North Carolina State University Athletics
"Touchdown" T.A. To Get Start Against UMass
9/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 23, 2002
By Tony Haynes
The apprenticeship is now over. Assuming he doesn't decide to 'sleep in' for a second straight week, freshman tailback T.A. McLendon will get his first start at tailback when unbeaten NC State (5-0) entertains Massachusetts this Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium. The decision to feature McLendon more prominently in the Wolfpack attack comes just two days after the Albemarle native put together a 150-yard, five touchdown rushing performance in the Pack's 51-48 overtime victory over Texas Tech. The move will also allow Greg Golden, who was the starting tailback in NC State's first four games, to move back to cornerback, the position he played all of last season.
"T.A. is going to start and Greg is going to go back and we're going to play him on defense," NC State head coach Chuck Amato said during his weekly press gathering on Monday. "Greg will get a minimum of 20 minutes off offensive work every day to keep him tuned to what's going on. He knows the offense and he has a great grasp of it."
About the only thing McLendon did wrong down in Lubbock was to show up a couple of minutes late for the team bus after sleeping late. The resulting punishment overturned plans to give him his first career start. But once he replaced Josh Brown early in the first quarter, it didn't take him long to remind everyone why he was one of the most sought after running backs in the history of North Carolina High School football.
Often making Texas Tech defenders look like bowling pins, the 5-11, 215 pound McLendon was a man possessed as he ran through and around any obstacles that dared stand in his way. His fifth touchdown of the day, which equaled the single-game school record set by Stan Fritts in 1972, came from eight yards out and gave NC State its first 5-0 start since 1991.
"There were three or four occasions where we were standing around staring at each other waiting for the whistle to blow when all of a sudden we would see T.A. putting his hand down and fighting for three or four extra yards," said tight end Sean Berton, who helped McLendon out by throwing some crushing blocks on Saturday. "When we see that, we come back to the huddle and get real excited. It really energizes us to give our all when you play with a back like that who is going to make the most of what you give him."
Known as the "Touchdown King" at Albemarle High School where he set a national record with 170 rushing touchdowns, McLendon already has eight touchdowns in four games this season (he missed the Navy game with a shoulder injury). He also ranks No.2 in the ACC in scoring with an average of 12 points per game.
"It shows you how good he really is," Amato said. "People said he played at a 1-A high school, but when you score 170 touchdowns I don't care what 'A' you play in. Bo Jackson played in a 1-A league and Herschel Walker played in a 1-A league. Why can't it happen? He played in that high school all-star game out in Texas and they had what they considered to be the top five or six running backs out there. I had three people that watched them practice and watched the game and they said he was the best one on the field. That's good company. If you would have said that he was the third best out there, you would have said wow! He's so strong from his hips down. He made two or three of the best three-yard runs you'll ever see the other day with second and third effort."
The benchmark for NC State tailbacks is the great Ted Brown, who still owns the ACC career rushing record with 4,602 yards. To suggest that McLendon would ever approach Brown's conference and school marks so early in his career is extremely premature at this point, but at least Amato will someday be able to say that he had the pleasure of coaching both players.
"Ted Brown weighed 170 pounds as a freshman," Amato said. "We actually recruited him as a defensive back. He was turned down as a running back. Ted ended up to where we had to keep him on a diet because he was around 200 pounds. Ted was faster. T.A. is fast, but Ted was 4.4 or under; he could fly. T.A. is a consistent 4.5 or under and guess what? He'll run under that too because that was on the first day he was here."
As long as McLendon stays healthy, it appears Golden will spend most of his time back on the defensive side of the ball. The sophomore was moved from cornerback to tailback during the preseason after the Wolfpack lost Cotra Jackson for academic reasons.
"Greg is really a versatile athlete that can do a lot of things," Amato said. "He'll do whatever we ask him to do. We're going to rotate those three corners so that one corner doesn't have to play 85 snaps."
In four games at tailback, Golden averaged 4.3 yards per carry and scored three touchdowns.
McLendon and Price Honored by ACC: For the second straight week, McLendon and NC State defensive end Shawn Price are receiving accolades from the ACC. McLendon is the Rookie of the Week following his stellar performance in Lubbock. He was also named the National Player of the Week by The Sporting News. Price was named the ACC's Defensive Lineman of the Week for the second straight time after recording three tackles and a quarterback sack. He also scored his second touchdown in as many weeks when he picked up a Kliff Kingsbury fumble and raced 35 yards for a third quarter score. Price is currently the ACC's sack leader with five on the season.
