North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Defense Stays True to Successful System
4/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 6, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- N.C. State head coach Chuck Amato gave his new defensive coordinator Steve Dunlap one major directive regarding the defensive side of the ball during spring practice: don't change a thing.
With good reason. The Wolfpack finished first in the NCAA Division I-A rankings in total defense last year, allowing just 221.4 yards per game and an average of 19.8 points per game.
But on paper, heading into the 2005 season, there seems to be a major shakeup going on for the defense, now that Dunlap has taken over for Reggie Herring and must replace six of the team's starting seven linebackers and defensive backs.
Missing are three-year starters Pat Thomas at linebacker, Andre Maddox at rover and Lamont Reid at cornerback. Two-year starters Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay at linebacker, Troy Graham at safety and Dovonte Edwards at cornerback have also departed. All made huge contributions, in performance and leadership, to the best defense in school history.
With that said, you'd think that spring practice, which began last month and ends on April 16 with the spring game at Carter-Finley Stadium, would be about experimentation and finding new combinations. Some of that is going on, especially at the linebacker position, but mostly things have pretty much been status quo on the defensive side of the ball.
"There are no drastic changes I can think of," said junior cornerback A.J. Davis. "There are some new faces, but we really haven't changed anything."
Officially, the Wolfpack will have two new starters at the corners. Davis has started only one game in his career, though he has logged 768 plays over the past season as part of the Wolfpack's nickel and dime packages and playing behind Edwards.
On the other side, senior Marcus Hudson returns to the starting spot he had in 2002, when he started 12 of the Wolfpack's 14 games during its record-breaking 11-3 season. Hudson has been in 1,691 plays during his career, more than any other player on offense or defense.
"Marcus and I have been used to playing together from last year, so we shouldn't have any difficulty playing back there this year," Davis said.
There will be two new safeties, with junior Garland Heath taking over the rover position and senior J.J. Jones and sophomore Miguel Scott fighting for the free safety job.
There have been multiple switches at linebacker, in part because junior Stephen Tulloch is out during the spring following shoulder surgery. Senior Oliver Hoyte has moved from middle to the weakside position, and junior Pat Lowery playing in the middle. Sophomore Ernest Jones and LeRue Rumph are competing in the spring at Tulloch's strongside position.
And while that seems like a lot of shifting around, Hoyte says it really doesn't matter.
"We have all our front four back," said Hoyte, the Wolfpack's most experienced linebacker with 21 career starts and 1,064 career plays. "You could replace everybody behind them, and they would still make sure we have a really good defense."
Indeed, junior All-America candidate Mario Williams returns at the left defensive end and senior Manny Lawson at the right. Junior tackles John McCargo and DeMarcus 'Tank' Tyler are the starters up front, with experienced young players DeMario Pressley, Raymond Brooks and Martrel Brown behind them.
"If you looked at our team on paper last year," Davis said, "there was no reason to think that we would lead the nation in defense. So we are used to people thinking we can't be there. So we feel pretty good if people are saying that, on paper, there is no way our defense can be as good as we were last year."
You may contact Tim Peeler at mailto:tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.%3cP tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.<>
