North Carolina State University Athletics
HAYNES: Catamounts Enter Eye of Storm
9/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 3, 2010
TONY HAYNES
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A day after Hurricane Earl skirted the North Carolina coast, a more perfect storm will take the field at Carter-Finley Stadium.
"Perfect Storm" is the name NC State offensive coordinator Dana Bible has bestowed upon a Wolfpack offensive unit that will make its 2010 debut against Western Carolina Saturday night at 6 p.m. Coverage on the Wolfpack Sports Network begins at 5 p.m.
With quarterback Russell Wilson again seeking out targets like Owen Spencer, Jarvis Williams and tight end George Bryan, Bible has reason to feel confident about the ingredients of a passing attack that has already proven itself for going on two years now.
"He said we have receivers that want to catch the ball," said Williams, a 6-4 senior receiver who led the Pack in catches last season with 45. "We have quarterbacks that can throw the ball. We have one of the best tight ends in the country and an offensive coordinator that wants to throw the ball. "There's really no way around it: defenses are going to have problems with us this year."
Coming off a season in which it averaged better than 30 points per game and ranked second in the ACC in passing offense (272.9 yards per game), "The Perfect Storm" does indeed figure to register Category 5 damage on opposing defenses in 2010.
A first-team All-ACC quarterback as a redshirt freshman two seasons ago, Wilson led the league in touchdown tosses with 31 in 2009. And absolutely no one would be shocked if he again establishes himself as the ACC's best signal-caller this year.
"The sky's the limit and we have a lot of talent," Wilson acknowledged when asked about the NC State offense's potential. "But it's not just talent. The wide receivers, tight ends and running backs work their butts off every day. I'm trying to keep up with them. We have high expectations for ourselves.
"We want to do a great job and have the mindset that every play can be a big play and every play can go to the house."
Perhaps the best gauge of Wilson's intelligence and decision-making ability is illustrated in the way he has spread the ball around: a total of 10 different players had double-figure receptions last season.
Now entering his third year, Wilson gets it. His knowledge of Bible's intricate passing schemes allows him to, more often than not, throw the ball to the right guy without there being preconceptions on which eligible receiver he will seek out when a play is called. He knows his options and usually picks the best of those options against a given defense.
Translated: Wilson does an excellent job of reading coverages in a effort to seek out the path of least resistance. And in this his third year as a starter, he'll be working with essentially the same group of receivers, putting all of them on the same page, a valuable asset for successful passing attacks.
Now let's focus in on what most of everyone will be anxious to see on Saturday night....
Huh? What? Where did that come from? Those were just some of the reactions fans had earlier in the week when a converted defensive back and former high school quarterback named Dean Haynes was picked to be NC State's starting tailback in the opener.Just as surprisingly, true freshman Mustafa Greene was chosen as Haynes' back-up.
Part of the mystery was solved on Thursday when it was revealed that sophomore James Washington, one of the favorites to earn the starting job, was out with a hamstring injury. Like Washington, redshirt junior Curtis Underwood was expected to push for playing time as well, but now finds himself running No. 3 in the pecking order.
Head coach Tom O'Brien was blunt earlier in the week when he said that the offensive coaches decided to open up the running back competition after being disappointed in the production they were getting out of the backs in the first two preseason scrimmages.
Still, it won't really matter who's carrying the ball if a virtually new offensive line can't open holes and control things up front. Left tackle Jake Vermiglio is the only legitimate starter returning from last year's group.
"The offensive line is still a major concern for us," O'Brien said. "Generally, how your offensive line goes that's how your offense is going to go. That would be a problem situation on this football team right now."
As lethal as NC State's passing attack appears to be, it will be that much tougher to stop if the Wolfpack is able to run the football effectively. More than likely, the running game and the offensive line will be a work in progress early in the season.
A secondary surge: Before Dean Haynes became the talk of NC State football this week, most of the conversation centered around a defense that yielded 31 points per game last season. Opposing offenses licked their chops last year, attacking a Wolfpack secondary that was full of inexperienced, wide-eyed pups.
Due to an unthinkable rash of injuries, the Pack was forced to rely on a number of youngsters who simply weren't yet ready to compete at an ACC level. Of course, what doesn't kill you often makes you stronger, and through the preseason, it does appear that the C.J. Wilsons, Brandan Bishops and Earl Wolffs of the world are a year wiser, a year older and much more comfortable with what they're being asked to do.
Given the fact that Western Carolina averaged only 14 points per game during a 2-9 campaign in 2009, we may not truly get a real reading on the defense's improvement until the Pack travels to Orlando for a week two meeting at Central Florida.
O'Brien has already noted that the back seven on defense has done a much better job of breaking on the football and tipping balls during the preseason.
"They seem to be confident and more knowledgeable in what they're doing," O'Brien said, discussing the secondary. "That will allow them to play much faster. That's one thing you have to do on defense and I think we're doing that."
NC State was dead last in the ACC in takeaways last season (14), while also allowing opponents to convert 42.5 percent of their third down plays. Getting off the field quicker and putting the ball in Wilson's hands more this season has been the No.1 priority through the spring and fall. Do those things and a lot of problems will be solved.
"This year our goal is to score more on defense," said junior cornerback Justin Byers. "We have to come out and make plays every week because last year we didn't hold up.
"We've put in the work so we can be a lot better than we were last year." Carolina to the West: Later this season, the Wolfpack will face both East Carolina and North Carolina. The previous two years, it opened up against South Carolina. And while Western Carolina hasn't enjoyed as much recent success as the other Carolinas just mentioned, O'Brien vows the Pack will be ready.
"They have Carolina in their name and that's always a big game for us here at NC State. This [Wolfpack] team has a little chip on its shoulder and has a lot to prove. If you want to be a champion in college football you have to win every game, so there's no way that this team will overlook any opponent."
Besides, coming off three consecutive losing seasons, Wilson and the Pack are anxious to get the program righted in O'Brien's fourth year in Raleigh.
"They're going to come in here and be ready to go just like we're going to be ready to go," said Wilson. "It doesn't matter what the name says on the jersey; it's 11 guys on offense and 11 guys on defense.
"We're excited about playing."
NC State and Western Carolina have met five times with the Wolfpack winning all five of those games. This will be the first meeting since Philip Rivers and the Pack crushed the Catamounts 59-20 on August 30, 2003.
