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N.C. State starters Owen Spencer at wide receiver and Rashard Smith at cornerback are unlikely to play Saturday against Pittsburgh because of injury.
The Wolfpack’s injury report won’t be released until Thursday, but coach Tom O’Brien indicated during his news conference that Smith and Spencer won’t play.
O’Brien said that since reporters saw Smith on crutches on the sideline last week after he injured an ankle against Gardner-Webb, they can assume he isn’t playing. O’Brien said wide receiver Owen Spencer went to the hospital with a concussion suffered against Gardner-Webb and won’t be cleared to return by game time.
Junior DeAndre Morgan will replace Smith, and sophomore T.J. Graham is listed as the starter in Spencer’s spot on the depth chart.
Offensive lineman Julian Williams has returned after missing last week’s game with Gardner-Webb with the H1N1 flu. He will start at left guard, and freshman Andrew Wallace will start at left tackle, O’Brien said.
Jake Vermiglio, the regular starting left tackle, has missed the last two games with a leg injury, but O'Brien did not address his status.
Ken Tysiac has covered the ACC for The Charlotte Observer since 2003, and spent the previous eight years covering Clemson for the Anderson Independent-Mail and then The State in South Carolina. He grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.