Tim Peeler: A look back at NC State true freshman QB's first starts in program history

Since freshman eligibility was returned to college athletics in the NCAA winter meetings of 1972, NC State has had some talented true freshman starters at quarterback, a small corps of successful players that freshman CJ Bailey will join on Saturday at Clemson when he makes his first start just four games into his college career.

He will become the fifth true freshman to start at quarterback in school history, three of whom used longevity at the position to become NC State’s all-time leaders in passing yardage and passing touchdowns.

All four of the previous true freshmen starters won their first start.

The first to do it was Dave Buckey, the plucky throwing half of the Buckey twins of Akron, Ohio, who found themselves on the cover of Sports Illustrated in October 1972 as the literal faces of true freshmen who were earning playing time on college campuses. For most of that season, Buckey was the reserve quarterback behind junior Bruce Shaw for head coach Lou Holtz.

When Shaw broke his arm while preparing to play West Virginia in the Peach Bowl, however, Buckey stepped into the starting lineup for the first time. The 5-11, 155-pound leader of Holtz’s twin veer offense handled it with ease, leading the Wolfpack to an impressive 49-13 victory over Bobby Bowden’s Mountaineers.

Buckey hit 8 of his 13 passes for 139 yards, throwing for two touchdowns, rushing for another and throwing one interception. Not a bad debut for a kid who wasn’t recruited nor signed until after he graduated from high school.

Buckey, who was once State’s quarterbacks coach under Bo Rein, has some sage advice for Bailey as he’s thrown into the Tigers’ den for his first start.

• “No. 1, it’s not your job to carry the whole offense, so don’t even try. Just handle your responsibilities.
• “No. 2, as a freshman, you don’t have to understand why every defensive alignment, coverage, blitz and disguise are designed the way they are, just make your reads as coached.
• “No. 3, Don’t rush your decisions. If you don’t have the time you need, throw the ball away or run with it.”
• “No. 4, Play fast but play smart.
• “No. 5, Have fun.”

Buckey shared the starting role with Shaw as a sophomore in 1973, then took over the offense completely in his junior and senior seasons. He ended his career with a school-record 4,286 passing yards and 22 touchdowns, which stood for more than a decade until it was broken by veterans Erik Kramer (1985-86) and Shane Montgomery (1987-89).

Two-sport star Terry Harvey of Dacula, Georgia, became the second true freshman to start a game under center for the Wolfpack when he stepped in to replace injured starter Geoff Bender in the ninth game of the 1991 season against Virginia in an eventual 42-10 loss.

It was a bit of a shock.

“It was freezing cold that day, and I was standing on the sidelines by the [hot-air] blower,” said Harvey, who began the season as the team’s No. 3 quarterback and was planning to redshirt his first season. “Bender gets hurt and Coach [Dick] Sheridan yells over at me, ‘Terry, you’re in.’ I had to put my hot dog down and go run a play.

“I’m pretty sure on my first play, I got sacked by Chris Slade, a first-team All-America tackle.  Then I completed my first pass on my second play. That helped settle me down.”

Harvey started the final two games of the regular season, notching wins over Duke and Maryland. The season’s original starter, Terry Jordan, returned five weeks later when State faced East Carolina in the Peach Bowl.

Late in the Duke game, his first career start, the Wolfpack was trailing 31-21 with 4:09 on the clock. Kicker Damon Hartman then booted a 38-yard field goal and a perfect onside kick that was recovered by his teammates.

On the second play of the drive, Harvey threw a 49-yard pass to receiver Eddie Goines to the Duke 1-yard line. On fourth-and-goal, Harvey scored on a 1-yard run, then hit receiver Robert Hinton in the corner of the end zone for the go-ahead 2-pointer.

Harvey finished with 17 completions on 27 passes for 204 yards and no interceptions.

“The big thing for me was we came out and threw a pass on the first play of the game, which made me feel a lot more comfortable,” he said.

Part of his comfort also came from having a thin playbook. Sheridan and offensive coordinator Mike O’Cain pared the offense down from 100 to 30 plays.

Harvey redshirted the next season, then took over as a part-time starter in 1993 and a full-time starter in 1994 and ’95. In all, he started 29 games at quarterback for the Pack and ended his career as the school’s all-time leader with 5,925 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns.

Harvey was followed by redshirt freshman Jamie Barnette, who took over the position midway through the 1996 season and kept it for three more years. He ended up breaking all of Harvey’s passing records, but didn’t keep them for long.

When NC State alum Chuck Amato took over as head coach in 2000, he wasn’t sure who would be the leader of coordinator Norm Chow’s offense, until true freshman Philip Rivers arrived early in 2000 and seized the starting job with a strong spring practice.

In his first game, a 38-31 double-overtime victory over Arkansas State in a downpour at Carter-Finley Stadium, he completed 29 of 57 passes for 397 yards and three touchdowns.

He’s not only the only true freshman in Wolfpack history to start in a season-opener, he also owns the school record with 51 consecutive starts in his career. He eventually broke all of Barnette’s passing records and still owns the Atlantic Coast Conference career record for passing yards with 13,484.

It was 22 years before another true freshman started at quarterback, when MJ Morris of Carrollton, Georgia, stepped in for injured Devin Leary during a unique season in which the Wolfpack had four different starting quarterbacks in the same season for the first time in school history.

In his first start, Morris threw three touchdown passes against Wake Forest, completing 18 of 28 for 210 yards against the No. 20 Deacons. He was supported by his defense, which intercepted three Sam Hartman passes in the 30-21 victory.

Morris started four more games in 2023, with a 3-1 record, before opting to redshirt. After the season, he transferred to Maryland.

While there have only been four true freshmen starting at quarterback, several redshirt freshmen have started games for the Wolfpack in the last half century: Cam Young in 1986, Geoff Bender in 1991, Jose Laureano in 1995, Barnette in 1996 and Russell Wilson in 2008. 

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at [email protected].

First Starts by NC State True Freshman Quarterbacks

Date Player Game Outcome Stats
12/29/1972 Dave Buckey NC State vs. West Virginia* W, 49-13 8-13-139, 2 pass, 1 rush
11/16/1991 Terry Harvey NC State at Duke W, 32-31 17-27-204, 1 PAT
9/2/2000 Philip Rivers NC State vs. Arkansas State W, 38-31 (2OT) 29-57-397, 3 TDs
11/6/22 M.J. Morris NC State vs. Wake Forest W, 30-21 18-28-210, 3 TDs

*Peach Bowl, Atlanta