North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Pack Prepares for 2010 Season
8/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 27, 2010
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. -
"To try to keep [everyone] mentally alert, we actually practiced one day against each of our first four opponents this last week," said Tom O'Brien at his first weekly press conference of the season. "We wanted to focus their minds on something else.
"We'll turn our attention to Western Carolina in Sunday's practice."
To be clear, O'Brien and his team aren't overlooking their first opponent, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision's Southern Conference. They are just planting a few seeds of what's ahead, in the hopes they will germinate later in September when it comes time to face those teams.
"We wouldn't look ahead - that would be an insult to Western Carolina," O'Brien said. "One thing about them, they have Carolina in their name. That's always a big name for anybody here at State."
Of course, the Wolfpack has opened the last two seasons against South Carolina in nationally televised Thursday night games. Next week's opener, which will be televised on ESPN3 at 6 p.m., might not have the same high-profile timeslot, but that's okay with O'Brien.
"There are plusses and minuses to opening the way we have the last two years on national television," said the coach. "There is no way you can overlook a South Carolina. You understand that it is a Southeastern Conference opponent and another school with Carolina in the name.
"Certainly, no one intends to disrespect Western Carolina because they are not a Football Bowl Subdivision team. The hype and the excitement might not be what it was the last two years, but when you only have 12 opportunities to play, there's no reason for you not to play your best and show up and play football the way it's supposed to be played. That has always been the trademark of the teams we have coached is that we played 12 games and we have played it like it was the last game of the season."
Final preparations for the opener have barely begun. O'Brien and his staff will meet over the weekend to finalize the team's depth chart for the season. It will be released on Monday.
There are some obvious constants that will be on that list, starting with junior quarterback Russell Wilson, who will begin his third season as the Wolfpack's starter under center. He also has an experienced corps of receivers to throw to, led by record-setting seniors Owen Spencer and Jarvis Williams.
Defensively, the Wolfpack is eager for the return of linebacker Nate Irving, who missed all of last season after a near-fatal car accident. His supporting cast is still quite young, but more experienced than last season, when a handful of freshmen were thrown into the fray early in their college careers.
"Hopefully, we've identified the areas in improvement [the young defenders] will have to make," O'Brien said. "One of the areas where they may be scarred is in the mental errors that they made. It was a matter of inexperience. Hopefully, we've worked hard enough in our meetings and in our coaching that we won't have those mental mistakes.
"They certainly seem to be more confident and more knowledgeable in the way they are playing, which in turn makes them play faster. That's one thing you have to do, especially on defense, is play fast."
Of the many positions still up for grabs are spots on the offensive line and in the offensive backfield.
"I don't know if I asked Dana [Bible, offensive coordinator] today who the starting tailback is right now he would be able to tell me," O'Brien said. "We'll make that decision come Sunday. It's probably a situation like the offensive line where we may not be able to resolve it for a couple of games, until we get into some game action and we see some of these kids play and see how they react."
But O'Brien is excited about the start of the season, especially since there have been few losses to injuries that marred preseason camp the last two years. And, as he begins his fourth season as the Wolfpack's head coach, he feels more comfortable about his team.
"This team is as close to getting towards those teams I had at Boston College of being a football team, not being a bunch of `me guys.'" O'Brien said. "Obviously, the key is to keep a bunch of guys healthy and hope for a little bit of luck.
"There're also a lot of guys who have three or four years experience in the system. That's worth its weight in gold. We're relatively still young, with 49 scholarships in the sophomore and freshman classes. Hopefully that will be good for us."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
