NC State football countdown to 2023 kickoff: 49

The NC State football season opener for 2023 is at Connecticut on Aug. 31 — or 49 days away. TheWolfpacker.com’s countdown for the season looks at the significance of the number 49 in Pack history.

NC State Football And The No. 49

• In 2014, a freshman linebacker started wearing No. 49. His name: Bradley Chubb.

Chubb played mainly special teams that year while burning his redshirt. A year later, Chubb made the switch to defensive end and began the process of breaking out. He started every game that season and had 69 tackles, including 12 for loss and 5.5 sacks. All of those ranked second on the team. Chubb also led the squad with three forced fumbles.

That would be the last time that Chubb wore the No. 49.

The following season, Chubb became the first NC State defensive lineman to have the honor of wearing No. 9 since Mario Williams was recognized. Sporting a patch on the No. 9 commemorating Williams’ accolades, Chubb wore the jersey and dominated for two seasons. Now that patch honors both Chubb and Williams.

Interestingly, since Chubb there has not been a scholarship recruited player to wear No. 49 for NC State football.

ª Another all-time great at NC State is Ted Brown, who finished his career from 1975-78 with a NC State football record 49 rushing scores.

• In 1949, one of the earliest stars of NC State football won the first of his back-to-back All-American honors. Lineman Elmer Costa was honorable mention All-American by UPI that season. A year later, the Chicago Tribune made Costa a first-team honoree.

Costa was also two-time All-Southern Conference honoree, and in 1950 he helped lead NC State to an upset win over No. 8 Maryland in what was the Wolfpack’s first-ever televised game.

In 1952, Costa became the first-ever NC State football player to be selected within the top five rounds of a NFL Draft, going to the Cleveland Browns in the fourth.

Costa and the 1949 Wolfpack were not a big winner on the field, going just 3-7 that season. However, NC State did score a home win over No. 18 Wake Forest among its three victories. One of its losses was to Villanova despite setting a school record with 627 rushing yards. That squad also did set a school record for interceptions in a season with 23.

• That 1949 team also featured Robert Bowlby, who became the first two-time winner from NC State of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy. Bowlby also won the honor in 1948, which was then given to the Southern Conference’s top blocker. The ACC continued the award after its inception.

The only other NC State football lineman to win the Jacobs Blocking Trophy twice was Jim Ritcher in 1978-79.

• The worst rushing effort for NC State football in a season game involved the number 49, and in an even more negative way than you might suspect. NC State had negative-49 yards rushing against Duke in 1943 and also set a program-low negative-six total yards in the contest.

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