Dave from Carter-Finley

So I’m sitting here watching the Pack pick up a big ACC tourney win and packing for my Spring Break trip to Cancun.  What, I’m no longer a college student and I have to work next week?  Damn!  Wishful thinking I guess.  I’m sure several of the football players are doing that exact thing right now, though.  After practice today TOB told the players to “be careful on Spring Break and don’t pull a Nate.”  That may be the best pep talk TOB’s given in his time here at NC State.

So week one of Spring Practice is in the books.  With the team only in helmets so far not much has happened, but if you’re like me I know you’re dying for some news so here are a few tidbits from today:

• It rained the whole time so sloppy field conditions led to a couple WRs falling down with one resulting in a CJ Wilson pick.

• TOB is more involved in practice than normal, but that’s mainly because Coach Bible is still limited in what he can do.

• The team is working a lot on kickoff and punt coverage.  Yippee!  Taylor Gentry is the one guy that has really stood out.  [He sounds like a bigger, badder version of former Wolfpacker John Kane (one of my favorites).  You know, the 5’9” 240 lb. special teams wrecking ball that wore this shirt underneath his jersey.  You gotta love that!]

• The only specialist on the roster are long snappers Corey Tedder, Michael Maurer, and Josh Czajkowski.  So that means Chris Ward is still MIA.

• Everett Proctor is working full time at the Safety position.

DFCF (wearing NC State issued Cutters), Coach Lowe, and Nick

Good luck to Coach Lowe and the boys as the ACC tourney begins.  I’ll probably spend more time tonight reading and writing about football (practice #2 today) than watching the basketball game, but I’ll still be rooting on the Pack.  Here’s to some good basketball and a deep tourney run.

So Spring Practice has begun.  I wasn’t able to make the trek up to Raleigh yesterday to attend, but the above picture from the N&O shows our boys in action.  Looking through the N&O picture gallery the one thing that stood out in my mind was … when did Adidas become an acronym for “All Day I Dream About Shitty looking jerseys?”  Wow!  I’ve heard rumors that TOB and staff are working with Adidas on a new uniform design for the upcoming season.  If that is indeed true I just hope they look nothing like what is being displayed on the practice field.  Seriously, can we just bag this whole Adidas thing and go back to Nike?  Please?

Moving on, the Spring Organizational Chart (a.k.a. Depth Chart) has been released.  I’m not one of those guys that looks at all the heights and weights to see how the guys have “bulked up” during the offseason.  I’m not a total loser.  Who cares how much bigger they are?  The only thing I care about is how much better of a football player they are.  Anyway, the one thing that stood out was the move of Nate Irving from WLB to MLB.  I love the move because it puts Nate in the middle of the defense where his instincts and leadership will make a huge difference.  Plus it relieves that logjam we had at WLB with Dwayne Maddox and Terrell Manning.

Carter-Finley Stadium Tours

GoPack.com has launched virtual tours of Carter-Finley, Vaughn Towers, and the Murphy Center.  The virtual tours were created by Sarasota, Fla.-based MotionVR Inc. and I have to say I am very impressed.  I’ve been critical of NC State Sports Marketing before so I have to give them some credit for this one.  Kudos.

At work, my office is filled with Carter-Finley panoramic pictures, NC State football mini helmets, NC State cross stitched pictures made by Mrs. DFCF, and other NC State memorabilia so on those slow days I can daydream my way to a Fall Saturday at Carter-Finley.  Now I have these virtual tours and my pathetic life suddenly feels complete.

Check out the GoPack article which mentions that these are the first ever virtual tours that MotionVR has created for a college athletics program, which puts us ahead of the game for once.  This will be a nice recruiting tool, a new bookmark for all of Wolfpack Nation, and a daily visit for DFCF. 

Surgeon General Warning: Visiting the Carter-Finley virtual tours causes a decline in productivity and may complicate your employment status.

I have to say I’m a little giddy tonight with it being the eve of Spring Practice.  Not because I’m particularly excited about this team, but more so for the fact that we’ll be getting football news for the next month and a half.  TOB begins his 4th season at the helm of the Wolfpack Football program with a lot of questions and concerns following the 2009 season that began with such hope and expectations.  Here are a few questions that I’ll be monitoring closely throughout Spring Practice.

1. Is Mike Glennon ready to take the reigns at QB if needed? Whether it’s because Russell Wilson goes into the MLB draft, gets injured, or for some other unknown reason, Glennon has to be ready to play at a high level this fall.  We know he has the physical skills and the pedigree of being a QB in the ACC.  He’s been patiently waiting in the wings and learning everything he can for two years.  Now it’s time for Glennon to put it all together and live up to the hype that surrounded him coming out of high school.
2. Can our defense improve its fundamentals? Last season our defense played worse fundamental defense than some Pop Warner football teams I’ve seen in the past.  With some of the piss poor tackling, horrendous angles, and lack of play recognition by our defense it looked like some of the guys had never played football in their life.  Yeah there were some holes in our scheme (i.e. having Audie Cole cover Jacoby Ford 30 yards downfield), but most of our problems on defense were fundamental that should be able to be corrected this Spring.  Our Spring theme is “Back to Basics” and nowhere is that needed more than on defense.
3. Will Nate Irving return to his 2008 form? While the defense lacked fundamentals last year, it also missed Irving … the unquestioned emotional leader and biggest playmaker.  It’s kinda crazy to expect Nasty Nate to be that same guy, but that’s exactly what Wolfpack Nation is counting on, me included.  With the injuries he sustained from the car crash it’s not going to be easy, but if anybody can do it that person is Nate Irving.
4. How will the young O-line come together? TOB and O-line coach Don Horton, have the reputation of having great O-line play and churning out NFL O-linemen.  There has been a few glimpses of that so far, but no consistency.  With the group of young guys (Zach Allen, Denzelle Good, Sam Jones, Andrew Wallace, Duran Christophe, and Camden Wentz to name a few) they have assembled, there’s reason to believe they can gel and become one of the strengths of the team.
5. Will anybody else step up? Russell Wilson and Nate Irving classify as gamechangers, but that’s about it.  We have lots of talent, but we really need more guys that put fear in the hearts and minds of opposing coaches.  Guys like James Washington, Morgan Alexander, Terrell Manning, and Rashard Smith could fit into that mold.  Hopefully sooner rather than later.

I’m sure some of you are probably wondering about injuries.  Yeah I’m not going to deny that injuries have been bad so far in TOB’s tenure, but it is now Year Four and TOB and Co. should have the program positioned where it has the depth to withstand these injuries.  Injuries happen to every other college football team in the country and most teams battle through it.  Sometimes it seems like we love to use it as an excuse any chance we get.  I for one am tired of hearing about it.  Let’s just strap it up with who we have, play our butts off, and win some damn football games.

I will be checking in a little more frequently during Spring Football practice so stay tuned and follow me on Twitter for practice updates and maybe even some breaking news.

Big Tommy strikes the Heisman pose with Carter

My Carter-Finley section 18 family got a little bigger last week.  On February 24th  at 3:28pm Carter Lane Overcash made her grand entrance into the world.  Carter weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and measured 19 1/2″ long.  Rumor has it that her first sound was a wolf howl, but that has yet to be confirmed or denied.  Congrats Nick and Tamara!

Me and Mrs. DFCF (there I go with that bad grammar again) made a trip up to Raleigh over the weekend to see Miss Carter.  There are no pictures of me holding the little princess because I stuck true to my “no holding babies” rule.  I realize this means I could never run for U.S. President, but I have come to terms with that fact.  Anyway, if babies cry when the lovely baby-friendly Mrs. DFCF picks them up for the first time, which most of them do including Carter, then I don’t stand a chance.  The ladies love DFCF, but the babies … not so much.

I know Carter is already a week old, but I waited until today because it is probably the biggest day of her short life as Daddy’s Wolfpack take on Mommy’s Hokies in basketball.  Thankfully I don’t have to personally deal with that house divided stuff so I don’t really know how it goes, but I’m sure there’s already a little tension building in the Overcash household.  The big question … who will Carter be pulling for?

DFCF does not condone gambling (Ha! who am I kidding) so I propose this perfect solution to resolve this issue now and for good.  If the Wolfpack win, Carter is a Wolfpacker and if the Hokies win, she’s a Hokie.  Nick, I know it may sound harsh, but hear me out.  If the Wolfpack win she will truly be Daddy’s little Wolfpack girl and if the Wolfpack lose you will save her from a lifetime of heartbreak and disappointment.  It sounds like a win-win to me.  Oh and I’m taking my winnings from the “guess the middle name” pool and putting it on the Wolfpack tonight.  Go Pack!

I’m one of those people that just gets enamored with the Olympics.  It doesn’t matter if it is the Summer or Winter games, I just can’t get enough.  Stuff that I would normally find painfully boring to watch … like Nordic combined … I am glued to the TV and rooting for my fellow countrymen.  Speaking of Nordic combined, big congrats to Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane for bringing the USA our first ever Olympic medals in this sport.  Stuff like that is what the Olympics are all about.

Back in the fall me and my little brother (I know proper grammar is “my little brother and I”, but that has always sounded stupid to me so I don’t talk that way … turn me into the Internet Grammar Police) were planning a trip to Vancouver.  We were looking at flights, hotels, and rental cars.  My brother even got his passport and we talked to our grandma about using part of her timeshare.  Some stuff came up and our plans just never materialized.

As I was watching the Olympics come to a close yesterday I was a little sad that we didn’t make it up there for a couple of reasons.  First, it would have been a damn good time.  Don’t worry Mrs. DFCF, I promise I would have stayed away from the Olympic Village.  It just seemed like one huge rockin’ party that I hate I missed out on.  Second, it would have allowed me to cross something off my personal bucket list.  That got me thinking … what would DFCF’s bucket list look like?

I know the suspense and anticipation is killing you, so without further ado here is DFCF’s bucket list (in no particular order):

1. Be Mr. Wuf for a half.
2. Watch a game at Carter-Finley from a suite in Vaughn Towers.
3. Tailgate in the Carter-Finley RV lot with my tailgate crew for a whole weekend.
4. Take a “behind the scenes” tour of everything that goes into Gameday at Carter-Finley … especially the jumbotron.  (I’m a technology guy.)
5. Perform the coin toss for a game at Carter-Finley.
6. Get to follow along on a recruit’s official visit
7. Visit the Press Box at Carter-Finley during a game.
8. Help the grounds crew paint the field at Carter-Finley before a game.
9. Attend a BCS bowl game that the Wolfpack is playing in.
10. ******** ** ***** ***** ** *** 50 yard line ** ******-******.  (Edited to keep this blog rated PG.)

That’s the list for now.  I reserve the right to add more stuff to it later, but I’m pretty sure this list will be tough enough to complete as is.  I’ll come back and revisit this whenever I can cross something off.  For now I need to start working on how I can make some of this stuff happen.  If you, or anybody you know, can assist me in completing one (or more) of these things please drop me a line (dfcf99 at gmail dot come).  Thanks!