NC State WR C.J. Riley out for season with injury

NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren said recently that he was not required by the NCAA to provide public injury reports, and would only provide updates if a player was out for the season. Well, he delivered one such report today during his weekly press conference.

Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver CJ Riley III is out for rest of the 2019 season after tearing his ACL in the team’s season opening win against ECU.

All signs were pointing to Riley taking a leap this season, with the coaching staff lauding the work he had put in the offseason to improve his strength and speed. Having a sub-4.4 second 40 threat would have been a great asset for this offense. He was poised to be the fastest player on the team.

Because he has already used his redshirt season, getting the approval for a medical redshirt becomes much less likely, given the NCAA stays being the NCAA. Our hearts go out to Riley, who has had rotten injury luck during his time at NC State. Prior to the 2016 season, he tore his right ACL, and now he has torn the left ACL. He (again) has a long road of recovery, but here’s hoping he can come back even stronger for his senior season.

If any silver linings can be taken from this it’s that the WR position may be the deepest it has been in years. The absence of Riley has moved redshirt freshmen Devin Carter and Jasiah Provillon up one spot each in this week’s depth chart, as they were Riley’s backups last week. This could also mean more action for Tabari Hines or Keyon Lesane moving out wide as opposed to focusing on the slot. Hines is the only one of these that has significant game experience among them.