North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Shuffling Linebacker Corps
3/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 17, 2011
Photos from PackSpringFootball.com
RALEIGH, N.C. – The biggest difference between middle linebacker and field linebacker, NC State senior Audie Cole says, is staring a quarterback in the eyes instead of the ear hole of his helmet.
Cole will spend spring practice, which started Thursday morning at the Dail Practice Fields, making the transition from the outside field position to the inside slot vacated by the departed Nate Irving. It’s where linebackers coach Jon Tenuta prefers to have his best playmaker.
“I don’t think it’s so much different,” Cole said. “The only thing that’s different is the perspective of what you are looking at and who you are reading. It’s like looking out a different window. But it’s all the same thing: it’s all about knowing your assignments and tackling the guy with the football.
“As long as you do that, you’ll be all right.”
Cole, a converted high school quarterback, has started at field linebacker 25 consecutive games and is one of the most experienced players on the Wolfpack’s defense. After leading the team with 85 tackles as a sophomore in 2009, Cole finished tied with Irving with a team-high 97 total tackles, plus five sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss last season.
“You know, [Coach Tenuta] has always put his best guy at middle linebacker,” Wolfpack head coach Tom O’Brien said. “When you look at it, our best linebacker is Audie Cole. He’s certainly the smartest guy we have out there. That’s the key to middle linebacker, to get the defense aligned.
“I think he’ll be fine.”
Cole’s migration leaves an opening at his former field linebacker spot that will be filled in the spring by sophomore D.J. Green, who has been shifted from the safety position he played in all 13 games last season as a true freshman.
Green opens spring practice at the top of the organizational chart that O’Brien released earlier this week.
“He’ll be there as an experiment at field linebacker,” O’Brien said. “He looks good at that position. But he can’t just be pretty. He has to make plays. He’s a good football player. That’s why we played him as a freshman.
“Spring is about experimentation, so we may move a lot of guys around here over the next couple of days.”
Green is excited about the opportunity to learn a new role, knowing that he still has much to absorb during the team’s 15 spring practices.
“Coach Tenuta is a very good coach and I’ll learn a lot from being around him and his guys,” Green said. “I’ve already learned a lot after just one day, and I know there’s a lot more to come. Audie also helps coach me.”
Green, who made a splash for the Pack last year with his special teams’ play, believes he’s versatile enough to make a smooth transition, because of his experience from last year.
“I feel like once I get the grasp of linebacker, it’ll be a lot easier than safety,” Green said. “I know what I wanted the linebackers to do when I was a safety, I’ll try to do what I need to do to make their jobs easier.”
The Wolfpack, which was 9-4 with a win over West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl in 2010, will continue with spring practice over the next four weeks, practicing on Tuesdays and Thursdays and scrimmaging the last three on Saturdays. The annual Kay Yow Spring Football Game is slated for 1 p.m. April 16 at Carter-Finley Stadium.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
