After three years of Ryan Finley, NC State has an NFL-sized hole to fill at quarterback, and head coach Dave Doeren found his man in Matt McKay.
The redshirt sophomore beat out Florida State transfer Bailey Hockman and talented redshirt freshman Devin Leary in a battle that lasted until the end of fall camp. Leary impressed with his arm talent, and things started to click during fall camp for Hockman, but McKay was just too comfortable, too consistent, too far along to be caught.
“We named Matt McKay our starter for the ECU game,” Doeren said. “Matt’s accuracy, his leadership and ability to protect the team with his decision-making, and his consistent play is what prevailed.”
McKay said he’s wanted to be a starting college quarterback since high school and started to feel the pieces come together last year. Sitting behind a solid quarterback in Finley, McKay learned as much as he could.
“My redshirt year, I had to learn a lot and understand the offense and what the defense is doing,” McKay said. “But my redshirt freshman spring, I feel like I really stepped my game up and I could play at this level.”
McKay wasn’t surprised by the decision, and neither was new quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper.
“Matt’s had the advantage of being in the system [for] a long time,” Roper said. “Being comfortable at the line of scrimmage, getting everybody rallied in the right direction, and he made a lot of plays.”
As the longest-tenured quarterback on the roster, McKay has built the most relationships with his teammates. Junior wide receiver Emeka Emezie is someone McKay is close with, and the wideout gave him a full-throated endorsement.
“I’ve seen how hard he works,” Emezie said. “We were in the Murphy Center together, days and nights. Seeing that pay off for him is awesome. We came in together [as freshmen] too. We got really, really close since then. For me, him, and Thayer [Thomas] to be where we’re at now — we’re all roommates — is really, really cool.”
What impressed the coaching staff the most about McKay was his decision-making ability. He led the race wire-to-wire, thanks in part to his understanding of the game.
“I think he’s done a good job from the start,” Roper said. “He’s playing really fast. This game is a fast game, when the ball’s snapped to making decisions in the pass game. It’s a challenge for any quarterback, and I think that he understands that timing and is trying to play that fast.”
Being able to run through reads and get the ball to the right player is no small feat in Power Five football. While fans may expect McKay to just be a game manager, they shouldn’t downplay his role in this offense.
“I get tickled when I hear everybody say, ‘All a quarterback has to do is distribute the ball, he doesn’t have to win the game. Just get it to the playmakers,’” Roper said. “Well, getting the ball to the playmakers is making a play. It’s a challenge. They’re not all easy throws or easy handoffs. [McKay] has the ability to throw the football at a high level, and then obviously in the run game, he adds to our numbers.”
When he makes his first start for the Wolfpack, emotions will run high. Doeren told reporters he would let McKay take his lumps, learn and grow as a starter. NC State’s coaching staff will help keep him in the moment.
“You try to keep him focused on the process,” Roper said. “You try not to ride the emotions of a game and stay focused on each play at a time, each quarter at a time, each drive at a time. We only get about 12-14 possessions a game, and we need to maximize them. To do that, we need to focus on the situation at that time.”
For a hometown quarterback, to go from Wakefield High School to starting at NC State is a dream come true, but McKay won’t rest on his laurels. He’s fully aware of the talent behind him in NC State’s quarterback room.
“It’ll probably sink in more on Saturday,” McKay said. “Competition is every day. I still have to go in, compete and improve myself.”
