NC State football countdown to 2023 kickoff: 62
The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 62 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 62 in Pack history.
NC State Football And The No. 62
• Wearing No. 62 for NC State this fall is redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Jaleel Davis. The product of traditional state powerhouse Richmond Senior High in Rockingham, N.C., Davis was one of the very few players in the NC State football recruiting class of 2021 to play in the spring high school football due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Davis, one of the tallest linemen on the NC State football roster at 6-foot-6, 315 pounds, did so because the fall of 2020 high school sports were canceled in the state of North Carolina. Most of the in-state recruits, including Davis’ teammate and classmate at NC State receiver Jakolbe Baldwin, chose to bypass the spring.
Davis also claimed Power Five offers from Georgia Tech, Kansas, Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee at the time of his commitment to NC State.
This will be an important fall for Davis, as the backup offensive tackles are a question mark entering preseason.
• The year 1962 was a big year for Pack Pros for NC State football. Pack legend Dick Christy was named to the AFL All-Star Game after leading the league in punt returns that fall with an average of 16.7 yards. Christy was also selected the team MVP for the New York Titans after also leading the team in rushing and kickoff returns.
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Christy would play only one more season in the pros after that.
More notably in 1962, another Pack legend was about to embark on his professional career. Quarterback Roman Gabriel, the founding member of “QBU” at NC State, was selected with the first overall pick of the AFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders and the second choice of the NFL by the Los Angeles Rams.
Gabriel chose the Rams, beginning a pro career that lasted until 1977 and, some believe, was good enough to warrant NFL Hall of Fame considerations.
Gabriel was NC State football’s first-ever first-round draft pick. In 2022, offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu became the 18th.
• The 1962 season was a struggle for head coach Earle Edwards’ squad, going 3-6-1 overall and 3-4 in the ACC. That was the last year before the best part of Edwards’ 17 years as NC State football head coach.
Between 1963-68, NC State either won or shared the ACC title four times during that six-year span. Overall, the Pack went 31-10 in the conference, a 75.6 winning percentage.