How OL Yousef Mugharbil’s ‘relentless’ work ethic helped earn his first start following recovery from 2021 traffic collision

By Noah Fleischman

Yousef Mugharbil jogged onto the natural grass playing surface inside NC State’s Carter-Finley Stadium Saturday afternoon with an excitement he hadn’t felt in years. It was 90 degrees on an abnormally warm September day, but that didn’t matter to the right guard. 

At last, Mugharbil had earned his first-career start at the college level. It came after a winding road. He went from being among the top 10 offensive line prospects in the 2021 recruiting cycle to a path-altering traffic incident before he even had a chance to put on a Florida game uniform — requiring a more-than-three-year-long path back to the field.

Mugharbil, a 6-foot-5, 322-pound bruiser on the line, was able to get back onto the field for his first set of consistent snaps in the Wolfpack’s 35-31 win over Virginia this past weekend. It marked a full-circle moment for the once highly touted high school recruit.

He hadn’t been on the field with an offense for the first snaps of a game since his senior season at Murphy (N.C.) High, when the Bulldogs beat Northside-Pinetown for the 1A state title during the spring 2021 season inside the very stadium he was set to do it again in. And his mind quickly focused on the task at hand.

“I just realized this is it,” Mugharbil said Monday afternoon, sweat dripping from his white Wolfpack practice jersey with a red No. 71 across his chest. “This is me against them, us against them. I was just excited to do everything I could for the team in a moment where it mattered the most.”

For NC State coach Dave Doeren, Mugharbil embodies everything the Wolfpack program stands for. He, in a way, beat the odds and became a unique story on the college football landscape in 2025. 

“Yousef’s story is one for the books,” Doeren said. “He came here and has worked really hard. I’m proud of him. He came in, gave us some really great energy today, some blocks. He’s a physical kid, really strong, one of our stronger offensive linemen. I’m happy for him, proud of him. It’s a great story, not one you see a lot in college football.”

The years in between the tragic accident and his return to the field have changed Mugharbil’s perspective on life. He, however, found a way to overcome multiple obstacles that life set in front of him. Mugharbil, a determined and tough-spirited player, wasn’t going to let anything get in his way from earning his first-ever collegiate start.

The traffic incident

Mugharbil’s first game week of his college career didn’t go as expected in late August 2021. The former four-star recruit made it through Florida’s fall camp, looking to make any impact he could with the Gators. No matter what role allowed Mugharbil to see the field, he was ready to embrace it. 

After all, he was living the dream as a coveted recruit in the SEC.

But the Monday before Florida’s season opener against Florida Atlantic took a turn for the worst. Mugharbil, who was riding a motorized scooter on the roadway at about 9:30 a.m., ended up colliding with a semi truck, which was making a right-hand turn. He was dragged about 100 feet when his vehicle was caught underneath the trailer. 

“The scooter keeps going straight, apparently, and he was in a non-traversable lane,” Gainesville Police Department spokesman Graham Glover said at the time. “The scooter did not yield to the truck turning right. The scooter kept going straight, the truck turned right, and [the scooter] hit the truck. The scooter driver was dragged a while, got some serious road rash, and was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.” 

According to an eyewitness report, the scene was left bloody from the collision. Mugharbil’s skin on his right shoulder and his feet was the most injured.

This sudden accident left a long recovery timeline in front of Mugharbil. Instead of suiting up for the Gators that following Saturday, he was focused on how to return to his normal self. The incident led to Mugharbil redshirting the 2021 campaign . 

Mugharbil’s collegiate career was put on pause. His return to the football field? That was unclear.

The road back to college football

As Mugharbil’s freshman year came to a close, he faced another change. Gators coach Dan Mullen, who successfully plucked Mugharbil from his small town of nearly 1,700 in Western North Carolina over 20 other FBS offers from the likes of South Carolina, Penn State, NC State and UNC among others, was fired in late November. 

Mugharbil, who returned to the practice field during Florida’s Gasparilla Bowl preparations a couple weeks later, decided to stay in Gainesville. He gave new coach Billy Napier and his staff a chance, but the 2022 season came and went without Mugharbil seeing the field. 

Without playing through his first two seasons, Mugharbil looked for a new home in the transfer portal. He landed at Colorado, led by coach Deion Sanders, during the spring semester of the 2023 campaign. 

But as quickly as he arrived in Boulder, Mugharbil was shown the door. Colorado tight ends coach Tim Brewster, who was Mugharbil’s primary recruiter at Florida, tried to keep him with the Buffaloes. 

“If you give that kid a year, he’ll be your best offensive lineman,” Brewester told Sanders, according to Mugharbil’s high school coach David Gentry. Sanders, though, opted to move on, according to Gentry. “We ain’t got a year,” the former NFL standout apparently responded. 

That was that. Mugharbil was in need for a new home. But this time, he wouldn’t be automatically eligible under the NCAA’s rules. Instead, he needed to walk-on somewhere. 

NC State, where Mugharbil’s two older brothers went to graduate school, was the landing spot that he knew best. Mugharbil committed to the Wolfpack in early June 2023. He didn’t see game action that season, but the offensive lineman was determined to get on the field. 

Gentry, who retired from high school coaching in 2021 and won a pair of 1A state titles with Mugharbil anchoring his offensive line, was there to be one of the lineman’s top motivators. 

Each time he called Mugharbil, he was met with a positive attitude. Gentry was accustomed to hearing that, and just as Mugharbil was persistent in pancaking every defensive lineman in his path in high school, he had that same approach in his quest to return to make his college football debut.

“He was relentless in getting back,” Gentry said. “He was going to be the hardest worker in the weight room, and he was going to be the hardest worker on the field. With the talent he’s got, I think that’s what propelled him through the dark times. He’s just got that mindset. He’s going to be relentless.”

Mugharbil was on NC State’s scout team, and eventually made the third-string unit in 2024. He made his collegiate debut in the Wolfpack’s 59-28 win over Stanford in Week 10 last fall , playing three snaps on the offensive line. Mugharbil also played 12 more snaps on the Pack’s field goal unit in three other games, but he wasn’t satisfied with just that. 

Nothing was going to stop Mugharbil, who arrived in Raleigh with plenty of development and weight room work to improve on, from his ultimate goal: earning a starting job. 

And he was dead set on doing so at NC State. 

“He was kind of down after last spring. He would say, ‘Coach, I think I’m doing really well, but I’m not moving up on the depth chart like I should,’” Gentry recalled. “I said, ‘There’s other options out there,’ but he said ‘No, Coach. I like it here. I’m going to finish here. I’m going to work my butt off.’”

His first collegiate start

Mugharbil’s main motivation was to see himself at the top of the depth chart after he spent his first four years in college football on the outside looking in. This fall, as a redshirt senior, Mugharbil felt as though he was on the cusp of doing just that. 

Step one was earning a scholarship. He’d spent his first few seasons in college on a full-ride, but it was something he had to earn with the Wolfpack. Soon enough, he did just that.

“Earning a scholarship, as a guy that’s not on one, is a dream come true for everybody,”  Mugharbil said. “That’s the goal of every walk-on. I feel very blessed that I was able to do that.”

After proving he belonged at this level, Mugharbil had his sights set on playing impactful snaps with NC State’s offense. The unit had three open starting spots on the offensive line this offseason, placing the center, right guard and right tackle roles up for grabs in spring practice and fall camp. Mugharbil positioned himself for the right guard job. 

But by the time Week 1 rolled around, redshirt sophomore Kamen Smith beat out Mugharbil and redshirt junior Val Erickson for the spot. Although he didn’t win it out of camp, Mugharbil remained focused on fighting for a way onto the field. He did so in practice, earning an “or” next to his name on the Pack’s depth chart for the season-opening win over East Carolina. 

After Smith turned in an up-and-down performance in the 24-17 win over the Pirates, NC State tabbed Mugharbil with the opportunity to start against Virginia. Finally, after 1,582 days since his final high school game, the offensive lineman cracked a college starting lineup — a moment he will never forget.

“There have been a lot of things in my way that have made things seem unlikely, but I knew I am good enough to do whatever I put my mind to,” Mugharbil said, thinking back to if he ever believed this day would never come. “I think the most important part is putting your mind to it and following through with what’s required to get to that point.”

On a warm Saturday afternoon, that day did come. Mugharbil played a career-high 40 snaps — more than doubling his career total through four seasons —  with NC State’s offense in a right guard rotation with Smith. He proved he could do it, and everyone who helped him along the way watched from afar. 

Gentry, who now lives in Chattanooga, Tenn., watched from his home with a grin on his face. Doeren, meanwhile, saw it up close from the Pack’s sidelines, witnessing one of the better stories of resilience in his more than three decades in the profession. 

For Mugharbil, it was evidence that he can do whatever he sets his mind to. It was what he always believed, but now he has tangible proof with NC State preparing to make its first road trip to Wake Forest on Thursday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN). 

And there’s a good chance Mugharbil finds himself back in a critical role on the Wolfpack’s offensive line yet again after helping spark the team’s strong rushing attack in the win over the Cavaliers. 

“If you just tell yourself that there’s a chance for something to happen, you have to do what you have to do for it to happen,” Mugharbil said. “If you don’t quit, it will happen.”