Dave Doeren gives Devin Leary injury update for NC State football quarterback
RALEIGH – NC State football quarterback Devin Leary will not need surgery after suffering a shoulder injury during Saturday's win over Florida State.
During a news conference Monday, coach Dave Doeren said Leary's is "day-to-day" and could potentially play against Syracuse this weekend.
"It's a rehabable injury," Doeren said. "There's no timeline. It could be this week or it could be six weeks. It could've been a lot worse."
No. 15 NC State (5-1, 1-1) will travel to New York to face No. 22 Syracuse (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ACC Network) in the first game at the Carrier Dome between Top 25 teams since Nov. 24, 2001. The Wolfpack then enter a bye week before hosting Virginia Tech on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Leary left Saturday's game against Florida State with five minutes remaining in the third quarter after taking a jarring hit to his right side from 300-pound freshman defensive tackle Joshua Farmer. The hit drew a roughing-the-passer penalty on Farmer while Leary stayed glued to the ground, holding his arm in obvious pain as medical staff swarmed the team's offensive leader.
After several minutes, Leary left the field of his own volition but was immediately taken to the locker room. He returned in the fourth quarter with a brace around his right arm and watched from the sideline as backup quarterback Jack Chambers led three scoring drives in the final 20 minutes for a 19-17 NC State win over FSU.
After the win, Doeren said that the X-rays on Leary's arm came back negative and that he would undergo an MRI on Sunday.
"We'll know more then," he said. “He got hit while he was throwing in motion, so they were X-raying that entire part.”
Leary left the game after completing 10 of his 21 passes for 130 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He has completed 118 of 193 passes for 1,265 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions this season.
The Wolfpack have three reserve quarterbacks on their roster, including backup Chambers, true freshman MJ Morris, the No. 5-ranked dual-threat quarterback from the Class of 2022, and fourth-string quarterback Ben Finley, who has been running the scout team this season.
"All the guys will have to be ready to play," Doeren said Monday.
Finley, the younger brother of Ryan Finley, a three-year starter at N.C. State from 2016 to 2018, came off the bench to replace Bailey Hockman against UNC in 2020.
Leary missed significant time in 2020 after suffering a broken fibula, also known as the calf bone, after his left foot bent awkwardly during a second-half run against Duke on Oct. 17 at Carter-Finley Stadium. He had slid to avoid the tackle of safety Lummie Young IV, but was instead met with helmet-to-helmet contact from the Blue Devils' safety on a hit that got Young ejected.
Senior tight end Cary Angeline attempted to pull him off the turf immediately after the hit — the moment Leary felt the full extent of his injury.
"As I went to put pressure on my left foot, I realized that it wasn't even directly straight," Leary told the USA TODAY Network in 2020. "Everyone thought it was my head because of the way it smacked the ground. I told them right away, 'I'm good, I'm good, but I can't feel my foot."
Leary had lost his starting position in August after missing 20 days of preseason camp due to a COVID-19 outbreak at practice, but quickly became a fan favorite after replacing Hockman against Virginia Tech. Leary threw for 879 yards with eight touchdowns and just two interceptions, leading NC State to three straight wins before the injury.
He was named the starter in 2021 and went on to pass for 3,433 yards with 35 touchdowns to five interceptions while the Wolfpack won nine games.
"He's going to try like heck to get ready," Doeren said Monday. "I think the biggest thing is the last one (injury) was you're done for the year, this one isn't, so he's got a lot to be motivated about in the recovery process."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Devin Leary injury update: NC State football quarterback's outlook
