NC State’s Football Team has been bit by the injury bug in a bad way in 2019, but the diagnosis just got much more serious today.
According to Joe Giglio of the News & Observer, three more players have been lost for the year:
Redshirt Junior Right Tackle Justin Witt
Junior Cornerback Chris Ingram
Sophomore Cornerback Teshaun Smith
Witt and Ingram are starters. Witt entered the Boston College game as the most experienced member of the Offensive Line with 1,241 snaps, starting all of last season. Ingram was a starter all of last year as well, and has 2 interceptions this year. Smith started 2 games this season when Senior Nick McCloud went down, and has been on the 2-deep all season.
NC State has now lost 7 players for the season, of which 5 were starters.
Redshirt Junior Right Tackle Justin Witt
Junior Cornerback Chris Ingram
Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver C.J. Riley
Redshirt Junior Tight End Dylan Autenrieth (Captain)
Graduate Redshirt Senior Left Tackle Tyrone Riley
Redshirt Freshman Cornerback Taiyon Palmer
Sophomore Cornerback Teshaun Smith
Witt, Ingram, Autenrieth, and C.J. Riley were starters, and Tyrone Riley was expected to start at Left Tackle to start the year.
The secondary, which hasn’t been a strength the past couple of years, couldn’t afford any injuries this season. Unfortunately, you can’t always get what you want. Three cornerbacks have been lost for the season from the 2-deep, and the other starter (and Captain) Nick McCloud hasn’t played since Week 1, and his status for the rest of the season is unknown.
NC State’s Freshmen Running Backs are exciting, but life without Autenrieth is difficult. Most of Reggie Gallaspy’s yards last year came behind the excellent blocking of Autenrieth.
Junior Wide Receiver has had more pressure than normal put on his shoulders due to C.J. Riley tearing his ACL. Riley was the eldest returning receiver as a Redshirt Junior, and was the fastest player on the team, serving as the one true deep threat.
If all of this isn’t bad enough, the Wolfpack was also without Graduate Redshirt Senior Defensive End James Smith-Williams, Sophomore Running Back Ricky Person, Redshirt Junior Defensive Tackle Val Martin, Senior Cornerback Nick McCloud and Freshman Wide Receiver Cecil Powell against Boston College this past Saturday.
Every one of them is a contributor. All of the above players are starters with the exception of Powell, who has flashed when given the opportunity.
In sum, that means that NC State was without 9 players on Saturday who were starters this past Saturday against the Eagles.
Nine out of twenty-two.
Smith-Williams has been dinged up all year. Person is expected back at some point. The extent of Martin and Powell’s injuries are unknown at this point. McCloud wants to get back and help this team win at some point this year, but after playing in only one game this year, he could play in three more games, and still redshirt.
My Boston College postgame article was emotionally charged. I’m not apologizing for that. There were still plenty of things in that game that I find inexcusable, but there is no denying the impact of injuries to this team.
Winning 9 games for the 3rd consecutive season was going to be a major stretch in 2019 after all the Pack lost with a complete roster.
I’m all about a next-man-up philosophy, but losing the amount of talent and starters that NC State has in 2019 is unprecedented.
The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time, giving this team extra time for new players in new opportunities to build chemistry.