Dave from Carter-Finley

The Pack played a very sloppy game Saturday against Liberty.  The O-line struggled, we had several mishaps on special teams, there were too many turnovers, and Glennon was anything but sharp.  Had it been against a real opponent it would have surely been a loss.  Having said all that, a win is a win so we’ll definitely take it and move on.

The pundits always say a football team improves the most between games one and two so let’s hope that is the case with this team and we look a lot better next Saturday.  A loss against Wake Forest would be a crucial blow to our hopes of making a bowl game for the second consecutive year.

I’ll go into that a little more in detail later, but for now it’s time to bring back Pack the Caption, my poorly named write the caption contest.  I’m hoping for a little more reader involvement this year.  Have fun with it and be creative.  All photos are by Ethan Hyman (News & Observer):

My dreads are way cooler than yours, punk!

I'm not even gonna look at that WRAL site after this game.

Sonic Boom ... we have liftoff!

As the kids like to say these days … Saturday it gets real.  Fall camp is over and it’s time for the 2011 season to begin.  Last year was a banner year for the Pack.  It’s 9-4 record tied for the 2nd most wins in program history.  The Pack hopes to match or, better yet, exceed that this year.  For the Pack to do so here are my 3 keys to the season*:

#1 Offensive Line has to be good

The talk all offseason has been about Mike Glennon, and rightfully so, but for him to have a chance to succeed the offensive line has to be much better than last year.  For the offense to work with Glennon at the helm we have to establish a consistent running game.  Last year we averaged only 123.3 yards rushing per game (95th in the country).  If we can’t improve on that it will put more undo pressure on Glennon to do it all through the air.

Also, last year the offensive line allowed 40 total sacks (114th in the country).  We did have the 6th most passing attempts so that stat doesn’t tell the whole story, but Oklahoma and ECU were 1 and 2 in total passing attempts and allowed only 21 and 15 sacks respectively.  Glennon doesn’t have the scrambling ability of Russell Wilson so the offensive line must give him ample time in the pocket so that he can make plays down the field.

TOB is known for being an offensive line “guru” but we’ve yet to see evidence of that so far in Raleigh.  The offensive line has improved and we do have quality depth, but it’s time to start seeing results on the field.

#2 Special Teams can’t cost us any games

Former Pack head coach Chuck Amato put it best in this episode of the R&R Podcast, ”the kicking game is where routs occur and where upsets occur.”  Hidden yardage on special teams often times determines who wins and loses a game.  You can dominate a game offensively and defensively and still lose because of poor special teams … just ask the 2010 San Diego Chargers.

So special teams are very important and we have true freshmen starting at kicker, punter, and long snapper.  How did this happen?  It would be nerve-racking enough to have a true freshman at one of these positions, but at all 3 is just crazy.  All 3 guys were among the best at their position in high school last year, but until they prove that they can handle the duties in college this will remain a huge question mark.

Last year the special teams, minus a few sub 10 yard punts, were a huge positive surprise.  A repeat performance in this phase of the game is a must if the Pack wants to have a special year.

#3 Defensive Line has to help out the back 7

In 2009, State fans sat through a whole season of terrible play from a young, inexperienced back 7.  It was absolutely painful to watch, but now the back 7 is coming off a very good 2010 season where they made huge improvements.  This year’s back 7 could be among the best in NC State history, that is if the defensive line can do it’s job of clogging up the running lanes and getting enough pressure on the opposing QBs so they’re not sitting in the pocket all day.

Of course, our best defensive lineman J.R. Sweezy will miss the first month of the season with a broken foot.  This is a huge blow, but not as big as if it were later in the season.  Hopefully we can take advantage of our back loaded schedule and build some quality depth while Sweezy is on the mend.  Coach Willis has done a tremendous job of getting these guys to play hard, fast, and smart so if a couple young guys emerge this unit could surprise some people.

It’s not that I don’t have faith in the defensive line, it’s just the achilles heel of our defense.  If they are just league average our back 7 will be able to make plays and our defense will have a chance to match last year’s success.

*3 keys … other than Mike Glennon.  As much as TOB has hyped him I’m drinking the kool-aid that he’ll be good.  If TOB is wrong it’ll be a long season and all these points will be meaningless.

The college football season officially kicks off tonight.  It really feels like this should be a holiday.  I’m a baseball guy so I’ve had plenty of things to watch this summer, but it still doesn’t match college football.  Today almost feels like Christmas.  Maybe even better.

There’s two games tonight that Wolfpack fans should be interested in.  First the national ESPN matchup between UNLV and Wisconsin will be Russell Wilson’s debut for the Badgers.  He’s generated a lot of national buzz this offseason so I’ll be very interested in following him this season.  Don’t worry, this won’t become a blog about Russell Wilson.  WRAL Sports Fan has a different idea, though with this website:

I’m sure some State fans aren’t happy about that, but it was inevitable after the way it all went down this summer.  If you look at the fact that TOB has been singing the praises of Glennon all Summer and had Russell returned he was in line to break a lot of NC State and ACC records, this is what you get.  My recommendation to Pack fans everywhere is to root for both guys and not fall to this media trap.  The best case scenario will be for both guys to put up great numbers and render this comparison trivial by midseason.

The other game tonight that Wolfpack fans should be paying attention to, although it won’t be on TV anywhere to actually watch it, is the matchup between Wake Forest and Syracuse.  We play at Wake next week and their game tonight could give some indication if they are any better than last year or still one of the worst teams in the ACC.  They are an underdog playing on the road in what should be a hostile Carrier Dome so an upset could give them a lot of momentum and confidence heading into next week.

Sit back, crack a few beers, and celebrate tonight … college football season is here!!!

News about Russell Wilson playing football this Fall has been like a _________, it keeps coming and coming.  (Fill in the blank … I couldn’t think of anything nondirty.)  Some is old news by now like his visit to Auburn and the Colorado Rockies’ response to his desire to continue playing football.  Some is new news like his upcoming visit to Wisconsin.  Many people have chimed in about this over the past few weeks from ESPN’s Heather Dinich (with a quote from me in there) to the Winston-Salem Journal’s Lenox Rawlings to the N&O’s Luke DeCock to name a few.

The NC State blogosphere has had plenty to say as well:  Riddick & Reynolds , Backing the Pack , and Statefans Nation.  I haven’t conducted a scientific survey, but from everything I’ve seen and heard it appears that Wolfpack Nation seems to be split down the middle on the issue of whether our QB next year should be Russell or Mike Glennon.  The one thing I haven’t seen much of is people ripping Russell … that is until I read the Statefans Nation post linked above.  When I started this blog I gave myself two rules:  #1 Try to stay as positive about NC State football as possible & #2 Do not rip fellow State blogs.

Admittedly, I haven’t been as good about rule #1 as I’d hope to be (mainly due to some inside info I have on the football program), but I’ve held steadfast to rule #2 (I have much love and respect for them all).  Having said that, I have several issues with that Statefans Nation post that I have to touch on.  SFN, no hard feelings?  Can we just consider this a rebuttal and not a rip job?

“Russell wanting to play football this Fall is perfectly acceptable. However, why didn’t Russell just delay signing a pro baseball contract to remain enrolled in school, play baseball for NC State with part-time participation in Spring football so that Tom O’Brien and Mike Glennon, who graduated and could have left NC State play immediately this season, would know exactly where Russell stands on playing college football this Fall? What was the hurry to sign a pro baseball contract especially when his baseball career up until that point was a struggle while he had flourished on the grid iron?”

Seriously?  Why hurry to sign a pro baseball contract?  He had about $250k reasons why to hurry and sign a baseball contract.  How many 21 year old college students would turn that down?  Not many at all.

Also, Russell has stated several times over the past several years that his goal was to play in both the NFL and MLB.  Maybe people just disregarded all that as ‘athlete speak’ (you know … the cousin to ‘coach speak’) but it shows that Russell has been anything but indecisive.  He set his career goals out there for everybody to see, including TOB, and has been faithful to them.  His baseball ‘stock’ was at its peak back in June 2010 so signing the baseball contract was a no-brainer if he wanted to reach those goals.  The bigger question is why did the Rockies draft him so high since his baseball career had been such a struggle up to that point?

“I hope he plays football this Fall. I will pull for his success at Auburn or Wisconsin or wherever he ends up. However, Russell’s continued indecisiveness shows exactly why Tom O’Brien made the right choice in this situation.”

Again, as I mentioned above, Russell has been anything but indecisive.  If there’s anything you could say it’s that he’s been noncommittal.  Maybe, just maybe that was the plan all along, though.  At least what I’ve heard over the past several weeks seems to point that way.  Word is that Russell let TOB know in January that he wanted to come back for the 2011 football season and TOB asked him to keep it quiet until after Spring Practice was over.  Now I don’t know if this is true or not, but I heard it from two different people that have ties to the football program so I feel like there’s at least some truth to it.

It’s far to early for anybody to say whether TOB’s choice was the right one or not.  That will be determined for us over the 2011 and 2012 football seasons.  I’ve thought long and hard about this situation.  I’ve looked at the pros and cons of both sides and could make an argument for either.  I don’t like how TOB handled the situation, but I can’t fault him for his decision (at least not now anyway … we’ll see how the season goes).  Me personally, with what appears to be a weak and winnable ACC in 2011, I’m a gambling man so I’d go all-in with Russell for one season and try to bring home an ACC championship.  There’s plenty of time to figure out what to do in 2012 (Brosius, transfer, Freshman, etc.).  There, my opinion is on ‘the record’ now so feel free to rip me when it looks stupid 6 months from now.

In the end, I love Russell Wilson and I love NC State so I hope this situation works out for both parties.  I can’t believe I’m going to quote Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, but here goes … “Just win, baby!”  That’s definitely what I’ll be pulling for!

Russell Wilson leaves the field after playing his last game for the Pack. (photo by Ethan Hyman/N&O)

It’s official now, Russell Wilson’s NC State football career is over.  TOB had been giving us signs that this day was coming ever since his Signing Day press conference, but the final hammer came down Friday.  NC State granted Russell his release so that he can pursue opportunities in football at another university.  If nothing else the timing of this is absurd.  A day after NC State celebrated Russell’s selection as the Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar of the Year, he’s being shown the door.  Anybody that thinks this decision was made by anybody other than TOB is a little naive.  You can feel the resentment towards Wilson playing baseball dripping from these quotes:

“Russell and I have had very open conversations about his responsibilities respective to baseball and football.  While I am certainly respectful of Russell’s dedication to baseball these last several years, within those discussions I also communicated to him the importance of his time commitment to NC State Football.”

“My staff and I thank him for his contributions as a member of Wolfpack football and to this University and wish him only the best in the future.”

I don’t necessarily disagree with TOB.  In order for our football team to be the best that it can be we need everybody devoted to the program 100%.  Having said that, in an ACC where up to 9 schools will be with new starting QBs next season, it’s gonna be awfully tough to swallow seeing Russell playing football in the fall and it not being for the Wolfpack.  The terms of the release will not let Russell play for another ACC team or anybody else on the Pack’s schedule, but it’s still a lost opportunity.

Who knows how this works out in the long run for both parties, but in the short term it will probably mean 1 or 2 more losses for the Pack this season.  Mike Glennon now not only has the pressure of replacing Wilson, but knowing that TOB ran Wilson off to turn the reigns over to him.  No pressure at all.  TOB has been declaring Glennon is as good as any QB he’s ever coached (the Atlanta Falcons’ Matty Ice included) so for the sanity of Wolfpack fans everywhere let’s hope he’s right.

In true Russell Wilson fashion he was nothing but classy and said all the right things about this:

“Although I remain undecided on the option of playing college football this coming season, I believe it is in the best interest of the players and coaches involved to end any speculation of my return to the Wolfpack. It has become apparent that the time has come for the program to move on without me.”

“I am forever grateful to NC State for allowing me the privilege of participating in athletics for four years. I especially appreciate the cooperation among coaches who allowed me to pursue my dream of playing two sports. I also want to thank the great fans of NC State University. Your love and support was a gift that I appreciated every day and will treasure my entire life.”

“While my immediate plan includes playing professional baseball, I have not closed the door on football. With one more season of college eligibility remaining, I will continue to explore and consider all my options.”

I really enjoyed watching Russell play for the Red & White, even though he frustrated the hell out of me sometimes with his redzone INTs.  As I tweeted yesterday, someone close to the situation said that 3 schools Russell has mentioned are Texas, LSU, and Auburn.  Regardless of what Russell said in the press release, I think he has definitely decided he wants to play football in the fall.

Thanks Russell!  Best wishes as you pursue your baseball and football careers!

[Update 5/1:  Russell talked to the N&O yesterday.  He is "really torn up" about leaving because "NC State means the world" to him.  He also went on to say, "it's heartbreaking that I had to go."  Don't worry Russell, all State fans agree.  This situation just went from bad to way way way worse.  TOB built up a lot of goodwill with the fans after last year's 9-4 season, but this decision has put the bullseye squarely on his back again.  I hope he knows what he's doing or it could get real ugly for him.]

[Update 5/2:  I heard today, from a different source close to the situation, that for Russell to play football this fall he would have to break the conditions of his contract w/ the Colorado Rockies.  I don't want to speculate what that might mean for his baseball career, just want to put that info out there to shed some more light on what all likely went into this decision.]

Spring Practice is winding down and the two of three scrimmages are in the books.  TOB has always been super selective with releasing scrimmage stats and that trend has continued this Spring.  The few stats that have been released don’t really tell us much.  I’m sure that’s how TOB likes it, but with it just being Spring Practice it seems a little petty.  It would be nice for the football program to be a little more transparent during the Spring, but I digress.  Here are the combined released stats from both scrimmages:

Passing
Mike Glennon 24-36 (66.7%), 231 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs
Tyler Brosius 16-33 (48.5%), 114 yards, 0 TDs, 3 INTs

Rushing
Mustafa Greene 12 car, 71 yards (5.9 ypc), 1 TD
James Washington 18 car, 30 yards (1.7 ypc), 0 TD
Brandon Barnes 18 car, 31 yards (1.7 ypc), 0 TD
Tony Creecy 13 car, 40 yards (3.1 ypc), 1 TD

Receiving
Tobais Palmer 8 rec, 58 yards
T.J. Graham 4 rec, 78 yards
Taylor Gentry 4 rec, 21 yards
George Bryan 2 rec, 8 yards
Mustafa Greene 1 rec, 10 yards

Defense
Markus Kuhn 11 tackles, 3.5 TFL
Rickey Dowdy 9 tackles, 2 TFL
J.R. Sweezy 5 tackles, 2.5 TFL
Brandan Bishop 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 1 PBU
David Amerson 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PBU
A.J. Ferguson 4 tackles, 2 sacks
Earl Wolff 3 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR
Rashard Smith 1 INT

Let’s not read too much into Spring stats because guys are being rotated around and the coaches are working on a lot of new stuff.  That being said, the two guys that really stick out to me are Mustafa Greene and Markus Kuhn.  With Mike Glennon taking over the reigns of the offense we’re gonna need to run the ball better this season to come anywhere close to matching last season’s productivity.  Knowing that, several of the offensive linemen have come out and stated that their goal for the 2011 season is to block for a 1,000 yard rusher, so seeing Mustafa’s 5.9 yards per carry makes me think that could be a possibility.  Of course, today it was released that Mustafa has a foot injury that will require surgery and keep him out of practice until the Fall, so let’s just hope it doesn’t have any lingering effects into the season.

On defense, we should be fine in the back seven so the play of our defensive line will be key.  We lost a lot of depth and experience on the defensive line from last year’s team so we need several guys to step up.  One of those guys has to be Markus Kuhn.  He was an integral player for the Pack defense as a true Freshman back in 2007, but has been very very quiet in the three years since (he did redshirt in 2009).  Kuhn’s 11 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss show that he still has the talent to be a force on the defensive line.  Combined with Sweezy, he could give us a very formidable duo inside.

The final scrimmage of the Spring, the Kay Yow Spring Game, is set for this Saturday.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can get a crowd of 25,000+ to show up.  Of course we could always pull a UNC and just lie about how many people show up.  Pathetic!  Anyway, there will be more than just the Spring Game going on Saturday at Carter-Finley.  The Wolfpack Club is sponsoring a BBQ Bowl, there will be a free Embers concert, and I will be hosting the DFCF 30th Birthday Tailgate Bash.  Sounds like a lot of fun.  See you there!

The next several weeks will be full of news about March Madness and the NC State men’s basketball coaching search, but my main focus will be on the Dail Practice Fields.  Spring football practice is here!!  Of course I’ll follow March Madness because, like everybody else in the country, I filled out a few brackets.  I’ll also be following the men’s basketball search because, even though for me basketball is second to football, I want to have a successful program that we can all be proud of.  More so I’ll be following it because it will give us a lot of insight into how Debbie Yow works, what she looks for in a coach, and if she can hire a name coach or if she has to settle for an up-and-comer.  This is all important because there’s already been some rumors about TOB retiring, hopefully sooner rather than later, and how this basketball coaching search goes will give us a good indication of how that will go.  Debbie has a good track record at her former jobs hiring coaches that won national coach of the year awards, conference championships, and/or national championships in football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball.  That’s all great, but now we need her to come through like that for us.  Enough talk about that, though, so let’s get back to Spring Practice.

It’s a very important Spring Practice for TOB & Co. as they have to install a new offense to fit Mike Glennon’s strengths, develop some receivers that can make plays, finally get the offensive line to gel and play like a “TOB offensive line”, and find a leader/playmaker on defense.  There are plenty of other things this team needs to work on too, but that’s the main four that I will be watching.  I’ll be blogging more frequently during Spring Practice so check back daily.  It sure is good to be talking football again.  For now, I’ll leave you with some links.

• Pre-Spring Practice transcript from the live chat with TOB on a variety of topics. [GoPack]

• NC State’s first spring practice opened Thursday morning without Russell Wilson or Nate Irving, the leaders of last year’s nine-win team. [News & Observer]

• Senior Audie Cole moves to middle linebacker, while sophomore D.J. Green is experimenting at the field linebacker spot after playing safety all last season. [GoPack]

• First day of Spring Practice Q&A with TOB. [The Wolfpacker]

• Spring Practice Photo Diary … my favorite … ‘Footsteps in the dew’ [PackSpringFootball]

So I’ve been pulling a Jay Cutler for the past few weeks.  Ba-dum Ching!  Is it fun ripping on that guy or what?  Actually I’m pretty sure I hurt my knee way worse than he did in that playoff game against the Packers.  Of course hurting it while playing football is way cooler than hurting it falling through the ceiling while putting Christmas decorations back up in the attic so I have to give it to him there.  The injury happened over 3 weeks ago and I still have sharp shooting pains on the inside of the knee, can’t bend the knee more than 5 degrees, and can’t put much weight on it either.  No need to worry DFCF fans, after two trips to the orthopedic, one MRI, one cortisone shot, and way too many pain pills to count, my doctors say it’s just a severe sprain … they think.

The doctors also added that my ACL and MCL are both fine, but I have what looks like 79 year old knees in my 29 year old body.  Oh, and if the pain and stiffness doesn’t go away in a few weeks then under the scope I go.  Sounds like fun.  I guess that’s what 15+ years of catching will do to you.  All I can say is … mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be baseball catchers.  Well enough about me.  It’s time to tough it out and get back to blogging.  I don’t have set plans for the offseason, but I’ll try to keep it interesting with at least a blog or two a week.

Check back later tonight or tomorrow morning for my take on the 2011 recruiting class.  Maybe next week I’ll finally put together my superlatives/awards for the 2010 season.  It won’t be too long after that (March 17 to be exact) that Spring Practice starts up so I’m sure they’ll be plenty of news especially now that Mike Glennon is officially the starting QB.

The Opening Game is in the books and the Pack is 1-0 for the first time in 4 years.  It was just Western Carolina, but it always feels so much better to start off the year with a win.  For this edition of “Pack the Caption” here are the best from Saturday.  (All photos by Ethan Hyman, News & Observer.)

MG: I spy something... red. TB: Damn dude, that's gonna be impossible.

Thru the goal post, off the wolf statue, off your helmet, off my feet, nothing but Touchdown.

Thanks to these Kanye shades we're gonna pick up all the ladies this year. Score!

Today I took my semiannual trip to the dentist.  Woohoo!  With all the Diet Dr. Pepper I drink (I’m addicted to that stuff like Tiger Woods is to … women) it’s a miracle that I didn’t have any cavities, but everything checked out good so no worries.  How does this relate to NC State football?  Well everything I do somehow relates to NC State football.  For example, the dump I just took ran through me like Travis Leggett (21 car, 129 yds) ran through the second team Defense at the Kay Yow Spring Game.  Where else can you get Spring Game analysis like that?

Anyway back to the dentist visit, when my dental hygienist was done poking sharp pointy metal things around in my mouth for half an hour she tried to schedule my next visit for October 28 … the day of the Thursday Night ESPN game vs. Florida State.  It took me about five milliseconds to start telling her why that wouldn’t work.  Come to find out she’s a Carolina fan, most likely of the Walmart variety.  What a shame, I was just starting to like this dentist office.

So if I haven’t bored you to death or grossed you out, let’s move on to some more Spring Game analysis.  I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again … you can’t take too much away from a Spring Game.  It’s good for the coaching staff because they can evaluate progress (or lack thereof), see younger guys/walk-ons in game like situations, try out different things, and work on specific situations.  It’s also good for the fans because it gives us a chance to tailgate (I might not have been at Carter-Finley, but I was still tailgating on Bald Head Island) and get a taste of football to hold us off until the Fall.  I’m not going to go through all the stats (go here for that) because most don’t tell you much, but there are a few that do.  Here’s the things that really stood out to me:

• More than 20 regulars were held out with injuries so only 46 scholarship players participated.  Most of these injuries were nothing more than minor tweaks.  With so much time to heal before actual games begin I’m a little curious why they were all held out.  Smells a little fishy to me.
• The secondary is still very bad.  Mike Glennon is a great talent, but he’s our second team QB with the following career stats: 24 of 39 for 248 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.  Against our first team Defense his Spring Game performance was 21 of 38 for 423 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Most of the time it looked way to easy too.
• The Offensive Line is still not the strength that it should be.  They can pass block, but it still seems like they aren’t physical/nasty enough to dominate the line of scrimmage in order to run the ball effectively.  James Washington had 12 carries for a paltry 27 yards against a Defensive Line that is a huge question mark heading into next season.  These stats can be a little misleading because Dana Bible does get very pass happy and absolutely abandons the running game at times.  Even so the Offensive Line has got to get more push and open up more holes for the running backs.
• The defense worked on adding the 3-4 all throughout Spring Practice, but I didn’t see any in the Spring Game.  [Note:  I was watching on Pack Pass so I could have missed it.  Correct me if I'm wrong.]  It will be interesting to see how and when we implement this into game plans this season.
• Nate Irving was only suppose to play in the first half of the Spring Game for precautionary reasons.  Nate had other plans, though, and didn’t want to come out so he played the first series (maybe two) of the second half against the will of the coaches.  You have to love his passion for the game and it sure is great to have him back on the field.
• Jeff Ruiz can punt a pretty good ball … when there’s no rush in his face.  Knowing that can we scrap the stupid spread punt formation.  Here’s where the worn out cliché ‘trying to put a square peg in a round hole’ comes to my mind.

Our team still has a long way to go before Western Carolina comes to Carter-Finley on September 4th.  I’ve examined the schedule backwards, forwards, sideways, inside out, and upside down and I still can’t find more than five wins (best case scenario).  The one thing I can say for certain is … it’s going to be a long, agonizing four months waiting for the season to get here.