North Carolina State University Athletics
Glennon Ready to Glow
4/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 15, 2011
Reunion Photo Gallery
WolfPACKED Weekend
Spring Football Prospectus
Editor's note: A minimum $1 donation is suggested for every patron attending Saturday's game. The money collected will be split between the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and the Wolfpack Club's Kay Yow Scholarship Endowment. Since renaming the spring game in Yow's honor two years ago, NC State football has raised more than $40,000 for the two funds at the spring game.
Fans with GoPack.com All-Access subscriptions who are unable to attend the spring game can watch it live via this direct link.
Relive some of the highlights of spring drills through Jed Gammons' photo collection from each practice here.
RALEIGH, N.C. - For Mike Glennon, the only difference between this spring and last is the people around him.
Last season, as a redshirt sophomore, he was in the huddle with more veteran players, guys who were used to seeing then-starter Russell Wilson under center. Making things odd was the fact that Glennon was holding down the position until Wilson, who spent all of last spring with the NC State baseball team, returned to the lineup.
As last season unfolded, Wilson took nearly every snap during the Wolfpack's 9-4 season, which culminated with a win over West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
Now, however, Wilson is playing professional baseball and Glennon is the starting quarterback. Two things have made this spring easier for the rising junior from Centreville, Va.: First, he now owns the starting job. Second, he's surrounded by all of the guys who arrived in Raleigh about the same time he did.
When he looks around the huddle, he sees a lot of familiar and friendly faces. "It's all my buddies in there with me, all the guys I came in here with," Glennon said. "We had this vision, from the first time we met each other on our visits and when we were freshmen, that this day would come and now it is finally here. "We're all excited. It's going to be a great opportunity."
Glennon will be one of the most-watched players during Saturday afternoon's third-annual Kay Yow Spring Football Game Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, the final practice of the spring for the Wolfpack. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. Fans are asked to make a $1 donation to attend the game, with all collected money split between the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and the Wolfpack Club's Kay Yow Endowment.
Fans can enter at west gates 2-4 and east gates 8-9 beginning at noon. Parking lots open at 8 a.m. There is no charge for parking.
Pregame festivities include a concert by the Embers in the parking lots near the southeast corner of the stadium. Fans are also encouraged to purchase plates from the inaugural BBQ Bowl, a barbecue cooking contest in the RV lots near the Murphy Center.
Inside the stadium, fans can purchase game-worn football jerseys, which will go on sale when the gates open. Cost for each jersey is $60, with a maximum of five per customer. For more information, go here.
The spring game is the featured attraction in the WolfPACKED Weekend, which includes a Saturday evening baseball game against North Carolina, slated to begin at 6:30 p.m.; the Wolfpack Spring Open golf tournament, which will be held at Lonnie Poole Golf Course on Centennial Campus; and a home women's tennis match against Maryland, set to begin at noon at the tennis courts at Pullen Park. The women's tennis team will also host senior day on Sunday at noon against Boston College.
Glennon knows all eyes will be critiquing his performance, and he's fine with the scrutiny.
"This is the closest thing I can get to game experience during the spring," he said. "Obviously, I've gone through spring before and have practiced with these guys before. The thing I lack the most is game experience, so this is the best opportunity for me to go out and perform in game-like situations and try to get better.
"So far this spring, it's been a good opportunity for me to improve. This will be the lineup that I'll play with next fall. I feel like I'm comfortable with them, and they're comfortable with me."
Glennon sees improvement all around him.
More importantly, head coach Tom O'Brien sees improvement in his offense as well.
"I think Mike is going to be a great quarterback," O'Brien said. "He has different skills than Russell, but the reason [offensive coordinator] Dana Bible has had good quarterbacks his entire career is that we do a lot of testing of them, to know what their strengths and weaknesses are.
"He always designs his offense to maximize those strengths and minimize those weaknesses. That's what we'll do with Mike."
Glennon, who has waited in the wings for three seasons for this opportunity, is ready for the challenge. So far little has changed since last year, when he worked with the starting offense throughout spring practice. Being under the microscope in this game is not really a big deal.
"It's really pretty much the same as last year," Glennon said. "Practice isn't much different. But I know it will be when we get back to work this fall."
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
