No timetable for NC State star QB Devin Leary's return
NC State fifth-year redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary will not have surgery following his throwing shoulder injury over the weekend, but there is no set timetable for his return, head coach Dave Doeren confirmed to the media Monday afternoon. During the 19-17 win over Florida State, Leary took a hit from a defensive lineman as he released a pass.
The lineman landed on Leary after the hit, leading to a roughing-the-passer penalty on the Seminoles. After leaving the field and heading straight to the locker room in the third quarter, the NC State signal-caller later returned to the game with his right arm in a sling.
“Losing your quarterback is never good,” Doeren said Monday. “The good news is his shoulder is good. All the images were positive. It’s a rehabable injury, and that starts immediately. It’s a day-to-day thing.”
Doeren told reporters after the game Saturday that Leary’s X-rays came back negative, with an MRI scheduled for Sunday. That MRI came back clean, too.
Doeren noted that Leary’s return could be as soon as this Saturday at Syracuse or six weeks, depending on how the rehab progresses.
“He’s in a good spot, mentally,” Doeren said. “He is thankful to hear that it wasn’t bad. And not that anything’s good, but, it could have been a lot worse. You guys saw the hit.”
Leary’s injury came shortly after his best drive of the game against Florida State. He helped lead the team down the field on the Pack’s first possession of the second half and found wide receiver Darryl Jones in the end zone for a score from 10 yards out.
So far this season, the NC State quarterback is 118 for 193 passing for 1,265 yards with 14 total touchdowns (11 passing and 3 rushing) and 4 interceptions. Charleston Southern graduate transfer and walk-on senior Jack Chambers came into the game following Devin Leary’s injury and could make his first start with the Pack this weekend if Leary is unavailable.
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Doeren added that freshman MJ Morris and third-year redshirt freshman Ben Finley will need to be ready, as well, until Leary returns.
Chambers’ only pass against the Seminoles fell incomplete, but he helped manage the offense as it relied on the running game to pick up yards and control the clock. Chambers led the Pack on consecutive scoring drives and finished the contest with 39 rushing yards on 7 carries.
“My first reaction when Devin [Leary] went down was ‘dang’ just because that’s a guy that I’ve grown very close with since I’ve been here, like a brother to me now, and I just wanted to make sure he’s all right,” Chambers said after the game.
“Then I’ve got to step up and do my job, do what I came here to do. And I just knew that my team had my back. My O-line, my running backs, and the defense, I knew what they were going to do, so we just had to step up and do our jobs.”
Both Doeren and NC State defensive back Devan Boykin expressed confidence in Chambers going forward after the game following the job he did in the absence of Devin Leary.
“I’m very proud of Jack Chambers coming in and leading the team the way he did,” Doeren said.
“I think we all believe highly in Jack,” Boykin said. “He’s actually my locker mate, so I talk to him every day. Just stepping up in big-time games, that’s just something that we expect across the board no matter who goes down.”
