Devin Leary Speaks with Media about his Future, his Injury and MJ Morris

Redshirt Junior Quarterback Devin Leary met with the media last night for the first time since his injury. He talked about his future, his recovery and MJ Morris. You can watch it above, or check out some of what he had to say below.

Future

Honestly, I haven’t made any decisions. For me, it’s, it’s day by day. I just need to get healthy. Obviously this isn’t ideal. Obviously this isn’t what I wanted to happen. But at this point the priority for me is to get healthy. The priority for me is to help this team, help MJ, help Jack, be around the guys as much as I can. But really for me, I can’t make any type of decision without being healthy, without knowing when I’m gonna throw again. So my every single day is just attack and rehab and how I can get better and healthy.

Yeah, that’s hard to say. I think I’ll be able to figure that out when that time comes. Like I said, I truly am taking this day by day. I truly don’t know what’s in store for me, with my future, what’s to come, just because I’m having that approach of day by day. I just need to get healthy. I need to be here for the guys. And once it once that time comes, then I’ll have to make a decision.

I always think there’s more to prove. I think any quarterback can always say that they’ve always left plays out on the field. But at the same time, coming into NC State, being able to have the privilege to start here, and play at a high level I always feel like I have that capability to go and play in the NFL. But yeah, of course there’s always those thoughts that there’s still other things that I can display.

There’s still a lot of more things that I could put on film. But at the same time, if you look back of what I’ve done since I’ve been here and since I’ve been playing, there’s also really good things that could translate to the NFL as well. So, it’s really you’re comparing the best of both worlds, so to say. But it’s just a decision that could be very over overwhelming and I’m not really trying to think about that right now.

Recovery

Just the average pec tear for any athlete is usually about three to four months is what Dr. Andrews has told me. But a pec tear is a little bit uncommon with a rotational athlete. So me having to be able to throw will probably be they said an additional one- to two-month throwing protocol that I’m gonna have to go through. Just to make sure I get all my strength back in my arm, make sure I get all my mobility and stability within my shoulder. So really, it’s open to really being four to six months.

The biggest thing is making sure the stitches and everything heal correctly back to the bone. This isn’t like a no-pain, no-gain type of rehab that Dr. Andrews said. It’s more so just taking it easy, making sure everything heals right. And for me it’s really just day by day. I’m listening to Justin Smith [NC State Trainer], I’m listening to Dr. Andrews, and whenever they tell me I’m good to start throwing, then that would be the timeline for that.

He’s done a handful of pec repairs. He did Drake Thomas’, he did Payton’s. So he’s done guys here that are now playing that you see out there. For me, he was just over-emphasizing to be more cautious because I’m gonna have to throw. Guys that are on defense or linemen, you could kind of strap your shoulder up and limit the mobility or the range of motion where obviously with the quarterback you need the entire thing.

So he just relayed to me that the surgery went very well. He’s very confident in what he’s done to me. And with the rehab, he just said every week I’m calling him, I’m FaceTiming him and he’s checking on me, making sure everything looks good. He’s communicating with Justin Smith week to week on how I’m progressing. And he just said trust in the rehab that he wrote wrote up for me to come back to NC State. I’ve just been trusting him and Justin this whole time.

MJ Morris