NC State QB Devin Leary is an ‘artist’ for the Wolfpack, the football field his canvas
People around the N.C. State football program use different words to describe quarterback Devin Leary.
Tight end Christopher Toudle said he was “stellar.”
Defensive back Derrek Pitts, Jr. told reporters that Leary’s play on the field was “magical.”
Wide receiver C.J. Riley added that Leary was like Houdini, the famous escape artist and illusionist.
Head coach Dave Doeren thought long and hard when asked to pick one word to describe Leary. After about 20 seconds, Doeren had two words, poise and consistent — perfect words to identify a good quarterback.
But the one Leary himself liked the best came from defensive back Tanner Ingle. After the 28-14 road win over Florida State, Ingle went full fan mode.
“It’s like watching an artist out there,” Ingle said, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
Leary’s brush is a football, his canvas the 100 yards of grass he has to work with. His muse varies from week to week, and boy does he have a lot of them. Leary has been able to spread the love, throwing touchdown passes to nine different receivers this year.
He’s thrown to so many different guys, because he trusts them all. From the starters to the backups, Doeren said that Leary’s favorite target is the open one. A couple of weeks ago against Miami, wide receiver Devin Carter dropped a pass on a critical third down play. Two plays later, the Pack turned the ball over on downs. Doeren has no doubt if they called the same play Leary would have gone to Carter again.
“He believes in his teammates and he’s unyielding when it comes to stuff like that,” Doeren said. “He’s got a lot of belief in the guys around him, the coaches, the players and not everybody is like that.”
That trust and bond goes back to a time even before Leary was the guy.
Leary waited his turn at QB
Leary was a four-star recruit out of Timber Creek High School in Sicklerville, N.J.
When he arrived in Raleigh, he had to wait. First in front of him was Ryan Finley, who was in his third season with the team. As a redshirt freshman, Leary waited behind Matt McKay, then Bailey Hockman. He eventually cracked the lineup, starting the final five games of 2019.
His teammates saw it right away — different intangibles stood out.
“His arm strength,” Riley responded when asked what caught his eye with Leary even as a youngster. “He could make every throw on the field. I just knew early on he would be special as his career went on.”
Leary wasn’t going to beat out Finley for the position when he got here. Even though he arrived on campus with a big league arm, things had to slow down for him between the ears. He was always a mature kid from the time Doeren started recruiting him, but he had some growing up to do on the field.
“He had to learn a lot about the game,” Doeren said. “Understanding what defenses are doing and why they are doing it, he’s come a long way in that department and he deserves credit because he’s worked hard at that. It took time and unfortunately there was a lot of coordinator changes while he was here that probably slowed that down for him.”
Leary got off to a good start in 2020, too — until he broke his leg last October against Duke.
While waiting and rehabbing, though, Leary was watching. And during those moments, his teammates believed in him. That trust they showed him then, while he wasn’t even playing, led to the trust he has on the field with them this season.
Leary has started all nine games this fall, the most he’s played in one year since he’s been at N.C. State. The more reps in practice, the more live snaps he takes in games, Leary is improving his craft — his art.
It’s what fans thought they would see as he was getting into a groove last season. It’s exactly what Doeren saw when he first met him back in New Jersey years ago.
“I expected him to be a great quarterback,” Doeren said. “I’m not surprised that we are seeing what we’re seeing at all.”
The game is slowing down for him, and at times Leary can make defenses look like they are playing in mud. Leary credits that to his preparation during the week remaining consistent. Doeren has noticed how the conversations between drives are going between Leary and offensive coordinator Tim Beck. Now Leary can properly verbalize what he sees and articulate it to Beck and make adjustments. That goes back to the label of an artist that Ingle gave Leary, painting the picture in his head before going out on the field and getting it done.
“Each and every week in practice, you can kind of envision the type of looks that you’re going to get,” Leary explained. “You can kind of envision the game plan and where we’re going to attack. It’s being able to see it all into the mind’s eye first, I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Leary, like all the good ones, doesn’t get caught up in his numbers, but after a win, he will grab a stat sheet to see how he did. Even when he has big games, the joy doesn’t last long.
“I’m my biggest critic,” Leary said. “Each and every game I’m never really satisfied with my performance because I know how much better I can play. I know how many mistakes I can eliminate each and every game.”
He hasn’t made a lot of mistakes this year, which would normally put him in some elite quarterback company. But it hasn’t.
Wolfpack quarterback snubbed?
Last week, the semifinalist list for the Davey O’Brien Award was released. The Davey O’Brien Award is given to the best college quarterback in the nation.
There were 20 names on the semifinal list, and four of the 20 were from the ACC.
Missing from that list: Leary.
“Ridiculous,” Toudle said when asked about the omission on Wednesday. “I don’t think there is a better quarterback in the country than Devin Leary.”
There is an argument to be made. Heading into Saturday’s game at Wake Forest, Leary was 18th in the nation in passing yards (2,475). His 25 passing touchdowns were tied for seventh. He has 17 touchdowns against ACC opponents, which is tops in the league since the UNC-Wake Forest game didn’t count as a conference matchup.
Toudle mentioned Leary is “bringing back all the N.C. State ties with Russell Wilson and Philip Rivers with all that he’s doing on the field,” and when you first hear that, it sounds preposterous.
It isn’t.
Leary has thrown for 300 yards or more in each of his last three games. Against Louisville and Florida State, he had four passing touchdowns in each game. The only other quarterback in school history to do that in consecutive games: Wilson. His 25 passing touchdowns are tied for sixth in school history for a single season. With three regular season games remaining, plus a bowl game, Leary has a chance to pass Mike Glennon, Wilson and Rivers on that list.
“It’s surreal to be in that type of conversation,” Leary said. “I think that’s why you want to come to N.C. State. You see all these guys come through him and see how successful they are, whether it’s a record breaking season or leaving the ACC, and that’s kind of the standard that they set.”
Toudle said Leary’s play so far, and the rest of the season will speak for itself, knowing the snub won’t faze the signal caller.
“I really don’t care,” Leary said. “Only because, not being cliche, that’s not what I play for. I have so many different reasons and so many different why’s, so many different motivations for why I go out and play.”
Doeren, though, went to bat for his guy.
“Are there really 20 quarterbacks playing better than Devin Leary out there right now? I mean, come on. Are these people looking at stats, or saw a guy play one time?,” Doeren said. “I think that’s disrespectful to him. He leads the ACC in touchdown passes in conference play, but there’s four other guys (from the ACC) on there? Nothing against those four other guys, they are all good players, but what’s the deal with that? That is disrespectful. People need to do their homework before putting names on lists.”
Clutch throws stir the Wolfpack pot
There are a lot of good things happening with the N.C. State football team this season. If they win out, they’ll play for the ACC championship.
The Wolfpack could win double-digit games for the first time since 2002. They’ve cracked the top 20 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and have been in the AP Top 25 multiple times this season. No longer noon kickoff mainstays, Wolfpack football has been prime time viewing all year. There’s a lot of good coming from the football program, and it starts with Leary.
“The quarterback stirs everything,” Doeren said. “So, that’s awesome.”
A record-breaking quarterback who’s the face of the program and who doesn’t rattle? Those don’t grow on trees. Leary showed last year during the comeback win at Pittsburgh, when he led the team on a 79-yard, game-winning drive, that he had ice water in his veins. Doeren told him after that game he had done something really special — something that quarterbacks he coached before, NFL guys, didn’t do when they were at N.C. State.
“That took him to a different level as far as being clutch,” Doeren said. “I think being a clutch quarterback is maybe the greatest thing anyone can say about you at that position.”
He’s been cool and calm since his early playing days in New Jersey: Never too high, never too low.
“I’m able to handle success well, and you know, when things go wrong, I’m able to respond back the right way,” Leary said. “But I think the biggest thing for me is just always staying at that steady, constant mindset. I’ve been like that my whole life.”
In the face of adversity, at home against Louisville with the offense struggling, Leary threw three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. On the road at Florida State, with the Seminoles gaining momentum, Leary threw two touchdowns in the second half. The moment was never too big, and that has become contagious.
Behind the Wolfpack’s even-keeled leader who never rattles, confidence is spreading, like paint on a canvas.
“When you have a guy, and a good guy like we do, you always have a chance to win,” Doeren said. “I feel as good as you can as a head coach when your quarterback is playing like ours is.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "NC State QB Devin Leary is an ‘artist’ for the Wolfpack, the football field his canvas."
