North Carolina State University Athletics
Thursday Football Notebook
10/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Game 6: NC State (2-3) vs. Central Michigan (2-3)
October 8, 2011 • 3:30 p.m. • ESPN3
Raleigh, N.C. • Carter-Finley Stadium (57,583)
Pack to Celebrate Bowl History
Scotty McCreery to Sing National Anthem
NC STATE VERSUS CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Saturday’s game will be the first for NC State and Central Michigan on the gridiron. Wolfpack head coach Tom O’Brien faced the Chippewas twice during his 10-year tenure at Boston College, winning 43-0 in Chestnut Hill in 2002 and taking a 31-24 victory at Mount Pleasant in the 2006 season opener - his last season with the Eagles.
Led by second-year head coach Dan Enos, CMU posts a 2-3 record this season, including a 1-1 mark in the Mid-American Conference.
DEFENSIVE LINE IS DECIMATED: NC State has been forced to start three different combinations on the defensive line in just five games this season, all due to injuries. And the starting lineup isn’t the only area that has taken a hit - the secondary unit, which plays frequently in the Wolfpack’s scheme has also changed from week to week.
Here’s a look at the game-by-game status of the defensive line: • Preseason Camp: Senior starting tackle J.R. Sweezy, a team captain, breaks his foot. Brian Slay moves to a starting role and redshirt freshman Thomas Teal moves to a backup role. • Game 1 - Liberty: Teal breaks his foot. True freshman T.Y. McGill moves to a backup role. • Game 2 - Wake Forest: In practice before the league opener, fifth-year senior Jeff Rieskamp, an end, injures his shoulder. Redshirt freshman Art Norman moves into the starting lineup. • Game 3 - South Alabama: no injuries on defensive line • Game 4 - Cincinnati: Sweezy, Teal and Rieskamp remain out, Slay injures his ankle and misses most of the game. Backup tackle A.J. Ferguson suffers a knee injury but attempts to come back and play. Walk-on Jacob Kahut sees action. Cato-Bishop moves out to end • Game 5 - Georgia Tech: Teal, Rieskamp, Slay and Ferguson were out. Darryl Cato-Bishop moves to end, transfer McKay Frandsen gets his first start. Fullback Taylor Gentry practices and plays five snaps at defensive tackle. Sweezy returns and plays 27 snaps as a backup at end. Gentry and Cato-Bishop both exit the game with injuries in the first half and don’t return.
Against Georgia Tech, two starters on the defensive line were playing in their just their fifth game at NC State (Frandsen and Norman) and one was making his first start (Frandsen). The four backups (Sylvester Crawford, Kahut, McGill and Theo Rich) on the depth chart heading into the contest had combined for 15 games and just 184 snaps prior to Saturday.
INJURIES, PART 2: The defensive line isn’t the only area on the team that has been hit by injuries during the first half of the season. Two of the six players manning the six linebacker spots on the preseason two-deep chart are out as well. Senior Sterling Lucas, a backup at middle linebacker, suffered a season-ending knee injury in preseason camp. Starting weakside backer Terrell Manning has missed the last two games as well.
Jarvis Byrd, who redshirted 2010 after suffering an ACL tear, was slated to start at the boundary corner this year. During seven-on-seven drills in July, he tore his other ACL and will miss the entire season.
AND A FINAL NOTE ON INJURIES: Just to make sure the offense doesn’t get left out of the act, that side of the ball has had it’s physical difficulties as well. The coaching staff knew it would be without the services of 2010 leading rusher Mustafa Greene, who broke his foot in spring practice, and Andrew Wallace, who started every regular season game last season at offensive guard before suffering a knee injury in practice for the bowl game.
In addition to those two, who are still sitting out, this year’s second-leading rusher Curtis Underwood, suffered a foot injury against Cincinnati and was unable to go against Georgia Tech. Backup wide receiver Quintin Payton also missed last week’s game due to an ankle problem.
(JUST A POSTSCRIPT ON INJURIES): Not much else to say, but the Pack was also without the services of starting punter Wil Baumann against Georgia Tech. The true freshman suffered a groin strain ... in warmups prior to the game.
That brought the grand total of injured players missing the Georgia Tech game to 12 (including Byrd and Wallace).
COLE ON A ROLL: A year ago, Audie Cole was playing strong side linebacker and tied for the team lead in tackles with all-conference performer Nate Irving, who was playing middle linebacker. Irving has now graduated and is playing in the NFL, and Cole is spending his final campaign at State playing in the middle. He moved to his new position in spring practice and is leading the team in tackles with 61 for the season.
Cole says that it took a couple of games for him to feel completely comfortable in his new spot and that new-found comfort has been obvious each of the past two weeks. He set a career-high with 16 tackles at Cincinnati and hit that mark again last week versus Georgia Tech. The leading tackler for the Pack in four of its five games this season, Cole currently ranks fourth in the league in tackles.
GOING BOTH WAYS: When Rashard Smith saw action on both sides of the ball (at cornerback and wide receiver) at Wake Forest earlier this season, it marked the first time since 2005 that a Pack player had played on offense and defense in the same game. Smith played both ways in that contest and the next week against South Alabama.
Although it had been the first time in six seasons that a player had done that, it didn’t take long for it to happen again. Walk-on Jacob Kahut saw action on both the offensive and defensive lines at Cincinnati.
Last week versus Georgia Tech, senior fullback Taylor Gentry got into the act as well. Not only did he play his regular starting fullback spot and on most of the Pack special teams, but he also saw action on the defensive line (five snaps). He would have seen more time on defense, but exited the game in the first half with a foot injury and did not return.
GLENNON THROWS TDS: In his first five games as a starting signal caller, redshirt junior Mike Glennon has made one thing perfectly clear: he can throw the football. Glennon has thrown 12 touchdown passes so far this season, the second-best mark in the ACC and a tally that ties for 13th in the FBS standings. His 1,079 passing yards is also the second-best mark in the league.
Glennon is only the second quarterback in Wolfpack history to throw for 12 touchdowns in his first five games as a starter - the other is ACC record-holder Philip Rivers.
Against Cincinnati, Glennon threw the fifth-longest pass in school history: an 87-yard touchdown strike to T.J. Graham. He has also completed passes of 63, 65 and 65 yards this season.
Glennon, who is tied as the second-tallest QB in the nation at 6’6 was one of 22 FBS quarterbacks making his first career start in the opening week of the 2011 campaign. Prior to the opener, Glennon had played in 10 games during his two years behind All-ACC signal caller Russell Wilson, but had been in for just 100 career snaps over two years. He saw action in 65 plays from scrimmage against Liberty.
Despite his lack of experience, he was named to the preseason ‘watch’ list for the Maxwell Award. He was ranked the No. 3 quarterback in the nation by ESPN coming out of high school and was the Gatorade and AP Player of the Year in Virginia. His older brother, Sean, played quarterback at Virginia Tech from 2004-08.
WASHINGTON RUNS: The Wolfpack lost the game to Georgia Tech, but was able to turn around its numbers in one important category: rushing the football. The week before at Cincinnati, State rushed for minus-26 yards - the lowest single-game tally for a Wolfpack squad since 1970 (-29 versus Tulane). Saturday the Pack totalled 195 yards in the ground game, the best mark since the 2009 campaign.
The game also marked a career-high for junior James Washington, who ran for 131 yards and a touchdown. He had a 46-yard run that was also a career best.
Washington’s 100+ yard game marked the second time this season that a Pack back has crossed the century mark, as Curtis Underwood gained 114 yards in the season opener versus Liberty. The last time NC State had two backs gain over 100 yards in a season was in 2007.
The Pack entered the season without the services of its top three runners from a year ago. 2010 leading rusher Mustafa Greene has been sidelined with a foot injury, the second-leading rusher, Russell Wilson, is playing for another team and the third-leading rusher, Dean Haynes, has actually seen action, but is playing safety for the Pack.
The Wolfpack currently ranks 10th in the ACC in rushing with an 85 yard per game average.
THIS WEEK’S ‘WHO IS....?’: Last week, it was Jacob Kahut, a transfer from Campbell who saw action on the offensive and defensive lines against Cincinnati (and again on defense versus Georgia Tech).
This week, the winner of the “Who is...?” award is another walk-on, Tyler Purvis, who not only played 11 snaps from scrimmage against the Yellow Jackets, but scored TWO touchdowns as well.
Purvis, who had also seen action against LIberty (one snap) and at Cincy (five snaps), was in more often on Saturday as starter Taylor Gentry was out with a foot injury in the second half. The sophomore walk-on played wide receiver in high school at Lancaster Catholic in Pennsylvania, gaining over 1,000 yards as a senior.
Another player that Pack fans might not have recognized saw his first action against Georgia Tech as well. Senior walk-on Chaz McQueen was in for seven snaps at wide receiver. If the name “McQueen” is familiar to Pack fans, it’s because Chaz’s father, Cozell, was the starting center on State’s ‘83 National Championship basketball team.
AMERSON LEADS LEAGUE: Sophomore cornerback David Amerson is currently the ACC leader in interceptions with four in five games. That mark is tied for third nationally.
The field corner pulled down a pair in the season opener versus Liberty and then has had one in each of the past two games. Just a third of the way into the season, he has already tied last year’s team leader (Brandan Bishop had four in 2010). His tally already ties as the highest since 2005.
BRYAN TOP TIGHT END: Tight end George Bryan has now caught more passes than any tight end in NC State history. With 102 career grabs, the 15th-best overall mark ever for a Wolfpack player, he has passed T.J. Williams (2002-05) for the top mark for a tight end.
Bryan has 14 touchdown receptions for his career, which ranks in a tie for seventh place in school history (with Naz Worthen and Haywood Jeffires) in that category.
A preseason second-team All-America pick by Lindy’s and a third-team choice by Rivals, Bryan is on the early ‘watch’ list for the Mackey Award for the third straight year. For the third straight year, he’s also hoping to earn first-team All-ACC honors and is the first tight end in school history to have won two such awards.
