Hines Ran Into Wolfpack Lore
It has been a special season for Nyheim Hines. On Saturday he ran straight into Wolfpack lore.
NC State trailed North Carolina 14-12 at halftime and the third quarter had slogged along with no breakthrough. Just when it appeared the Wolfpack would enter the final 15 minutes of the game trailing, Hines struck.
Then the next time he touched the ball Hines helped seal a big win and entered NC State immortality in several ways.
Two drives, two plays, 102 yards, two touchdowns and a game no NC State fan will ever forget.
After suffering a concussion in NC State’s loss at Wake Forest last week it was not clear if he would play in the game against the Heels.
“We had to go through the concussion protocol and he went through it all week clean,” NC State head coach Dave Doeren said. “He told me Sunday, ‘They are going to have to amputate parts of my body for me to not play against Carolina.’
“For his legs, it was probably a good thing. He didn’t practice and he was out there all week just watching so he got pretty fresh standing around.”
He was also the fastest man on the field and his speed showed when it mattered most.
The Wolfpack won its sixth ACC game of the campaign Saturday, the first time that has happened since 1994.
Hines scooted past the UNC defense for a 54-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Wolfpack a lead they would not relinquish. On the next offensive play Hines once again strolled straight to the barn, this time on a zagging run of 48 yards that gave NC State a double-digit lead and firmly ensconced the junior into the program’s history books.
He rushed for 196 yards on 22 carries. That is the most yards a NC State player has tallied on the ground against North Carolina ever. The two schools have now faced each other 107 times.
There is also the matter of eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark rushing for the season. That has now only happened 12 times in Wolfpack history, and Hines is just the ninth player that the program has ever had accomplish the feat.
Born a Wolfpack fan and now a NC State legend. That is how it works when you excel against a rival.
“Growing up here it is just really important for me to play in this game, and I just knew I would not miss this game for anything,” Hines said. “I would just have to break an arm or a leg not to play.”
It has been a great week for Garner football. The Trojans knocked off Green Hope High School on the road Friday to advance to the regional final for the third time in six seasons and now Hines, one of its greatest sons, has had the game of his life at the college level.
This is all happening 30 years after Garner won its first state title, led by Anthony Barbour -- one of the other eight players to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season for NC State. Barbour graduated as the Wolfpack’s third-leading rusher all-time (now sixth-place) and held a slew of records at his high school until Hines came along and broke them.
“Garner and NC State are so similar it is actually crazy,” Hines said after NC State’s win. “They way people doubt us and we fight, that just kind of symbolizes both.”
And now Hines is among the greats at both schools. If there was any doubt before Saturday, Hines sped away until it was gone.
