I typesetted with lead letters 
Yes, I figured this would be needed. I use Intel nics in the pfsense box that I would like to replace. I'll drop it in a box and get the specifics. Thanks.
That may prove true. Like most religious people, I do stray from my religion when it suites me.
OK, now we're talkin'! I was thinking openwrt, in my case, needed to be compiled with the Intel drivers I need in the kernel. I can just install the drivers I need. Perfect! No, I would rather not buy another device. That's no fun.
Intel I350 Gigabit 2 port. These drivers need to be installed in the rockpro64 openwrt image. Openwrt boots fine but doesn't see the nic.
For this, you'll need kmod-igb.
You could either just download and install it, or you could create a new image with the driver included.
Cannot install package kmod-igb
Because...?
How about error messages?
For this, no message. For another tried Unknown package 'kmod-ath10k' Seems to suggest its a know package but it won't install. I did the kmod update.
No message? Weird...
How did you try to install the kmod? Via LuCI or command line?
And what do you mean with 'i did the kmod update'?
Software->Update lists or opkg update via cli?
I'm not seeing how to do this and I also found something saying I need the e1000e drivers to support the I350 nic.
Use https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=24.10.2&target=rockchip%2Farmv8&id=pine64_rockpro64, click the tiny arrow, add the packages you need, and click request build.
The new image will contain the extra packages.
Whoever told you this is wrong.
Intel states that you have to use the igb driver for your i350 NIC.
Command line. opkg update then I did the opkg install kmod-igb
Well, I don't see where I can select the igb package I need. I tried just entering "igb" in the request box and had it build a new image. Its not in the new image apparently.
So, when there was no error message it should be there.
You could try lsmod | grep igb and modinfo igb to see if it's there and recognized.
Cannot find module - igb
I don't think the firmware selector for the custom build worked. I don't think I'm using it right.
You wrote it yourself earlier, kmod-igb.
Maybe...but you already had a working (except the NIC) image.
I don't know why the simple installation of a additional driver failed.
Whatever...
Is the NIC itself recognized by the board?
Could you please lspci -nn and post the output?
If lspci isn't recognized, you'll have to install pciutils.
Well, in the custom build field I just typed igb and generated a custom firmware that does not contain igb drivers apparently. I didn't pull the igb from any list of available drivers to include in the custom build so I'm not surprised. Where I tried kmod-igb was in the shell of my openwrt device which doesn't see the intel card. It didn't work and didn't give an error message either.