North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: O'Brien Ready to Get Rolling
7/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 22, 2010
BY TIM PEELER
DURHAM, N.C. -
NC State football coach Tom O'Brien joined the four other head coaches at the eighth-annual Bill Dooley Triangle/East Chapter of the National Football Foundation's "Pigskin Preview," a yearly gathering in the Triangle to promote the upcoming football season.
For O'Brien, beginning his fourth season as head coach of the Wolfpack, it was an opportunity to reiterate to an anxious crowd that junior quarterback Russell Wilson will indeed return to Raleigh on Aug. 1 to begin preparations for the season, which begins for the Wolfpack on Sept. 4 against Western Carolina at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Wilson, drafted in the fourth round by the Colorado Rockies in the June baseball draft, has spent the last month playing for the Tri-City Dust Devils in Pasco, Wash., a short-season Single A franchise of the Colorado Rockies.
"Russell was on a seven-hour bus ride to Boise, Idaho, on [Wednesday] and he was texting me furiously," O'Brien said. "Obviously, he was bored to tears on the bus. He was talking about his eagerness and excitement about getting here.
"He has been in contact with a lot of the guys who have been here all summer and working out."
O'Brien spoke about his team, as did East Carolina's Ruffin McNeill, North Carolina Central's Mose Rison, Duke's David Cutcliffe and North Carolina's Butch Davis during the two-hour luncheon. The five coaches also signed helmets from their schools to winners in a charity auction, to benefit the chapter's academic scholarship program, which annually gives out more than $25,000 to qualified students in the area.
Nearly $10,000 was raised in the auction alone, with O'Brien's signed NC State helmet going for $1,500 to new Wolfpack athletics director Debbie Yow.
The annual luncheon is just a part of a preseason media blitz over the next 10 days. O'Brien, wide receiver Owen Spencer and linebacker Nate Irving will travel to Greensboro over the weekend for the annual ACC Football Kickoff at the Grandover Resort. Fans can follow what's happening at the event from the ACC's Football Kickoff page.
"We are looking forward to getting the season underway," O'Brien said. "We have spent a lot of time this summer in getting ready."
O'Brien said his team is healthy heading into the beginning of preseason drills, which will begin on Aug. 3. He hopes, unlike the last few seasons, it stays that way.
"We have had more than our share of injuries the last couple of years," he said. "This is the healthiest our team has been since I have been here.
"We will have more depth this year than we have ever had. So the players are anxious to get started and prove they are capable of competing at the highest levels."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
