NC State football countdown to kickoff: 19

The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 19 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 19 in Pack history.

NC State Football And The No. 19

• Wearing No. 19 this season for NC State football is one of a trio of intriguing junior college additions made to the roster in the 2023 recruiting class.

Noticing a trend that Power Five teams were focusing almost exclusively on high school prospects and players in the NCAA’s transfer portal, the Pack made a strategic shift to land three top JC recruits who otherwise might have been ticketed for bigger brand teams. The highest rated of the trio was safety Bishop Fitzgerald. He was also the last to arrive, making his debut at the start of NC State football preseason camp, wearing No. 19.

The junior from Woodbridge, Va., was rated the No. 1 safety in the junior college ranks by On3, 247Sports and ESPN. The On3 Industry Rankings had Fitzgerald the No. 9 overall player nationally at the JC level. He picked NC State after also taking an official visit to Arizona State.

As a sophomore at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, Fitzgerald had 50 tackles in 11 games and added 6 interceptions (1 pick-six), 2 fumble recoveries (both returned for scores), 8 pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Fitzgerald is expected to be on the two-deep at safety and a wildcard to compete for a starting job.

• One of the best to ever wear No. 19 for NC State football was receiver Don Buckey from 1972-75. Part of the famous Buckey twins for the Wolfpack and once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Don Buckey was a first-team All-American in 1975 according to the Football Writers. That season, Buckey hauled in 34 passes for 551 yards and one score.

At the time, he left NC State with all the school records in receiving after hauling in 102 passes for 1,734 yards and five touchdowns. He led his team in receptions and receiving yards every season from 1973-75. The only other players to do that for three years at NC State were Gary Rowe (1964-66), Eddie Goines (1992-94) and Emeka Emezie (2019-21).

Buckey’s 17.0 yards per catch still ranks seventh best in NC State history.

• The 19th day of the month has not been a friendly one for NC State football under head coach Dave Doeren. The Pack is just 1-4 on games that day. Perhaps also noteworthy is that in six of the 10 seasons Doeren has coached at NC State, the Pack finished with a record multiple games over .500.

The four years that NC State did not all included games on the 19th of the month. The exception came last season, when a shorthanded Wolfpack squad fell at Louisville. The good news for NC State football fans is that there are no games on the 19th in 2023.