'New' Leary Takes Command For Wolfpack
The quarterback that will start the 2020 football season for NC State is the same one that finished 2019 for the Wolfpack.
Devin Leary, however, isn't the same quarterback he was a year ago.
A summer of hard work made all the more challenging by the limitations of the coroanvirus pandemic, along with the vote of confidence he received from coach Dave Doeren have helped the redshirt sophomore become a more commanding presence both on the field and in the locker room as State begins its preseason preparations.
"He is definitely more confident," Doeren said in a post-practice Zoom conference earlier this week. "He knows his teammates believe in him. He knows his coaches believe in him. He’s not walking around like ‘I’ve got to prove myself no matter what every day. If I throw one bad pass I’m out.’
"I think he’s very comfortable, but he drives hard. He’s as hard on himself as anybody is. We have to be careful that way with him. All the experience he had and all the reps that he had, I think (he's) grown a lot to this point."
Leary began last season third on the depth chart and had to wait his turn as as both Matthew McKay and Bailey Hockman got their shot at the starting job.
He finally got his chance late in the first quarter of a loss at Boston College on Oct. 9 and held onto it through the final five games.
Although the Wolfpack lost them all and Leary's numbers weren't impressive -- he completed only 48.1 percent of his passes for 1,219 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions -- the experience he got under game conditions was invaluable nevertheless.
"It was huge, just getting those in-game repetitions," Leary said. "It just helped me become more comfortable in the game, get more comfortable with the pace of the game as well.
"It’s just learning from everything that I can from last year, being able to take everything that I learned off and on the field and being able to enhance my game even more for this upcoming season."
Leary's education as a quarterback didn't stop with the final game.
Even though spring practice was cut short after just five workouts because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the former New Jersey high school Player of the Year continued to hone his skills by throwing with his receivers whenever he could and by working with quarterback guru Malcolm Bell.
"I had a really good opportunity just to work with him and pick his brain a little bit," Leary said. "He's worked with multiple quarterbacks that play in the ACC. We just focused on little short things such as quickening up my throwing motion, footwork things, typical quarterback stuff. It was really good to work with him."
While Leary's mechanics and decision-making skills are still a work in progress, his arm strength is already on full display.
According to former Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd, who is now a college football analyst, there's more to Leary's potential than just the ability to throw the ball a long way downfield and into tight windows.
"He just has something to him you just can't coach, just intangibles, great tenacity," Boyd said. "That's what I like about him."
That 'It factor" is something his teammates have already noticed though the opening stages of preseason practice.
"You can tell he’s more confident this year," running back Zonovan Knight said. "Last year you could tell that he was stressing over trying to prove himself to the coaches. This year it’s more natural. You can tell the difference that confidence makes on people over the course of a year."
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