Devin Leary’s problem was never arm talent. NC State’s QB finally found what was missing
Thayer Thomas saw it first.
Well before spring practice, when Devin Leary was named the N.C. State starting quarterback. Long before the summer passing sessions, when Thomas and Leary linked up a few times every week.
Thomas, a redshirt junior and one of the top receivers for the Wolfpack, saw a different Leary before everyone else. Leary, a redshirt sophomore, started the 2019 season third on the depth chart. Even then, when he backed up Matt McKay and Bailey Hockman, Thomas would tell Leary to stay prepared because his chance was coming.
Eventually, McKay was replaced by Hockman, and late in the season Hockman swapped places with Leary, who started the last five games of the season. It was then Thomas saw it. He knew Learyhad what was needed to be a starting quarterback in the ACC.
“Ever since he started playing last year, he sort of made it known that he was the guy now,” Thomas said. “So we went with it and I’ve definitely seen his confidence go up.”
Leary’s audition in the second half of 2019 went well enough that coach Dave Doeren named him the 2020 starter entering spring practice. Leary appeared in eight games overall and led the team with 1,219 passing yards and eight touchdowns. He was the first redshirt freshman since Russell Wilson in 2010 to start at quarterback for the Wolfpack.
Entering camp this fall, Leary doesn’t have to look over his shoulder. He can walk through the Murphy Center with more confidence, more control, knowing the team is his and the guys will follow. For a quarterback who arrived in Raleigh with high accolades, to finally get the keys to the car was a long time coming.
THROWN IN THE FIRE
No quarterback recruit has ever come out of New Jersey with the numbers Leary put up at Timber Creek High School. By the time he graduated, Leary (6-foot-2, 212 pounds) was the all-time leader in passing yards (9,672) and touchdown passes (117) in Garden State history.
A four-star recruit, Leary was the No. 8 ranked quarterback in the nation. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in New Jersey as a junior and senior and one of the prized recruits in Doeren’s class of 2018. When Leary arrived in Raleigh, however, Ryan Finley was still around.
Leary took a redshirt season and could have been penciled in as the starter for the following year. But Hockman, a Florida State transfer, disrupted that in January 2019.
But as Leary spent the first five weeks of the season on the sideline and running with the third unit during the week, Thomas, who caught 31 passes a year ago, stayed in Leary’s ear.
“I just told him to stay positive because I felt like he could be the guy at any point of the season,” Thomas said.
That point came on the road at Boston College, when Leary earned his first start. Against the Eagles, he completed 15 of 33 passes for 259 yards and three scores. Statistically, it was his best game of the season. The next week against Wake Forest, he threw two interceptions and ended the season by throwing a pair of picks against North Carolina.
He was thrust into the fire and came out burnt.
“It really just helped me become more comfortable in the game, get more comfortable with the pace of the game as well,” Leary said. “Just learning from everything I can from last year, just taking everything I learned on and off the field and just enhancing my game even more for this upcoming season.”
Malcolm Bell, a former quarterback at NC Central who now trains QBs, has a list of clients that includes former Duke starter Quentin Harris and Chase Brice, who started his career at Clemson before transferring to Duke in February.
Leary reached out to Bell over the summer and the two got together for a few sessions. Before they met Bell, watched film of all the games Leary started. When they got together, he knew what he wanted to work on. From the film sessions alone Bell knew Leary had “elite arm talent.”
But he also saw was a young player making a lot of mistakes that are typical of a first-year quarterback.
“You could see a lot of confusion on film during plays,” Bell said. “Which made him make bonehead mistakes.”
Leary used the opportunity to pick Bell’s brain, knowing he previously trained two guys who played in the ACC. They worked on little things, like footwork and parts of his throwing motion. “Quarterback stuff,” Leary said.
Like Thomas, Bell saw the confidence Leary had knowing he was the guy this year. Though, Bell said, that had more to do with the new system under offensive coordinator Tim Beck.
“He was super confident because he loves coach Beck’s offense and he could really, really do great things in that offense and I actually agree,” Bell said. “I watched Texas live last year and just looking at that and looking at Devin’s skill set and the things that Beck does, I think Devin can do great things in the ACC.”
READY TO LEAD
Leary “drives hard,” Doeren said. When he makes a mistake, he’s hard on himself and was his toughness critic last year. But since he was named the starter, Doeren has noticed Leary with a different mindset, knowing he has a longer leash this fall.
“He definitely is more confident, he knows his teammates believe in him,” Doeren said. “He knows his coaches believe in him. He’s not walking around like ‘I have to prove myself no matter what everyday … if I throw one bad pass I’m out.’ He’s very comfortable.”
Comfortable enough to set up a group chat with his receivers and tight ends over the break to make sure everyone was staying in their playbook.
When he made trips to Raleigh this summer, he linked up with Thomas, who lives in nearby Wake Forest. The duo would find a field and work on their timing and chemistry, critical components for wide receivers and quarterbacks.
“I remember in March, April and May, he would come down for a week or two and we would go to local fields and throw, or sometimes we did it on baseball fields, wherever we could,” Thomas said. “We definitely got work in, probably when we should have been in the house, but we had to make it happen.”
On the first day of practice, Doeren put his quarterbacks in game situations — redzone, third down, two-minute drills — to see how they would respond. Doeren called them “thinking moments.”
With a new offensive system that Bell feels is quarterback-friendly Leary might have a few more “thinking moments” this camp. The good news is, he knows, mistakes and all, he doesn’t have to worry about getting yanked. Bell feels Leary has the tools to thrive in an offense that will feature a lot of run-pass options (RPO) and can make all the throws. Physically, he can shine, but now he can play loose when he’s not battling himself between the ears.
“It’s kind of a me-versus-me thing,” Bell said. “I think it’s a real plus to know that you are the starter going into summer camp because a lot of guys don’t have that luxury.”
