Nate Irving Out for the Season

'09 Football34

“After meeting with a doctor Thursday, N.C. State linebacker Nate Irving announced that he will be out for the season because of injuries suffered in a June 28 car crash.” (N&O)

Link to WRAL’s story

For now it looks like sophomore Dwayne Maddox will attempt to fill the void left by the loss of Irving. The former 3-star recruit from Shelby, NC fortunately graduated early from high school. Despite sounding like my 7 (and a half) year old niece, Maddox is actually a sophomore and a half. Hopefully that extra semester of work will begin to show as an improvement on his effort to replace Irving last year. Maddox is certainly capable of helping limit the effects of the loss of Irving, but it would be a tall order for any college player to fill the void entirely. Irving is just that good. A former Carolina player told me today regarding Irving: “He’s a pro.” I agree.

Unfortunately, this news isn’t really a big surprise. When we originally discussed Nate’s car accident on June 28th we stated the following based on some information that we had from sources close to the coaching staff.

Based on what we have heard, we think it would be impractical to presume that Nate will play football in the 2009 season. Be clear – we are NOT ‘REPORTING’ that Irving will miss the season. We are simply interjecting that, at this point, we would be surprised if Irving played this season.

We’d like to thank those readers who recognized our code and appreciated our track record and defended us in the comments section of the original entry. Of course, there was was always ‘a chance’ that Irving could/would heal quicker than expected; but that chance was very slim. I don’t think many people truly recognize how lucky Nate is to be alive after this accident. God bless him, his family and his recovery.

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'09 Football

34 Responses to Nate Irving Out for the Season

  1. GAWolf 08/14/2009 at 1:09 PM #

    Truthfully… how sad is it that we even discuss such a situation? Only at NCSU… only at NCSU… (said best while shaking head and looking at feet).

  2. Noah 08/14/2009 at 2:52 PM #

    I don’t think that many people go from being on life support with a punctured lung (and if I’ve exaggerated this in some way, please correct me) to playing BCS D1 football in a couple of months.

    Yeah. There were. Not on this board, but I saw a lot of people refusing to believe he’d be out for the year. In fact, a lot of nitwits were talking about how he’d be back by mid-season.

  3. Wufpacker 08/14/2009 at 3:31 PM #

    Yes, Noah is correct. Like him, I don’t remember anyone on here being overly optimistic (there might have been one here and there that thought he might make the last few games) but over on PackPride there were several that believed he’d play the full season, and at least be back by mid-season, and vehemently (though not convincingly) defended this belief.

  4. bradleyb123 08/14/2009 at 3:52 PM #

    I’m still holding out hope that Nate can return in time for VT, UNX, the ACC championship game, and the BCS bowl game. He’d probably hate missing out on all the fun!

  5. bradleyb123 08/14/2009 at 3:54 PM #

    As for the QB situation being discussed (lordy help us if we lose RW and Glennon!), we also have Cole. Didn’t he play QB in high school? Not that we’d want that, but surely we’d try him (or SOMEONE) at QB before resorting to a three rushes and a punt strategy.

  6. Wufpacker 08/14/2009 at 4:58 PM #

    Yes, he (Cole) played QB in HS and even had some recruitment as a QB if memory serves correctly. My guess is that the 3rd string QB situation will be decided long before either Wilson or Glennon have the chance to go down to injury, probably before the season even begins would be my guess. Whether its Cole or someone else already on the team, or an as of yet undiscovered walk-on, I’m sure will depend upon what TOB and the staff sees and how much they want to have 3rd string QB responsibilities resting in the hands of someone who is already on the two-deep elsewhere and therefore could go down to injury at any time.

    As far as your previous post about hoping for Nate to return near the end of the season, I’m not sure if you’re joking or not. If not, you should really reassess the information on which you are basing that hope.

  7. bradleyb123 08/14/2009 at 5:21 PM #

    I’m not joking. On November 21, that will be a full five months since the accident. I don’t expect him to return, but TOB did leave the door open just a tad, with his comment about a miracle recovery.

    I just imagine being at the Carolina game on November 28th, and on the first defensive series for the Pack, out comes Nate Irving and the stadium roars.

    It’s just a hope, and a very small one at that.

    I know that in reality, even if he technically *could* play, he would risk re-injuring his leg if he wasn’t 100% ready to return. So I know there probably isn’t a chance of him coming back.

  8. Wufpacker 08/14/2009 at 6:59 PM #

    Not to be nit-picky, but what TOB said was there was a slim chance he could return if the team played in a January bowl game. He did not say there is a slim chance he could return at the end of the regular season. I would also presume that this would include the ACC Championship game were we to make it, since that is just one week later. And also realize that TOB even admits that he’s not sure what the doctors are projecting.

    His direct quote:
    “Who knows? If we get ourselves to a January bowl, maybe six months – I think that’s what they’re saying – he might be there if he can play,” O’Brien said. “We’re not going to put him in there just to say we played Nate Irving this year. He’s got to be a functional member of the football team.”

    Also, by the time we get to any bowl game, this team will have played without Irving for an entire season for all intents and purposes. Throwing him into the mix at that point, with very little time for preparation and adjustment, could cause more harm than good. I suppose it would depend on when he could actually practice at full speed. If he has the whole time between the end of the regular season until a bowl game for preparations (and I mean REAL preparations, not just him going thru the motions at less than full speed), and add that to the fact that as a defensive player the adjustment would likely not take as long, then I could see maybe, perhaps, a sliver of a chance. Not even high enough to seriously consider at this point.

    But ok, I’ll agree there is an almost infinitesimally small chance.

    But honestly, if he does he’s taking a chance on ending his career just to play in one game. I certainly wouldn’t take that chance and I can’t imagine, with the almost certainty of playing on sundays and the income that will bring him, that he will either.

  9. Greywolf 08/14/2009 at 8:41 PM #

    With the lack of depth at Safety, we don’t need to split Clem Johnson’s time between Safety and QB. Nor do we want to split Audie Cole’s attention.

    Although he’s not on the roster this year, Eric Weaver, a 6-7, 235 TE who wore # 90 last year played QB at Durham Jordan in HS. Never-the-less I like the sounds of the Catawba QB someone mentioned.

    I’m concerned also about injuries related to Audie Cole — but not to the Wolfpack. If Cole gets some of the shots at runners that Robbie Leonard had, God help that runner.

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