North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Ready For Red-White Game
4/13/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Tony Haynes
Are you ready for some football? If so, make it out to Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday for NC State's annual Red-White spring football game. Admission is free for the 1 p.m. contest.
The scrimmage will officially wrap-up new coach Chuck Amato's first spring practice period with the Wolfpack. He hopes the last three weeks have produced a tougher and more together team.
"We're just trying to get them to believe in themselves," Amato said. "We want them to believe that they can do things aggressively and not get intimidated by anybody. We want to do the intimidating."
If there was ever any doubt about Amato's commitment to getting things done his way, it quickly disappeared when the players were introduced to a testy and grueling off-season workout program. As a whole, the entire NC State team reported to spring practices leaner and faster.
"When they reported, they were a little heavy," Amato snickered. "Collectively, I think we've probably lost 350 pounds across the board, which we needed to do. They've worked hard. All we can ask them to do is to do their best."
The offensive focus this spring has been on the quarterback position where three young players are vying to fill the void left by three-year starter Jamie Barnette. Freshman Phillip Rivers appears to have the upper hand in his battle with rising sophomore Jatavis Sanders and redshirt freshman Toki McCray.
In his last two spring scrimmages, Rivers completed 23-of-50 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns. Sanders, who has been limited by a bout with tonsillitis, was 15-of-29 for 142 yards. McCray is currently listed third on the depth chart.
The good news on defense is that the Wolfpack returns nine starters. The bad news is that new coordinator Buddy Green must replace a pair of rock-solid corners in Lloyd Harrison and Tony Scott.
"At the corner spot, we're working two young guys in J.J. Washington and Julius Patterson," Green said. "Julius is a guy who was on offense last year, but now we're looking at him at corner. We're moving some guys around and hoping to find the right fit at the corner spot."
When asked to single out a few players who have distinguished themselves during the spring, Green said that defensive tackle Jeff Fisher and safety Adrian Wilson had played well.
"The biggest thing we want to do is to get these young men to play as a team," Amato said. "We want them to have fun out there and to play for a common cause. That's the thing that we're pushing; to get that camaraderie so these young men can get a feel for each other. They need to know that the guys standing next to them will cover their back no matter what happens."
NC State will open its 2000 football season against Arkansas State on September 2 at Carter-Finley.
