HAYNES: Beck Comes Full Circle

BY TONY HAYNES

Clearwater, Florida’s Harrison Beck already had his eye on what he thought were bigger and more established horizons when coaches from the University of South Florida were making recruiting overtures entering his senior year of high school. A hot shot quarterback prospect at Countryside High, Beck was starting to draw a lot of attention nationally, so USF, a school located just 20 minutes from his home, didn’t seem like a realistic option to make the cut.

“When I came out of high school, they recruited me a lot,” said Beck, now a redshirt junior at NC State. “When I came out of high school in 2005, they weren’t the USF that they are now. They’ve gotten a lot bigger and more competitive than they were then. I wasn’t really paying too much attention back then to USF.”

So he chose Nebraska, a traditional college football powerhouse that had just hired passing guru Bill Callahan as its head coach. Following a brief cup of coffee with the Cornhuskers, Beck transferred to NC State.

It’s strange how things work out.

While Nebraska has all but fallen off the national stage, the University of South Florida has quietly emerged as a program to be reckoned with. When the Bulls visit NC State Saturday night at 7:30, they’ll bring with them a No. 13 national ranking and a 4-0 record.

It is strange how things work out.

Because Russell Wilson was injured during an otherwise stellar performance in NC State’s 30-24 overtime win over East Carolina last Saturday, Beck will be asked to make his fifth career start for the Pack. A start that will come against a fast improving USF program that was just starting to turn the corner when he left the Sunshine State for Lincoln, Nebraska.

“It’s definitely been an interesting past couple of weeks,” Beck acknowledged. “You don’t want a teammate going down; Russell had a great game last week. He’s been a great leader for us. But for me personally, it does feel good to get to play this week.”

Did I mention it’s strange how things work out?

The current South Florida quarterback, Matt Grothe, is one of the poster boys for the new fad in college football: a quarterback who can run and pass out of the spread offense. Sure, there are others. Pat White at West Virginia is a lethal weapon. So is Florida’s Tim Tebow. And while Grothe probably isn’t Heisman Trophy material like Tebow, he has been, at the very least, in the discussion.

Grothe has won some games in his career with his legs. But if there were any doubts about his ability to dominate with his passing ability, they were laid to rest a few weeks ago when the Bulls rallied from a 17-point deficit in a stunning 37-34 victory over Kansas. Passing for 338 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions, Grothe completed 32-of-45 throws against the Jayhawks. He also added a 28-yard touchdown run for good measure.

Can he be stopped? One has to wonder if South Florida’s surprisingly close 17-9 win at Florida International last week was an aberration. Grothe was a modest 14-of-22 passing for 136 yards and rushed for 48 yards on 11 carries against a Florida International team that’s dropped 27 of its last 28 games.

“We won the game and that’s always good,” reasoned USF coach Jim Leavitt. “All coaches say they’d rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss, but I hate hearing that line. I just want to play good football. We didn’t play good football, but we still won.”

Leavitt went on to point out that the Bulls won because they have talent. Few coaches readily acknowledge that they have good talent, so that was refreshing.

With Grothe in charge, this offense is putting up averages of 450 yards and 35 points per game. Realistically, the Wolfpack is going to give up some yards on Saturday night, so the goal must be limiting the damage on the scoreboard. And for the most part, that’s exactly what coordinator Mike Archer’s defense has done this season.

“Our defense has done a really good job this year,” Beck said. “They’ve kept it close and kept us in a lot of games this year.”

Having already forced an ACC-best 12 turnovers, the Wolfpack defense has been quite resilient thus far. Last week’s amazing goal line stand against ECU is what made the frantic finish and overtime possible.

Grothe will be the most complete quarterback the Pack has faced thus far and the offense itself is every bit as prolific as Clemson’s.

“I wouldn’t say it would be that difficult [to stop] because we’ve played good teams with good running quarterbacks just like ECU,” said NC State middle linebacker Ray Michel. “I believe our D-line will be able to contain him.”

But, for the second straight week, that D-line will be missing tackle Alan-Michael Cash (knee). Plus, NC State will be without its best defensive player as well. Weak-side linebacker Nate Irving, who’s been a human highlight reel this season, is out indefinitely after sustaining a lower leg injury last week. Irving has a feel for the game that can’t be taught and his ability to always show up around the football was uncanny.

Irving’s instincts will be missed, especially against a cagy quarterback who has mastered the clever schemes that South Florida employs.

Protecting Beck: NC State’s offensive line took a step forward against ECU last week. Asked on many occasions to keep the pocket clean with five-man minimum protection schemes, the O-line did a respectable job. And on those occasions when the Pirates would get pressure, Wilson would use his nifty feet to escape harm and buy more time.

Beck, of course, does not feature the same mobility, meaning the Pack may very well have to limit the number of four wide receiver sets that worked so well last week. Pass protection will likely be the single biggest key against a South Florida defense that features two outstanding pass rushing ends.

The kingpin of rush is George Selvie, a 6-4, 245-pound junior who had 14.5 sacks last season. Does 14.5 ring a bell Pack fans? That’s the same number of sacks Mario Williams registered the season before he became the number one player selected in the 2006 NFL Draft.

Selvie has 22 career sacks, which ranks fourth among the NCAA’s active sack leaders. With 50.5 tackles for loss, he has more than any other defender playing college football today. Incredibly, USF has only four sacks through its first four games. Selvie’s mere presence, however, forces opposing teams to commit more people to protection, thus restricting offensive strategies.

“He’s getting a lot more attention than he has before,” Leavitt said. “Yes, we want to get sacks in every game, but that’s just the way it’s played out. I mostly talk to the other guys. I tell them if they’re all blocking [Selvie], who’s blocking you?’ We need to get some more production out of the other guys.”

But Selvie and company have done enough to bother opposing quarterbacks, who are only completing 54 percent of their attempts for a measly average of 171 yards per game.

“He’s excellent,” NC State head coach Tom O’Brien said of Selvie. “The other end (Jarriett Buie) is excellent. Both guys on the perimeter make the other guy better. They’ve got two guys coming off the edge that are really special rushers.”

Overall, South Florida’s defense is allowing just 235 yards per game, a figure that ranks 12^th in the country. Leavitt and his staff have built up the talent base simply by staying close to home and combing their own recruiting rich state. Ninety-six of the 107 players on the USF roster are from the state of Florida. As irony would have it, one of those recruiting targets that got away back in 2005 will be the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback on Saturday.

“Weve got a good football team,” Beck said. “We’re running the football really well and our offensive line is playing great. You just play within yourself and go out and have some fun. I feel like if we play our best we’ll have an opportunity to be in it.”

North Carolina State University Athletics

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