest thing in the two-minute drill. Get the first completion.

“My first completion was to Emeka, which was a pretty common thing we did in the two-minute drill.”

Then came a 9-yard pass to wideout Thayer Thomas. On second-and-1 from the 40, Leary struck down the seam with a perfectly placed ball to tight end Cary Angeline for a 22-yard gain to the Pittsburgh 38. NC State was in business with 1:09 left.

After a short completion of 6 yards to Thomas, the drive hit a temporary snag. Emezie false started. Then Leary threw incomplete to Carter, and his third-and-9 pass was knocked down at the line of scrimmage. With 43 seconds left, Leary needed to get NC State at least past the 28-yard line.

Standing strong in the pocket, Leary delivered a strike to Thomas at the 27, and the receiver bounced off a tackle attempt to reach the 23. The chains moved, and now Pittsburgh’s heralded defense was on its heels.

After a defensive holding penalty moved the ball up 10 yards to the 13, Leary made a perfect back-shoulder pass to Emezie in the front left corner of the end zone. It was a pass impossible to defend, one that only Emezie could catch, which he did for the winning touchdown with 23 seconds to go.

A star was born.

When Leary threw 2 touchdown passes in less than two minutes to stun North Carolina in his last start of 2021, completing a 15-game stretch in which Leary went 12-3 as a starter, a legend may have been born.

Stats To Prove Devin Leary’s Two-Minute Success

NC State head coach Dave Doeren is not shy about his belief in Leary. During an April appearance leading up to the NFL Draft on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” Doeren proclaimed, “We have the best quarterback in the country, in my opinion.”

“He’s ‘Jersey tough,’ as he calls it, but he’s clutch,” Doeren added. “He’s got great poise.”

Poise and a penchant for clutch performances are two qualities that make an excellent quarterback, especially in crunch time. Doeren told The Wolfpacker that it’s in the two-minute offense that Leary stands out.

“I think that’s what separates the kid, to be honest,” Doeren noted. “He makes the two-minute drill look very simple, and it’s not. It’s been happening for a while. It started in the Pitt game.

“He’s really good in those scenarios. He understands how to manage the clock. As we know, he can throw it, doesn’t get panicked. He doesn’t turn it over.”

Those are not just Doeren’s thoughts. They are backed up in the numbers.

Last season in drives that began with two minutes or less left in the half, Leary was 33-of-51 passing (64.7 percent) for 548 yards and 7 touchdowns with just 2 picks — one a heave on the final play of the first half at Florida State and the other coming on fourth and 14 with 25 seconds left at Mississippi State and NC State trailing by 2 touchdowns.

No quarterback a year ago in the FBS completed more passes or threw more touchdowns in drives that started in the last two minutes of the half than Leary did, and only one other quarterback — Jake Haener of Fresno State — had more than 3 touchdowns in that scenario.

Leary threw 12 passes of 20 yards or more in the two-minute offense, four more than any other FBS quarterback. Only two other signal-callers had even half that many.

“There are times in a game where we have to go fast,” Leary noted. “Two minutes, it kind of clicks in my head that I am allowed to go fast, and that’s my favorite part of playing quarterback.

“It’s not thinking. Taking what the defense gives you and letting the guys know, especially our receivers and the offense line, ‘Hey, I am going to get this ball out fast, and receivers get your head around fast and get out of bounds as quick as we can.’”

Leary’s Most Recent Two-Minute Drive

The last time Devin Leary was on the field, he trotted out with the NC State offense with 2:04 left and the Pack down 30-21 at home to archrival North Carolina.

“The first play I took a sack,” Leary recalled. “Wasn’t very smart of me. Probably should have thrown the ball away in that situation.”

Then came one of Leary’s most recent legendary moments. On second and 18 from the 36, NC State ran four vertical routes. Leary credits Thomas for drawing the free safety over while Emezie was able to get past the corner.

The result was a 64-yard touchdown.

Then came a perfect onside kick by Christopher Dunn, which Dunn himself recovered.

“Right from that moment, I knew we were going to go score again,” Leary said.

A couple of 15-yard penalties on the Tar Heels helped NC State move the ball to the UNC 24-yard line. Doeren was not backing off. Doeren and Beck agreed to put the ball in Leary’s hands and go for the touchdown.

“I loved it,” Leary said.

Going to the line on first down, Leary sensed a potential opening.

“I actually checked the go route at the line to Emeka, for him to convert his original route to a go,” Leary noted.

“Any defense in the country, if they disguise really, really well, it’s hard to get to the original coverage that they are trying to get to,” Leary added. “I think that’s what it kind of was with their defense. They were trying to give us a pre-snap look, but post-snap that free safety was a little bit late getting to where he was supposed to be.”

“Little bit” are the key words. UNC’s Cam’Ron Kelly essentially met Emezie at the ball, but Emezie won the 50-50 catch.

“I wished I could have zipped it in the air a little bit, but Emeka, amazing catch and awesome balance to stay in the end zone,” Leary noted. “It was just an awesome moment.”

Whether natural or developed, Leary’s two-minute prowess has proven unmatched during Doeren’s coaching tenure.

“I’ve never had one that’s as good as he is in that situation, I just haven’t,” Doeren said. “It’s nice to see it. Been around some guys that do it every now and then, but not to the degree that he’s been able to do it.

“To me, that’s what separates him from everybody else out there. He’s really good at the end of the half, and he has been for multiple years. Pretty special.”

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