North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: The Defense Won't Rest
4/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 6, 2004
By Tony Haynes
In the courtroom, the defense always rests eventually. That won't and can't happen when the NC State football team opens its 2004 season against Richmond next September. There can be no let up, not with the ACC's all-time leading passer, Philip Rivers, no longer around to play Superman on Saturdays. The days of scoring 37 points per game and churning up yards faster than Pam Anderson goes through husbands are likely over for the short term, meaning a defense that suffered through the inconsistencies of youth last season must now show the way.
Wolfpack head coach Chuck Amato has turned the keys of his defensive operation over to Reggie Herring, a veteran coach who previously coordinated defenses at Clemson and TCU. If you came up with a caricature of what a defensive coordinator is supposed to be like, "Rompin' Stompin' Reggie would be your man. Aggressive, enthusiastic and passionate, Herring will no doubt endear himself to the Wolfpack faithful with his demonstrative sideline antics.
But the same man who is known for wearing his heart on his sleeve on the practice field and on the sidelines takes a cautious approach when asked to appraise the defense he directed for the first time during 15 spring practices.
"They have the capabilities to be very, very competitive," Herring said following Saturday's annual Red/White game at Carter-Finley Stadium. "What I'm concerned about right now would be our depth and concerned with the development and maturity of the front. The secondary are all upperclassmen. Now are they going to up and elevate their game? Are they going to improve from last year? Whatever issues we had last year are non-issues to us, because we aren't looking behind, we're looking ahead and making them accountable for now. The proper approach to take is to move on, move forward and improve. We have the speed and ability to do some things on defense. I'm just a little bit guarded and hesitant to say much because I've been doing it too long; I know better."
Herring's cautious approach isn't without merit. Although nine starters do return on the defensive side of the football, these are the same players who belonged to a unit that did yield an average of 421 yards per game last season, a figure that ranked seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Often starting as many as three freshmen along the defensive line, NC State struggled to pressure quarterbacks without blitzing. And in order to stop the run against some of the better teams on its schedule, the Pack usually needed to commit extra people to the line of scrimmage, which left its secondary vulnerable to big plays.
Once again this season, NC State's success or failure on defense will start with what happens up front. Armed with a back seven that is both fast and experienced, the Wolfpack will be very good defensively if the guys up front show the maturity that will be required to compete with some of bruising powerhouses that appear on the schedule.
"That front has a chance to be very competitive," said Herring. "When we bring those freshmen in here, if they can jump in line and get with the same tune that everybody is dancing with, then we'll have a chance to build some quality depth and have a chance to make some things happen."
One of the freshmen who could do some early 'dancing' is Greensboro's DeMario Pressley, 6-4 290-pound defensive tackle who was ranked as one of the nation's top prospects during the frantic recruiting season.
With one year now under their belts, rising sophomores John McCargo (DT) and Mario Williams (DE) seem destined for stardom. Throw in converted linebacker Manny Lawson at the other defensive end spot, and you have the makings of a very quick and "vertically gifted" defensive line.
"Manny is getting better," Amato said. "It's a position that's different, but he's getting better. We've got two kids that are around 6-6 coming off the edge; they'll knock a bunch of passes down. Mario has had an unbelievable spring."
Herring, a former player at Florida State, was perfectly content in his position as a linebackers coach with the NFL's Houston Texans the last two years. But when Amato called to talk about the coordinator position at NC State, his already elevated excitement level just about boiled over.
"It's a pleasure to coach here," Herring said. "I've known Chuck throughout the years and worked against him, but I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what kind of head coach he was. Now I can tell you that the reason this program has gotten to a level where it can compete with the Florida States and Ohio States is because that guy has brought tenacity and attitude to this program that I had never seen in the eight years I was here in the ACC. It will be our failure if we don't represent and reflect the attitude of our head coach and what he brings to this program. Having a leader like him gives you a chance."
So does a defense that never rests.
