Pressley Ready To Return For Pack

Good news for Pack fans: senior DeMario Pressley is back. Though the pre-season All-ACC defensive tackle collected only one tackle in Saturday’s 42-20 loss to Clemson, Pressley says he’s ready to go this Saturday against Louisville.

“I’m feeling pretty good, man,” Pressley said. “My knee came back great. I knocked a few kinks out on Saturday and this weekend I’m ready to roll.”

The football gods haven’t been so merciful to Pressley in his career at State, as his constant injuries have at times left him wondering if he would ever get a break of good luck.

“I wonder that every day,” Pressley said. “Because I came off the wrist [injury], then I came back from that. And then came my broken toe, [and] I came off of that. Then to my elbow, where there was three torn ligaments, then it went to my knee. Bad luck is all over me. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Pressley said he physically feels the best he has since the second quarter of the North Carolina game last season, where he injured his wrist and consequently missed the season finale against ECU.

With Pressley limited this past Saturday, State was embarrassed by running backs James Davis and C.J. Spiller.

“Last Saturday was very frustrating because those backs just kept running on us,” Pressley said. “That made it even more frustrating, because we were trying and we couldn’t stop them. Davis and Spiller are freaks in the backfield.”

And the Pack will need Pressley in top form this weekend, as it faces a Louisville offense that averages 50 points and 620 yards of total offense per game. Specifically, State will need Pressley to put pressure on Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, who averages 424 passing yards per game this season.

“They have a great offense,” Pressley said. “And our defense is going to have to come to play at 3:30 on Saturday. We’re going to have to come to play.”

In his absence, State’s defense has struggled to say the least. According to Pressley, he’ done his best to keep his defensive teammates encouraged despite mishaps and failures on the field.

“If I’m not in there I still try to encourage the guys,” Pressley said. “I mean, when I was hurt I went in the locker room and I tried to help the D-Line get more confident, because I know they need me and I need them.”

Now, Pressley is “so excited” for several reasons. For one, he realizes his injury could have been much worse, as he had already seen teammates Anthony Hill and Toney Baker go down with season ending knee injuries that required surgery.

Also, Pressley said he is excited to get back on the field in order to live up to his preseason All-ACC predictions, and come up big for his teammates who covered for him when he was down.

“I’m so excited,” Pressley said. “With me out, I know they had to put a few younger guys in there like Markus Kuhn and Jemaine Clemmons. And they really stepped it up and I’m really proud of them. I tried to work with those guys every day.”