North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: From the Playing Field to the Recruiting Trail
12/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 2, 2004
By Tony Haynes
The practice fields at the NC State football complex were eerily quiet this week. Even the fourth floor of the Murphy Center, which is usually abuzz with activity during the season, looked like the scene out of a ghost town one might see in an old western flick. And though the Wolfpack's season is now over, the inhabitants of those coaches offices on the fourth floor still have plenty on their professional plates as they hit the recruiting trail in hopes of adding more talent to the NC State roster.
It was only about 15 minutes after the Wolfpack had concluded a 52-14 victory over East Carolina on Saturday that head coach Chuck Amato was already piecing together his plan for the postseason. For the previous 22 years, he had known that more football was to be played following the regular season finale. But during this bowl season, his Wolfpack will be on the outside looking in for the first time since he arrived on the scene in 2000. So instead of orchestrating a series of bowl practices, Amato and his assistant coaches are focusing all of their efforts on recruiting.
"The next couple of months it's going to be recruiting," Amato said. "We need to get out on the road and continue to recruit student-athletes that can come to this school and graduate and help this school get to another level."
During his five-year tenure at NC State, Amato has regularly talked about what it takes to get to the next level of college football. Improved facilities was a part of the plan, and on that count, his program is now just starting to reap the benefits of the many renovations that have been made. Secondly, he has always said that the Wolfpack won't become an elite team until it can play great defense. This year, the Pack certainly turned the corner in that department, finishing the regular season as the nation's leader in total defense.
But not even a great defensive performance most of the year was enough to overcome the heavy rash of penalties and turnovers that were major culprits in a 5-6 season. Finishing up with 32 turnovers in 11 games, the Pack also ranked near the bottom of the NCAA statistics in penalties.
This year, however, depth continued to be an issue for NC State. While recent recruiting classes had bolstered the Pack's depth at positions like running back, wide receiver, and defensive back, there was always a concern that two or three injuries on the offensive line would be devastating.
So what happened in the second half of the season? NC State lost the bedrocks of its blocking interior when center Jed Paulsen and guard Leroy Harris went down with season-ending injuries. And although right tackle Derek Morris gamely tried to play the last two games with a high-ankle sprain, he was hardly the same player he had been before initially going down in the Miami game on October 23.
There's an old football adage that says you can never have too many quality offensive linemen. But building quality depth in the O-line is a methodical process. Amato has said that NC State could sign as many as nine offensive linemen during the current recruiting cycle, yet it's doubtful that many of those players will actually be ready to compete at the ACC level for at least two years.
The overall development of existing linemen already in the program will be crucial over the next several months, especially since the Pack must replace stalwarts like Paulsen and left tackle Chris Colmer.
But for the upcoming recruiting period, Amato will also have to replenish his talent quotient at linebacker, safety and corner. Two senior linebackers who logged a lot of minutes - Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay and Pat Thomas - will be moving on, as will safeties Andre Maddox and Troy Graham. Starting corners Dovonte Edwards and Lamont Reid have exhausted their eligibility as well.
"We need linemen," Amato said. "The first year I was at Florida State, they brought in 21 linemen that year. Four years later only seven of them were left, but they were the nucleus. You win up front. I think we will have an outstanding recruiting class; I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to recruiting. We also need a couple of linebackers. We'll get to the point as the board gets erased and whatever, we'll take the best players available."
The new season begins now.
