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Chip on the Shoulder
Wolfpack picked to finish last in ACC's Atlantic Division, but players say preseason polls are meaningless
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Daniel Evans, who passed for 2,030 yards last season, is in a fight for his job with redshirt freshman Russell Wilson.
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Published: August 22, 2008
N.C. State was picked to finish last in the ACC's Atlantic Division by the media at the ACC Football Kickoff in July.
And why not?
The Wolfpack tied for last place last season, finishing 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the league, and Coach Tom O'Brien must replace 14 starters from that team. Even after spring football and three weeks of preseason practice, there were still major question marks and open competition at several positions.
But State players are upbeat about the season. The polls, they say, are meaningless. This is a better team than the one that rode a roller coaster last season in O'Brien's first at State.
"Judging from where we were at this point last year to this year, we're far ahead of where we were," quarterback Daniel Evans said. "We've had one year in the system, offensively and defensively, and that automatically makes us better than last year.
"The way the coaching staff worked us this off-season, the strength and conditioning, the strides we made in spring ball -- I definitely think we're ahead of last year."
State lost five of its first six games last season, then reeled off a four-game winning streak that included upsets over Virginia and Miami, and a win over rival North Carolina. But it fell apart once it got into the bowl picture and wound up getting blown out in its last two games.
"We have a chip on our shoulder," tight end Anthony Hill said.
"This isn't the same team as last year. We are a great unit. We have come together, and the biggest part of it all is, we are working our butts off this year. Day in and day out, all summer, we have been working very, very hard. So I know for a fact that this is not the same team as the preseason polls are saying."
Evans was one who found himself in the middle of a heated battle during the preseason. He started eight games last season and has started 17 in his career, passing for 2,030 yards last season and 3,873 so far in his career. But O'Brien put the job up for grabs among five quarterbacks. O'Brien had pared the competition to three -- Evans, redshirt freshman Russell Wilson, and freshman Mike Glennon -- going into the final scrimmage, but the quarterback controversy remained.
Whoever wins the job could have a stable of outstanding backs to work with. Jamelle Eugene was State's leading rusher last season, with 667 yards and five touchdowns in 172 carries. But Andre Brown and Toney Baker, both of whom have battled injuries throughout their careers, are proven players when they are healthy. Baker injured his knee in the opener last season and missed the final 10 games.
O'Brien has given Eugene the starting spot.
"He did a tremendous job the last six games of the year," O'Brien said. "He did a great job at spring practice. He's going to have to come out of the game. He's going to have to get a rest, and other people are going to play. But he's proven that he can be a ball carrier, and he's proven that he can pass-protect, and he's proven that he can catch the football."
There are questions at wide receiver, especially after Donald Bowens was lost for the season with a small fracture in his back. The candidates who must step up are Darrell Davis, who had 12 catches last season, and Jarvis Williams, who had eight.
Hill was an All-ACC caliber tight end two years ago before missing last season with a knee injury.
Three starters are back on the offensive line -- Meares Green, Curtis Crouch and Julian Williams -- but O'Brien was still mixing and matching the unit late into the preseason. O'Brien moved two defensive players, Teddy Larsen and John Bedics, to the offensive line, and they could wind up starting. O'Brien is also trying to develop some depth on the offensive line.
"The offensive line is still a work in progress," O'Brien said. "We are trying to get as many guys ready to play as we can so that we can get into some type of rotation. Last year, a couple of those guys played every play for 12 games and at the end of the year, they wore down."
The defense returns just four starters -- defensive end Willie Young, defensive tackle Alan-Michael Cash, and cornerbacks Jeremy Gray and DeAndre Morgan. Linebackers Nate Irving and Ray Michel saw extensive action last season, and J.C. Neal was a part-time starter at safety.
But there will be a lot of names unfamiliar to State fans on defense early in the season.
"We are better on defense," O'Brien said. "We are better because we are better organized as a coaching staff. We've had the same system in place for two years, and ever since we made the change after the sixth game last year we've been in a situation that the kids are now playing faster, because they know what they're supposed to do."
State's schedule, with games at South Carolina and at Clemson in the first three weeks, is difficult early and could set the tone. But O'Brien said that has been a positive, not a negative.
"From the first day we came back in January, there's been a little something about the conditioning program," O'Brien said. "You know you're going to be on national TV in the first game of the year. I think the intensity, I think the concentration picked up. It certainly has through the summer because they know they're going to have to be really good early."
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