ACC football record book: Wake Forest’s Rusty LaRue used cold streak to get very hot

Editor’s note: This is part of a 10-story series focusing on ACC football records. See the bottom of this story for a list of all the other content in the series.

WAKE FOREST — Through one half of play, Wake Forest’s football team was looking, well, very much like Wake Forest.

It was Oct. 28, 1995, and the Demon Deacons — who entered the game 1-7 — were struggling mightily against Duke. In two quarters, they turned the ball over three times, missed two field goals and had a punt blocked. The Blue Devils led 28-0 at halftime, and they scored again out of the break.

This all goes to say: when quarterback Rusty LaRue broke the huddle on Wake Forest’s first third-quarter possession, with an anemic run game behind him and a five-touchdown deficit in front, he knew he needed to throw. And throw and throw and throw.

“We got down so much early,” LaRue said. “We sort of abandoned ship.”

Little did LaRue know that this tweak in the game-plan — from ball control to no huddle, from I-formation to shotgun, from two running backs to four receivers — would send him on a historical two-and-a-half game tear that eviscerated the ACC’s passing records.

Even 25 years later, LaRue holds a slew of conference records, including the most completions (55), attempts (78) and offensive plays (82) in a game, and the most passing yards in a two-game (1,046) and three-game (1,524) stretch.

“I tell people all the time,” he said. “We didn’t win any more games, but we were at least fun to watch.”

‘Always believed in himself’

LaRue and Tom Stuetzer are longtime friends. But in the fall of 1992, they were competitors.

The freshmen bumped into each other on move-in day and figured out they’d be fighting for the same reserve quarterback spot in fall camp. LaRue was a two-sport stud from nearby Northwest Guilford and the reigning North Carolina High School Athletic Association Male Athlete of the Year; Stuetzer was your regular high school quarterback.

“I lasted three days,” Stuetzer said with a laugh.

LaRue secured the backup spot, Stuetzer switched positions to defensive back and a friendship blossomed. Soon enough, they were roommates.

That gave Stuetzer a unique view into the life of a two-sport athlete who, at Wake Forest, played four seasons of varsity football and basketball. (As a junior, LaRue also pitched three innings for the baseball team and became the first ACC athlete to compete in those three sports in the same year since 1952.)

He remembers his friend as a masterful multitasker of everything: sports, school, family. When Wake Forest played at home, LaRue had a familiar routine. Saturdays were games in Winston-Salem. Sunday mornings were for church. Sunday afternoons were for visits to his family and his mother’s famous ham biscuits. Sunday nights were for studying — no exceptions.

“He never seemed frustrated or fazed or overwhelmed or overworked,” Stuetzer said. “He could handle things mentally and physically.”

Such a mindset was crucial, because when it came to football, frustration was abound.

In 1992, LaRue’s freshman year, Wake Forest went 8-4 and won the Independence Bowl under coach Bill Dooley. But in the next eight years under Jim Caldwell, an ultimately successful NFL coach, the program was a combined 26-63 and finished above .500 just once.

That included LaRue’s last three years, when he was an on-again, off-again starter. As a sophomore in 1993, he split time with Brian Kemp; as a junior in 1994, the job was mostly his but he threw five touchdowns against nine interceptions in 10 games.

As a senior, LaRue lost the starting job after Wake Forest’s season-opening loss to Appalachian State. Two weeks later, he got it back after teammate Brian Kuklick broke his arm on a scramble. He took his fair share of hits behind an offensive line that “wasn’t the greatest in the world,” he said.

And, of course, the team kept losing. Through it all, LaRue remained steadfast in his preparation, his attention to detail and his work ethic.

And his confidence.

“Never cocky, never selfish but always believed in himself,” Stuetzer said.

‘You just go with it’

Wake Forest’s no-huddle offense, LaRue said, “wasn’t totally out of character.”

It had its roots in his freshman year, when Alex Wood was the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Wood was fresh off a stint at Miami as running backs coach — in his four years there, the Hurricanes won two national titles — and installed a one-back spread offense.

By the time LaRue’s senior year rolled around, though, the Demon Deacons were back to a traditional offense: two running backs in the I-formation, a quarterback under center. Caldwell and his staff reserved the no-huddle shotgun for special situations. Namely, two-minute drills and big deficits.

The Oct. 28, 1995, game against Duke definitely qualified for the latter.

“It was really our only chance to try to get back in the game,” LaRue said.

Trailing 35-0, LaRue stepped back into a shotgun formation, with two receivers to his left, two receivers to his right and a running back to his side, and started slinging.

Seven completions and a Marlon Estes touchdown later, Wake Forest had its first points of the game. The defense forced a punt, and LaRue went to work again. Dink, dunk. Dink, dunk. On one 14-play drive, he passed 13 times. Duke blinked, and its lead was 35-20.

“You get on a roll,” Steutzer said, “where you’re throwing the ball and say, ‘OK, we’ve got something here,’ and you just go with it.”

The Blue Devils regained momentum with a pick-six, but LaRue didn’t slow down.

With 2:02 left in the fourth quarter, he set an NCAA record with his 49th completion on a nine-yard pass to running back Herman Lewis (as part of a 17-play, 90-yard scoring drive). In a 42-26 loss, his stat line was eye-popping: 55 completions, 78 attempts, 478 yards and three touchdown passes.

“I knew the pitch count was getting a little high,” LaRue joked after the game. “I thought they might have to bring in a reliever.”

The loss stung, but he knew he’d stumbled upon a great opportunity. As did his coaching staff.

The shotgun formation cut down the number of hits LaRue took — he could get the ball out much faster — and maximized his chances to read and pick apart a defense, something he always considered one of his strengths as a quarterback.

It put Wake Forest’s skill position players in space, too: deep threats Estes and Darrell Braswell on the outside, the shifty Thabiti Davis in the slot, wide receiver-tight end hybrid Desmond Clark down the middle and the Lewises (running backs John and Herman) on swing routes out of the backfield.

Most importantly, it kept them alive in a game they had no business competing in.

As Al Myatt wrote in the News & Observer the following day: “The Deacons had to settle for respect, but that’s several notches above ridicule.”

Indeed, Wake Forest left Wallace Wade Stadium with a loss, its fifth in a row. But LaRue and company also left with a predominant thought on their minds: why not keep this going?

Spoiler alert: they did.

‘I’m surprised it lasted’

On Nov. 4, Wake Forest was a missed field goal away from its first win in two months.

In no coincidence, LaRue was slicing and dicing again in that 24-23 loss to Georgia Tech. He completed 41 of 62 passes for a career-high 501 yards and three touchdowns.

He’d come within striking distance of the ACC’s single-game passing yardage record (Shane Montgomery’s 535 in 1989) and set an NCAA record for completions in a two-game span.

But he had two costly fourth-quarter turnovers — an interception and a fumble — that contributed to the Demon Deacons’ crushing loss on homecoming weekend. As a fierce competitor, that weighed on him. As did the fact Wake Forest hadn’t won a game since Sept. 23.

“You felt great to be involved in it,” LaRue said, “but it was kind of bittersweet.”

The Demon Deacons’ season finale, on Nov. 18, set the stage for yet another record-breaking day. Wake Forest hosted lowly N.C. State, which entered the game ranked last in the conference in pass defense.

Following a trend, LaRue was again statistically spectacular. He completed 50 of 67 passes for 545 yards — a new ACC record — and three touchdowns. But the Wolfpack scored on six of their first seven possessions en route to a 52-23 win. Wake Forest finished its season 1-10.

In very LaRue fashion, the senior’s first move after his final football game was to shower, change, drive across the street to Lawrence-Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and join the basketball team for an exhibition game a week before its season started. (He hadn’t practiced with the team leading up to this.)

“That was Rusty,” Stuetzer said with a laugh. “He could multitask.”

In a fitting end to his Wake Forest athletic career, his senior year of basketball was his personal best, too. LaRue, a year-long starter, averaged a career-high 10.1 points per game and provided consistent 3-point shooting for a Demon Deacons team that made a run to the Elite Eight.

Only then, in late March, could he take a breath and realize what he’d accomplished.

LaRue entered the Oct. 28 game against Duke with 1,251 passing yards in eight games. In his final three alone, he passed for 1,524. He finished the season with 2,775 yards and 17 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. And the records were plentiful.

When LaRue left Wake Forest, he held three of the ACC’s top seven single-game passing marks, including the top spot. (His 545 yards remained a record for 17 years and have since been passed by Miami’s Stephen Morris in 2012 and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson in 2016.)

Among the records he still holds: most completions in a game, most attempts in a game, most offensive plays in a game, most passing yards in a two-game stretch, most passing yards in a three-game stretch.

You get the point.

“When the Philip Riverses come through and how much guys are throwing the ball, how much offenses are changing, I’m surprised it lasted that long,” LaRue said.

‘A real blessing to Wake Forest’

The flashy stats earned him some NFL interest, too. The spring after his senior year, he was in touch with four teams, threw for the Cincinnati Bengals on Wake Forest’s campus and thought he’d get a training camp invite from the Carolina Panthers. (Nothing ever materialized, but it’s still something to hang his hat on.)

Instead, he pivoted to basketball.

LaRue put together a successful career featuring an NBA title with the Chicago Bulls (1997-98), a five-year stint as an assistant for Wake Forest (2009-14) and a head coaching gig at West Forsyth High School (2015-18). He’s currently the chief operations officer of Dairi-O, a chain with eight restaurants throughout North Carolina.

Stuetzer, who now lives and works in Atlanta, remembers LaRue’s record-breaking stretch as the perfect culmination of his friend’s football career. And, he’ll admit, a tantalizing look at what more LaRue could have done on the field if Wake Forest went to the spread earlier.

“When you’ve got one of your best friends showing out, finishing up well, it’s great to see,” he said.

Myatt, who then covered Wake Forest for the News & Observer, described LaRue as a “throwback guy.” Although he played in the 1990s, he gave off more of a ’50s or ’60s vibe, from his penchant for multiple sports, dedication to family and strong Christian beliefs right down to his tight crewcut hair.

“I just thought he was a real blessing to Wake Forest,” Myatt said.

LaRue, 47, admitted he can’t celebrate the numbers too much. The main statistic that comes to mind when he thinks about his record-breaking stretch is Wake Forest’s record in those games: 0-3.

Still, in a recent interview, he found plenty to laugh and reminisce on from the three games in 1995 when he set the ACC ablaze on the heels of a why-the-heck-not situation.

“I was always a pretty good two-minute quarterback,” LaRue said, “so it worked out.”

RUSTY LARUE IN THE ACC FOOTBALL RECORD BOOK

• First in single-game offensive plays: 82 vs. Duke, 1995
• First in single-game pass attempts: 78 vs. Duke, 1995
• First in single-game pass completions: 55 vs. Duke, 1995
• First in most passing yards in a two-game stretch: 1,046 in 1995 (501 vs. Georgia Tech, Nov. 4; 545 vs. NC State, Nov. 18)
• First in most passing yards in a three-game stretch: 1,524 in 1995 (478 vs. Duke, Oct. 28; 501 vs. Georgia Tech, Nov. 4; 545 vs. NC State, Nov. 18)
• Tied for first in career 500-yard passing games: 2 (also Florida State’s Chris Weinke)
• Third in single-game passing yards: 545 vs. N.C. State, 1995
• Fourth in single-game total offense: 554 yards vs. N.C. State, 1995

THE SCHEDULE FOR THIS SERIES

(Dates the stories will be posted online)

MAY 24 — Duke’s DeVon Edwards scored three non-offensive touchdowns in one game, including interception returns for touchdowns on consecutive plays from scrimmage.

MAY 25 — Big Jim Tatum won the first ACC championship as coach at Maryland. He went on to coach at UNC shortly after and had turned a struggling program around. He might have broken every ACC coaching record in the book and been on par with coaches like Bobby Bowden and Dabo Sweeney had he not died suddenly in 1959.

MAY 26 — Wake Forest quarterback Rusty LaRue holds records for single-game pass attempts (78), single-game pass completions (55), total offensive plays in a game (82) and a few others from a crazy 1995 stretch where he threw for 478 yards against Duke, 501 against Georgia Tech and 545 against N.C. State.

MAY 27 — N.C. State wide receiver Torry Holt has the record for most receiving touchdowns in a game with five against Florida State, which was ranked No. 3 in the country.

MAY 28 — Don McCauley, a UNC running back from 1968-70, has the ACC record for most rushing attempts in a season with 360 in 1970. He also owns the ACC record for the most plays from scrimmage in a single season with 375 that same year. The most interesting stat associated with McCauley is that he broke the ACC record for most rushing yards in a season with 1,863 yards in 1970, a record that stood for 43 years.

MAY 29 — Duke receivers Conner Vernon and Jamison Crowder are tied for the ACC career receptions record with 283 apiece. They were teammates for a time in the early 2010s.

MAY 31 — North Carolina’s Kendric Burney has the record for most interception return yardage in a game — 170 against Miami in 2009.

JUNE 1 — N.C. State’s Ted Brown still holds the ACC career rushing record, a mark he set from 1975-78.

JUNE 2 — Wake Forest’s Tanner Price has the ACC passing record by a left-handed quarterback.

JUNE 3 — A quick roundup of other interesting and important ACC footbal records leads with the 2011 Clemson team, which became the first in ACC history to win three straight games against ranked opponents. That team had a bevy of kids from the state of North Carolina.

This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 6:00 AM.