Mike Stevens and Will Richardson back on NC State’s depth chart|NC State Hot Topics|Team BattleGround|College BattleGround

Will Richardson is returning to his starting spot at right tackle this weekend after serving a two-game suspension, and that’s very good news for an NC State offense in need of a boost to its ground game. Injured cornerback Mike Stevens is also back on the two-deep this week, though it is unclear exactly how much time on the field he’ll see.

As Dave Doeren explained during his Monday press conference, Stevens hasn’t gone through a full week of practice yet this season and practiced only one day last week. They’re being cautious, but Stevens probably isn’t completely healthy yet, either.

Those are both positive developments, but could we have a game without bad news? Heavens no. Reserve corner James Valdez hurt his knee in the fourth quarter of the Marshall game and will sit out the Furman contest, as will safety Dexter Wright. The football gods are being extremely unhelpful right now.