Devin Leary: "I Haven't Made Any Decisions"

NC State quarterback Devin Leary met with the media to provide an update on his status following surgery.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.  A transcript will be provided shortly.

Coming into this year you were part of this quarterback group that was so hyped in the acc, a lot of great players. Was there any added pressure, do you think, on you, on the other quarterbacks coming into this year because of all that hype?
No, I don't think so. I mean, the reason why we were getting that hype was because of how well we performed last year. Leading into the season, you know, with really everyone in the ACC being able to return their starting quarterback is obviously, you know, a great way to start your team, a great way to establish your team as well as, you know, the guys that all of us really had coming back too. So I wouldn't say it was really any added pressure. It was just really who could see, you know, who can consistently play at such a high level.

Does coming back kind of mean you pick up where you left off, or is every year kind of a new process?
I think every single year in college football is different. Every team is different. You know, every, you know, season that you expect to have is different from what you originally think. Obviously you have high expectations. Obviously every team wants to compete for a championship, but I mean, you see each and every year there's upsets each and every week. You know, the big dogs sometimes get knocked down, and sometimes those low dog, underdog, underdog teams rise to the occasion. Um, so I think, you know, any given year is really, you know, it's special and I think that's why college football is so exciting.

What decisions, if any, have you made about your future with NC State looking at at next year and, and beyond?
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 want it to happen. But at this point the, 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 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.

What have the last few weeks been for you? Physically, mentally, just kind of dealing with, with everything going on?
Yeah, like I said, it wasn't really ideal, wasn't what I wanted, wasn't what I expected. Obviously, injuries are always tough. Not just speaking for myself, I think anyone that has to deal with an injury, especially that ends your season, um it's not really good. But I've been through this before. I've been through something like this before so I could kind of prepare myself a little bit better mentally. But sometimes you have those days, sometimes you're in that long term injury group, getting a little bit of extra rehab, and then you go out to practice and you're kind of bummed that you can't be out there with your teammates, But at the same time, you just need to figure out other ways that you can help. and , for me, physically right now, it's just, every single day working with Justin Smith and the rest of our training staff that they've taken care of me before. And really just thankful for Dr. Andrews and his staff. Uh, they did a really great job of helping me in Florida and just really thankful that my mom was there too,

JI don't know if you were at the game on the sidelines for the Virginia Tech game, But just your thoughts watching MJ in his first real extended action, just watching him do that.
Yes, sir. I was super proud of MJ.  We, I think as soon as he got here, we all knew how special he was gonna be. it was really just only a matter of time until he really got his shot and got an opportunity. And I, I'm just super proud to be a part of that quarterback room and being that older guy in the room to kind of set that standard. as well as super proud of Jack too. you gotta give the guy credit. he had to bounce around a little bit. He's now, what, 25 years old, fifth year, six year senior already graduated. he had to learn different offense really week to week. so credit to him for managing the game and coming in, trying to do what he could do. But as soon as MJ got his shot, um we all knew it was gonna be special because we've seen it in him since day one.

He's mentioned you're kind of a bigger brother for him. Do you view that mentorship is, is almost more confidence building or is it more strategic in terms of helping him with play calling and just seeing things that you've seen already?
To be honest with you, MJ reminded me a lot of myself growing up, especially when I got here super confident, just wants to learn football, wants to understand the ins and outs of the game. And that, that's how I was when I got in here. And obviously being able to sit behind Ryan and, uh, Ryan was able to play in the nfl I, I wanted to be that type of standard for mj. I know how much he loves football, I know how much this team loves him as a quarterback and loves him as a young guy coming in as a freshman, just embracing everything and wanting to get better. And I just kind of took it upon myself to really show him the ropes and really just show him where I went wrong, show him the mistakes that I made throughout my career, and how he can kind of prosper off of that and learn from me as well as the success that I had. And how to handle success too.

Devin, you mentioned not really being able to make a decision until you can throw again. Can you just give us an idea of what your timetable looks like for where you are with your rehab and when you might be able to start doing that?
Yeah, so, um just the average, uh, pec tear, um 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 common 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, uh, 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, 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, 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.

If the, if the timeline gets like really close to when you have to make a decision, how are you just gonna kind of weigh the factors of, of what you are gonna do?
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, 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 ti once that time comes, then I'll have to make a decision.

You've been hurt before and you've missed the gain before. Just, uh, with this injury this time, did, did you initially think that this could be another season ending injury? And, and when you first learned that it was, what was your initial reaction and did the previous injury help you mentally reset yourself to, for the recovery?
Originally when I first got injured, I, I did not think it was gonna be season ending, to be honest with you I got hit. Um I tried to get back up and kind of just felt a shooting pain through my chest. I thought it was maybe something in my shoulder. my first initial thought was actually what happened to the pass that I threw. I didn't, I didn't know if it was complete incomplete. That was my first question. Uh, and then my second question was if there was anything wrong with my shoulder when they went in and gave me x-rays and everything, ba came back clean. So I started to get a little bit more positive hope. But as the doctors kind of continued to move my arm around, I just knew something wasn't right when I couldn't really lift my arm above my head.

So it was tough. Uh, right after the next day I got the mri, and the doctors told me that it was, uh, torn pec, and that's, just hearing from the doctors with being a rotational athlete, having to throw, I kind of got a feeling that that was gonna end the season. But yeah, uh, to follow your second question up injuries all the time are terrible. no one wants to have to deal with injuries. No one wants to have to watch and be on the sideline, not helping your team. Uh, But like you said, I do think my first injury helped me a lot more mentally, uh, preparing to where I'm at now. just because I've had this downtime before. I've had this experience before where I have to watch football and I have to, so to be the coach now on the sideline for the rest of my teammates, and I'm embracing it.

I'm definitely embracing it more. I'm definitely trying to be the best possible teammate that I can be. and , even just also something I took from being hurt the first time is just being more around the other long term injured guys, Guys like Anthony Smith, now Dave and Jackson Chase. and just kind of feeding them my knowledge of what I've been through before and kind of where I'm at now, and that things are gonna, there's always gonna be a brighter side at the end of the road. and I'm just glad to be able to help them mentally too.

Payton Wilson was out last year and he mentioned you and, and how you tried to help him get through that. Just what has he done for you, uh, this year?
Yes, sir. He was one of the first person, first people to call me, and text me and just tells me that he's here for me. I remember him saying you told me the same thing last year when I got injured, that everything was gonna be okay, and there was a greater plan for this, that everything happens for a reason. And he was like, I'm here to tell you the same thing that you told me. and just hearing that from him, it helps a lot, uh, just because he's been through ups and downs with his injuries, But just like I have full belief in Peyton, I have full belief in what he said too. I know there's gonna be a greater plan for this. I know I'm gonna come back better than I've ever played before. it's just all a part of the plan that we don't always see all the time, But I, I know it's gonna be for the better.

We know you have NFL aspirations. Do you feel like in the last year and a half you've done enough to show you could be a franchise quarterback at, at the next level? Or you, you feel like maybe there's still some more to prove?
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, it's just a decision that's, it could be very over overwhelming and I'm not really trying to think about that right now.

I wanna just ask you a follow up just about being around the, the quarterback specifically more and being in the meetings and trying to help as much as you can in, in practice. What types of things have you tried to do to help them out over the last few weeks in terms of just preparing them for what's to come?
Yeah, to begin, I will say when I first got back from Florida, it was tough kind of getting around, just because I was fresh off of flight and off the surgery and I was kind of just trying to get my sense of what day it was back. so I kind of had to settle in the first couple days and actually realized what was happening. But then once I, I fully kind of settled in and understood what was going on I, I've been telling Jack and MJ all year, and even Ben, I mean any given play, be ready because that's happened to me. Uh, when I got here, um two guys were ahead of me. I remember Bailey went in his helmet popped off, next thing I know I'm in the game.

Me being able to really relay that to them and just tell them always be prepared. , you never know when your number's gonna be called. And then at the same time, I just told Jack, uh, specifically being a veteran guy lead the team. These guys believe in you. We understand why you came to this school. We understand that your experience and you've played at this highest level. Just go out and play your game. And then I kind of told MJ and Ben, once they get their shot, just go out there and have fun. they really haven't played much college football. kind of get a feel for it. And quarterbacks are unique. Everyone has their own little twist to their own game. Go show it on film, go show it out on the field, why you're special, why you came to NC State. And I just preach that to them because that's what I would want if someone were older than me in the position that I'm in right now.

Dr. Andrews obviously has worked with a lot of quarterbacks.  With this injury specifically, has he talked about the success rate, return rate? Are there any examples of guys that, that he gave you, he he's worked with on this before?
Yeah, there was a, he's done, a handful of peck repairs. Okay. he did, uh, Drake Thomas's, 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, um guys that are on defense or linemen, you could kind of strap your shoulder up and limit the, uh, mobility or the reigns 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, what he's done to me. and , with the, uh, rehab, he just said every sing, 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, uh the rehab that he wrote wrote up for me, uh, to come back to NC State and, I've just been trusting him and Justin this whole time.

Devin, obviously you and a lot of your teammates came back this season for a reason, and now you're not able to finish this season, But your team can, even though maybe some of the goals you had at the beginning of the year weren't there and, and beating arrival this weekend, maybe finishing with, with 10 wins or, or still out there. Can you just talk about the mindset of the team and, and the locker room now as you guys head into the, the final stretch?
Yeah, I really think that guys are excited, guys are I'm so glad that we were able to finish off that last game and come back in the fourth quarter. And if you're around the guys and around the team and the locker room, we're still rallying off of that credit to mj, he gave us that spark and we all knew, like I said, how special he was and how talented he was. It was only just a matter of time. And now that he's got his shot, everyone in here has no flinch at all. , everyone's behind him, everyone's behind the offense. The defense continues to ball out each and every week. And , we're just taking that approach that like we say all the time here, so what now what guys go down next man up, who, how, how are you gonna help us win a game? And , there's not much negative talk around here at all. There's not much doubt. obviously we wish guys could be healthy, But at the same time, the guys that are playing right now who need to win, and , that's everyone's mentality and we're just gonna keep that same thing rolling.