Q&A with Pack LB Nate Irving

N.C. State linebacker Nate Irving returned from an ankle injury on Saturday to make 10 tackles in a 27-17 win at Duke. During N.C. State’s weekly news conference Monday, Irving talked about the Duke game, about Saturday’s meeting with Wake Forest and was asked whether he will consider leaving early for the NFL draft after the season:

Q: How rusty do you think you were?
A: I felt I was a little bit rusty. Dropped an interception. Missed a couple tackles. Missed a couple reads. I was a little bit rusty.

Q: How often were you in for treatment when you were hurt?
A: I was in for treatment at least two or three times a day. I was just icing and exercising, watching film sometimes between treatments?

Q: What do you credit your great instincts as a linebacker to?
A: It’s just a God-given ability. Just from studying the opponent so good. Just from certain situations and knowing what the opponent is going to do. Like my coach says, you have to kind of have an idea of what your opponent is going to do before they do it.

Q: Was that the case with the interception at Clemson, did you see that somewhere on film where you had to leave the under route alone and stick with the over?
A: That was something the coaches stressed during that week about the routes they ran. It was something I remembered, and I was in position for it.

Q: The Wake Forest offense in the past has used a lot of misdirection, and you’ve played against it before. How hard is it to defend?
A: It’s very hard. As a defensive player, when you see offensive players going this way and that way, you don’t know how to react to it. And that often leads to you doing the wrong things, making mistakes and opening up holes for the offense to make a big play. . . .There’s a lot of misdirection, but at the same time they can run downhill at you and just pound you.

Q: There was talk before you got hurt that you may consider leaving for the NFL after this season. Do you have any thoughts about that?
A: I don’t think about that. I’m playing for N.C. State now, and whatever happens down the road just happens.