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If he’s going to join Heisman Trophy conversation, now is time for DLeary to Deliver

It was never a Heisman campaign. N.C. State was very clear on this point. The DLeary Delivers hats and stickers and website were strictly designed to raise awareness of the quarterback, not position him for any awards or recognition, wink wink.

A good thing, too, since Devin Leary’s numbers have been good against overmatched opponents and merely pedestrian against legitimate ones, not exactly the way to play one’s way into Heisman contention, let alone live up to the hype of being the preseason ACC player of the year.

But there’s some good news for Leary, who should have more confidence coming out of last week’s drubbing of Connecticut — and was left in the game long after it was decided for precisely that reason, a risk the Wolfpack deemed worth taking. You can’t win the Heisman Trophy in the first four weeks, but you can certainly lose it. Ask Sam Howell, whose subpar performance in an opening night loss at Virginia Tech on national TV dropped him out of the conversation for good three days into last September.

The winning the Heisman part of it starts now, at Clemson, in the biggest game of the day, anywhere, and maybe the biggest regular-season game in N.C. State history. These are the kinds of nights that can make or break a season, even a career. They don’t come along often.

Leary didn’t have to dazzle the first month of the season, as long as he didn’t embarrass himself and the Wolfpack didn’t lose. Check and check. For someone with an established reputation — and a marketing arm — the mantra of the first few weeks is to do no harm, although having that touchdown catch against Texas Tech hold up would certainly have helped.

N.C. State’s Devin Carter (88) celebrates with quarterback Devin Leary (13) after Leary scored on 12-yard touchdown run in the first half of N.C. State’s game against Charleston Southern at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.
N.C. State’s Devin Carter (88) celebrates with quarterback Devin Leary (13) after Leary scored on 12-yard touchdown run in the first half of N.C. State’s game against Charleston Southern at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.

And while Leary’s clearly had trouble establishing chemistry with receivers other than Thayer Thomas, and has been a little jittery without Ickey Ekwonu protecting his blind side, it does look like Leary and N.C. State have been able to work through those issues, at least to the degree anyone can tell against UConn.

You can get better odds on DJ Uiagalelei, Sam Hartman and Drake Maye at the moment. But the way Hartman was able to pick apart Clemson’s defense last week certainly raises expectations Leary will be able to do the same, assuming the weather isn’t a total disaster by kickoff time. You put up big numbers and beat Clemson on the road, in primetime, post-GameDay, and Heisman voters will Take Notice. Then, as long as N.C. State keeps winning, Leary’s star will continue to rise.

There’s always a default in the voting process to the best player on the best team, which always gives the Alabama quarterback du jour a leg up, and there’s generally a bias toward quarterbacks in general, which means they just have to be very good while someone like DeVonta Smith has to be truly exceptional to win it. (And Kyle Pitts probably should have.)

(Full disclosure: I’m a Heisman voter who voted for Smith without hesitation and tries to find ways to include non-QBs and defensive players on his ballot; my ACC preseason vote went to UNC receiver Josh Downs.)

In some ways, the Heisman process hasn’t really even started yet. With such a large voting pool, sometimes it feels like many voters don’t even pay that much attention until November. As the top teams in the country sort themselves out, their top players filter themselves into the conversation.

Leary hasn’t disqualified himself. That’s all you can do at this point. Sometimes being the early front-runner even opens that player up for more intense criticism, facing higher standards than other potential candidates. The Heisman narrative is a weird one that doesn’t always progress in a linear fashion.

But it does take at least one star performance under the spotlight to join that narrative, and if DLeary is going to be a part of it, he’s going to have to Deliver at some point. It’s not too late. It’s right on time.

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