North Carolina State University Athletics
Leak Back in the Mix at Wide Receiver
10/18/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
NC State's Eric Leak is returning from a toe injury just in time to re-learn his old position. The junior wide receiver--turned running back--is going back to wide receiver following an unmerciful rash of injuries that have crippled the Pack's corps of wide outs.
With Chris Coleman (elbow) and Ryan Hamrick (broken fibula) both out for perhaps the rest of the regular season, NC State coach Mike O'Cain needed to come up with a quick fix for this weekend's game at Duke.
"We will move Eric Leak back from tailback to wide receiver to give us our fourth wide receiver," O'Cain revealed during his weekly press conference on Monday. "We're not going to move another freshman up at this point and time. We've faced some adversity, but we've just got to respond to it. It's frustrating, but we have to overcome it."
Redshirt freshman Koren Robinson and true freshman Bryan Peterson now assume the top two wide receiver spots, with true freshman Julius Patterson fitting in behind those two.
The inexperience, coupled with a lack of depth at the receiver position, will certainly alleviate some of NC State's complexity on the offensive side of the ball.
"We will be very limited," O'Cain said. "Obviously, you can't give Julius Patterson the entire package. Eric Leak, even though he's played there, hasn't practiced there since December. You can't give him the entire package in just one week. It will certainly affect the way we rotate our receivers. There are certain things we'll ask some of them to do and certain things we won't ask others to do. We will utilize tight ends probably more than we have in terms of getting plays into the game."
Tight ends Andy Vanderveer and Tramayne Simmons will likely get more snaps this week, as could freshman tight end Joe Gray. Simmons' first catch of the year was a 16-yard touchdown grab in Saturday's loss to Virginia. Vanderveer has eight catches, three of which have gone for touchdowns.
Also on Monday, O'Cain said that Ryan Knudtson would likely be the starting center this week, although Keegan Weir is ready to return. Weir has been out of action since breaking his fibula in the opener at Texas.
"Ryan is playing well," O'Cain said. "We've got to look to see how Keegan is going to be able to practice this week. Even though he practiced last week, it wasn't intense. Hopefully this week, he'll be able to go through everything. If I were to say what we're going to do as of today (Monday), I would say we're going to leave Ryan in there."
The medical report at the running back position is more promising. Ray Robinson, who underwent an arthroscopic procedure on a sprained knee more than week ago, should return to practice by Wednesday.
Georgia Tech game time announced: The Atlantic Coast Conference announced on Monday that NC State's game at Georgia Tech on October 30 will begin at 3:30 p.m. ABC will televise the contest.
