After suffering a concussion from a hit taken late in Saturday’s game against Wake Forest, redshirt sophomore quarterback Daniel Evans has been cleared to practice by the team doctors, according to coach Chuck Amato.
“The doctor has released him to practice,” Amato said. “That’s the word. And obviously in practice our quarterbacks are never touched.”
Asked if he thought he would be cleared to play against Maryland this Saturday, Amato said, “It’s very probable.”
As for exactly when the concussion occurred, Amato said he wasn’t sure and didn’t even know about it until after the game.
“[I found out] when we came into the locker room,” the coach said. “On a series before that or that series where he didn’t get out of bounds I grabbed him and said, ‘Are you all right’ and he said ‘Yeah.'”
Amato added he saw no signs of a concussion from Evans on that final drive which ended with him throwing an interception.
“He had been coherent when we talked to him,” Amato said. “He collected all the signals, translated everything in the huddle and he never lost focus on what he had to do. If he had [the concussion] before that he sure didn’t show it because he was still doing his thing.” Sophomore running back Toney Baker, who was in the huddle with Evans during the drive, said he didn’t notice the quarterback acting differently either.
“I talked to him earlier [today],” Baker said. “And he seems to be fine from what I’ve heard and from me talking to him. But as far as at the game, I didn’t even know anything was wrong.”
Amato said after the game he was unable to talk to Evans in the locker room, but called him and talked to him on the phone.
“I called his number and we chatted,” Amato said. “But he remembers [the last play] or at least that’s what he said to me. And I don’t know why he would say any different.”
Evans wasn’t the only starter to suffer an injury in the Wake Forest game. According to the injury report released Monday, junior defensive tackle DeMario Pressley is questionable with a wrist injury.
Senior linebacker Reggie Davis is now listed as probably with a neck strain.
However, both were still listed as starters on this week’s depth chart.
A positive note coming out of the loss to the Demon Deacons was the play of the offensive line. For the third straight game, the offense produced more than 300 yards of total offense and more than 100 yards rushing. And the opposing defenses have only sacked Evans three times — Wake Forest had zero sacks Saturday. “That line there has really done an outstanding job to this point. The last three weeks we’ve played two back-to-back ranked teams and a team that probably should’ve been ranked. I mean [Wake Forest] could’ve easily come in here 6-0. They’re all just gelling as a group and they’ve been doing it all year. They’ve got confidence,” Amato said.
“The chemistry of that group has been as good a group and as physical a group that we’ve had since 2002.”
Baker said the line’s success comes from the fact that “they love to run block for us.”
As for how N.C. State (3-3, 2-1 ACC) matches up with Maryland (4-2, 1-1 ACC), Amato said the two teams are very similar.
“You look at these two teams. They’re as evenly matched as they can be from top to bottom,” Amato said. “We’re all so close and the [recent] games [between the two] have been that way. And you know what — it’ll be the same thing Saturday.”
The game is set for noon Saturday at College Park, Md.