North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Welcomes 19 New Signees, 4 Early Arrivals
2/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State head football coach Tom O'Brien welcomed his latest signinig class on Wednesday, a total of 23 newcomers that includes 19 players who will arrive in the fall and four who have already enrolled at the school for the spring semester and will participate in spring practice.
The class includes three of scout.com's top-ranked high school players in the state of North Carolina, four transfers from other colleges, five offensive linemen and four defensive backs. In other words, the kind of variety that O'Brien was looking for in his fourth recruiting class.
"I was happy with the effort of our staff," O'Brien said. "The assistant coaches did a fabulous job, led by [recruiting coordinator] Jerry Petercuskie. We addressed a lot of the things we needed to address with this recruiting class.
"We signed 1 on offense and 11 on defense and we signed a kicker. So that's a whole football team."
O'Brien and his staff inked a half-dozen in-state players, led by the highly touted trio of defensive back David Amerson of Greensboro's Dudley High School, offensive lineman Robert Crisp of Raleigh's Athens Drive High School and running back Robert Creecy of Durham's Southern High School.
"We made a concerted effort again to recruit our home," O'Brien said. "We did a real nice job in North Carolina and continued to work our ways north and south from there."
O'Brien announced three changes to the Wolfpack's current roster, saying that wide receiver Donald Bowens, defensive back DeAndre Morgan and punter Jeff Ruiz have all decided to graduate and not return for their final season of eligibility.
Following is a transcript of O'Brien's Signing Day press conference, held Wednesday afternoon at the Murphy Center.
Question: Could you talk about a trio of players from North Caroilina: David Amerson, Anthony Creecy and Robert Crisp?
O'Brien: The good thing about those three, especially Crisp and Creecy, was that they were early commitments. From way back when, they decided they wanted to be part of this program and help us attain the goals we wanted to. David, we had here in camp, as we did with some of the other guys. Shortly after he made a visit to another school, he came back and decided he could make a difference in our program. We expect all of them to come in and contribute and help us win a lot of football games.
Question: Can you talk about the defensive backfield, a place where you were looking for some help. It looks like you got some there with Amerson and Dontae Johnson.
O'Brien: We signed four kids who play in the secondary. They are all athletic. Both Johnson and Amerson could both play corner if they had to. With the four defensive backs we have there and the way we have played in the past, some of them will get the opportunity to play for us this year.
Question: Is [Mikel Overgaard] expected to make an impact?
O'Brien: Both David Akinniyi and Overgaard coming in at mid-year will help. We don't have enough upper classmen, especially on the line. We were able to go out and find someone on both the offensive line and the defensive line with a little more maturity and a little more size and give them the opportunity to help us right away. There is only going to be 12 seniors on this football team, of which six were inherited. Two were on offense, two were on defense and two were in the kicking game. And the six others were Akinniyi, Overgaard and the junior college kids we have signed. We still need help on both sides of the line with young kids, but we are still trying to buy time until some of these young kids grow up.
Question: What kind of advantage does a shifty slot receiver like Tobias Palmer or Bryan Underwood give to you?
O'Brien: I think it will add a lot. It's a whole different dimension than the type of receiver we have had in the past. It looks a lot different than the Jarvis Williamses and Owen Spencers that we have had: the big, tall, rangy guys out there. It's going to be interesting out there. I think [offensive coordinator] Dana Bible is excited about coaching those kids.
Question: How is Coach Bible doing?
O'Brien: Dana is in the fourth week of a five-week cycle. He does chemotherapy five days a week and he gets the weekend off. He does have a couple week break after this cycle. Every report has been positive and he is on track in his recovery process. He can't be around a lot of crowds. He does his chemo in the mornings and comes in the office in the afternoon, I think for sanity sake, if you want to call us sanity. I think by a date as soon as May he should be fine and back to normal, full-time.
Question: Can you talk about quarterback Tyler Brosius?
O'Brien: He is a big, strong-armed kid. He has a lot of the qualities of some of our quarterbacks in the past. He did a great job in the Shrine Game. One of the things that the Shrine Bowl coaches came out of that game saying was that they were amazed at how quick afoot he was. He had to run the wing-T and that was something he never had to do before. He has thrown for a ton of touchdowns and a ton of yards before. But they were amazed at how quick his feet are, which is a good thing for us.
Question: How important has it been for you to build relationships within the state?
O'Brien: We know we are never going to keep everyone in this state. That is impossible these days. As we said before, we have to get our fair share. What we are doing, the same assistant coaches are going back to the same areas as before and they are building those relationships, and that is important. Once we established those relationships, I knew it would bear fruit and it certainly has this year.
Question: What kind of opportunity will [running back] Mustafa Greene have to play early?
O'Brien: You look at the running back situation, and he probably thinks he has a real good chance, which is why he is coming here. There are not a lot of carries and not a lot of yards by the three guys that are there. As with all freshmen, who knows who is going to play and who is going to play. As has been explained to him, the faster he learns the offense - and for a running back that means he is going to have to learn some pass protection, he can't whiff on that - the faster he can play. But, when it comes down to it, he is going to have to learn to protect the quarterback.
Question: With this class, is this where you will really start to build the kind of offensive line that you want?
O'Brien: There are five offensive linemen. I think we are getting closer with the last two recruiting class, so that as we move forward we can replace what we lost. We lost three starters and Andy Barbee, who played a lot for us on the offensive line. Certainly, we are getting to the point where we will have scholarship players in the two-deep from here on out. We will be backed up by scholarship players. We want to build an NFL line, like we did at Boston College, no doubt about that. I think, as we move on, we are recruiting kids who have that kind of skills.
Question: Can you talk about [kicker] Billy Bennett? The kicking game was a sore spot for you last year.
O'Brien: Right now, we are just looking at this year. Certainly, we will have to address the placekicking in another year, because Josh Czajkowski is a senior. Josh did as well as he could last year. But we need to have someone who can get the ball to the end zone or inside the 5- and 10-yard line, with some hang-time on it, not just a line drive. On the defensive side, when you look at it, if they keep coming in on the 35- or 40-yard line, that's already two first downs from where they ought to be starting. Coach Petercuskie must have looked at I don't know how many kickers, to try to find one. Obviously, we knew about Billy because we recruited him at Boston College. But he left. He has the leg strength to get the ball up so we can cover.
Question: What about the punter?
O'Brien: Chris Ward will be the punter.
Question: What specifically did you see about Robert Crisp when you evaluated him?
O'Brien: He has really good feet. With all linemen, he is not on the ground a lot. He's a lot like Teddy Larsen. If you can move your feet, get good body position and you are not on the ground a lot of the time because you have good balance, those are keys to being a good offensive linemen. He has great size and great reach. If you draw up a proto-type body, he has it for an offensive lineman. He has to come in and learn his right from his left and who to block, then he has the physical skills that look he can be a good lineman.
Question: Could he play multiple positions until you decide on just one?
O'Brien: No, we will just start him at tackle. That's where his future is. Hopefully, we can solve all the other problems before he gets here.
Question: A lot goes into getting to Signing Day. How much do you enjoy the process?
O'Brien: I think the good thing about college football is that there are seasons to it. When you get to the end of the regular season, you are about ready to go out on the road and start talking to people, meeting families and coaches and players. You get to the end of this time, you are glad it's over so you can get into spring practice. When spring practice is over, it is time to go back out on the road again and start the junior recruiting evaluations. The seasons we have in college football are good because it breaks up what you are doing and gives you a chance to do something different.
Question: Was there ever any concern about signing Pete Singer?
O'Brien: We were very comfortable in signing him and glad he is part of the Wolfpack.
Question: Can you say anything about Cary's Fre'Shad Hunter not signing?
O'Brien: The only thing I can say is that we are still recruiting him. You can't comment on someone otherwise. He is still on our radar.
Question: Can you talk about the loyalty of the guys who have been recruiting for several years and the loyalty they have shown to you?
O'Brien: In the case of Tobias Palmer, I don't think there was any question that he was going to sign here. It goes back to the relationship he had with Mike Archer and Andy McCollum. They stayed in touch with him. He has been in touch with them a couple times a week. He is an explosive player. He is a little different than what we have previously had on the field. It will be interesting to see what he does in the fall.
Question: How does your signing class compare to the rest of the schools in the state?
O'Brien: I don't know how it compares. We are happy with who we have signed and we are not worried about their guys. That's the first lesson I learned in recruiting: Worry about your own guys. They are the ones who are going to help you win. You can't do anything about the other people's guys.
Question: Moving forward, what do you see with the 2011 class?
O'Brien: Not a lot of scholarships. With only 12 seniors, there won't be many available for next year. If we have 15 available next year, that will be a high tally for us. But that will be the last year we will have that situation. We will have a rotation where we will have more than 15 seniors a year. You ought to be able to go forward with a 18- or 19-player class.
Question: What does winning that last game of the season do for you in recruiting?
O'Brien: Any time you win against your rival, it is a good thing, not only for your football team, but for the coaches, the school, the alumni and the fans. I think it makes an impact on some people, but I don't think it makes a huge impact on the whole scope of things. By the time you play the last game of the year, a lot of kids have already made up their minds about where they are going and what they are doing. It means more to younger classes. What is important right now is that eighth, ninth and 10th graders are starting to formulate their opinions on what the best schools are. We have to start getting winning records and going to bowl games for this program to continue to advance and to continue to attract the players we need to be a championship football team.
Question: Does 15 players mean you have to be more selective next year?
O'Brien: I would like to think we are always pretty selective.
Question: When does spring practice start?
O'Brien: The spring game is April 17. We start practice on March 9 and 11, in helmets only. Then we take off for spring break and come back the next week in full pads.
Question: What will it mean not having Russell Wilson for spring practice?
O'Brien: It means Mike Glennon will have a lot of opportunity. It will be good for Mike. He can certainly make the fall interesting if he has a great spring.
Question: Off the subject, who are you pulling for in the Super Bowl?
O'Brien: Since DeMario Pressley is the only former player we have in the game, I am pulling for the Saints. That's loyalty to my players.
Question: How much stock do you put in the star ratings?
O'Brien: We have never recruited a player based on what someone else thinks about him. It all comes down to what we think about him. We are not right all the time, but neither are the people who rank the number of stars. It's a very subjective judgment on talent. One man's treasure is another man's piece of junk. It's hard to say who is who. Here are some of the two-star guys we have signed since we have been here: In '06, we signed Nate Irving and Jarvis Williams. In '07, Russell Wilson and Owen Spencer. In '08, it was T.J. Graham.
Question: How is Nate Irving?
O'Brien: He has been working out and should be ready to go for spring practice.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
