Devin Leary's postgame press conference
Devin Leary was named NC State's starting quarterback back in the spring, but it took until the third game of the season for the redshirt junior to finally fill the role.
Saturday at Pittsburgh, Leary showed why coach Dave Doeren and offensive coordinator Tim Beck had so much confidence in him by leading the Wolfpack to a 30-29 victory in that long-awaited first start.
Here is what the Wolfpack's QB1 had to say after throwing for 336 yards and four touchdowns -- including the game-winner to Emeka Emezie with 23 seconds remaining:
Did you feel like this was your first real opportunity to play with a full offense after all the injuries that altered the lineup last year?
"Ever since last year we’ve faced a lot of adversity, even coming up into this game. Unfortunately having a lot of guys injured last year, so not being able to have all the guys that we want on the field. But today, overall, I thought that it was a really great team win. Personally, I feel like the defense balled out. They helped us out a lot. Being able to see everybody on the field, being able to see everybody go 100% was very exciting."
How confident were you going into the game-winning drive?
"We knew coming onto the field that we didn’t have any timeouts, and I believe there was 1:44 on the clock. It’s just something that we practice every single week; different situations depending on where the ball is, how many timeouts we have, how much time is on the clock. Usually in practice we practice with under a minute and 40.
"We’re a tempo team, just being able to get everybody on the ball set, everyone on the same page was very critical in those last couple seconds coming down the game. The last play, like coach Beck tells me all the time, it’s just ‘give our guys a chance.’ As long as you give them a chance, that’s all you could do."
How were you able to stay so calm on that last possession?
"I kind of just take it play-by-play. You just have to go 1-0 every single play. If I’m preaching that to my teammates, then they’re going to look at me to approach the situation the same way. It’s just being able to look at each and every play, no matter what the situation is, and just go 1-0 winning every play. That’s kind of how I take it mentally."
How big was the fourth down conversion to Thayer Thomas?
"Fourth down with no timeouts, it’s do-or-die definitely. You have to make a play. Honestly, that’s one of my favorite things to do. All the eyes are on me, the ball is in my hand, and I have to make a play.
"Thayer did a great job, ran a great route, I had great protection and we were able to get the first down. I believe he got out of bounds as well to stop the clock, so that was a huge play for us -- just being able to stay calm in those situations is very key."
How happy were you for Emeka Emezie?
"It’s huge. I think Emeka is definitely his biggest critic, but the kid is a baller. He’s got so much talent. Being able to see him play today with so much joy and to be able to get all the guys around him upbeat as well was very pleasing to see."
How much does it help to have so many receiving targets from which to choose?
"It’s huge. I think that really all starts in the offseason, just building as much chemistry as I can with every single receiver on our depth chart. Coach (George) McDonald preaches to them as well that every man has to be ready going into the game because you never know when the next guy is going to be up.
"Our part as a quarterback is you have to know how every guy runs his route. You have to have a certain amount of chemistry with every single receiver, and I think that paid off today.
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