N.C. State safety to miss Miami game

N.C. State starting boundary safety Clem Johnson will miss Saturday's regular-season finale against Miami because of an ankle injury, coach Tom O'Brien said Monday.

O'Brien said Johnson had been playing his best football of the season against North Carolina when he was injured. Johnson had missed the first four games with a broken jaw and finally was playing the way O'Brien hoped.

"We were getting play out of that spot at safety that we wanted to get in week one but didn't get until week eleven," O'Brien said. "That will be a huge loss for us."

Redshirt freshmen Justin Byers and former walk-on Bobby Floyd both will play in Johnson's place.

-- Ken Tysiac