Backing The Pack, a N.C. State Wolfpack community

There were more hospital pranks from the linebacker. Irving’s right leg — the one that wasn’t badly fractured — kept buckling mischievously when Spencer helped him try to stand up.

"I was glad to see him doing those things," Spencer said. "He still had his sanity. He was still the same clown, still the same Nate Irving."

Raycom Sports’ Emmy Award-winning summer television series, "Havoline Football Saturdays in the South," continues the seventh season with episode five this weekend. The series, with six one-hour episodes, is hosted by Tim Brando and syndicated in 65 markets throughout the greater southeast and Atlantic coast.

Last June, NC State’s Nate Irving had his life turned upside down. The linebacker was traveling back to Raleigh from home one night when he lost control of his car and flipped off the road. His car totaled, Nate woke up in the hospital the next day. Returning to the field this year, the Wolfpacker talks about being away from the game, rehabbing his broken bones and reliving that fateful night.

"I try to imagine what it will be like running out of the tunnel and making that first tackle in that first game," Irving said. "I try to imagine what it will be like over and over, but I can't grasp the emotions I'll be going through, what I'll be feeling and thinking."