North Carolina State University Athletics
Kicking Off Preseason Football
7/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 21, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. - NC State football coach Tom O'Brien had his CliffsNotes' analysis ready on Thursday afternoon when he was asked to break down his Wolfpack's outlook for the 2011 football season.
O'Brien was appearing at the ninth-annual Pigskin Preview, featuring head coaches from NC State, North Carolina, Duke, East Carolina and North Carolina Central to benefit the Bill Dooley/Triangle East Chapter of the National Football Foundation. And he gave a preview of the speech he is likely to repeat, in much more depth, in coming weeks as his team prepares for its Sept. 3 season-opener against Liberty at Carter-Finley Stadium.
"Offensively, the biggest losses are at the wide receiver position," O'Brien said, talking specifically about the departures of Owen Spencer, Jarvis Williams and Darrell Davis. "We have no experience out there right now. That's our biggest concern."
Between them, the trio accounted for 138 receptions, 1,952 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns for the Wolfpack offense. The primary producers who return in the passing game are All-ACC tight end George Bryan and running backs Mustafa Greene and James Washington, who combined for 97 catches, 826 yards and six touchdowns between them.
The top returning receiver is speedy senior T.J. Graham, who caught 25 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns.
Otherwise, O'Brien has confidence in his offense, particularly under center, where junior Mike Glennon takes over as the starting quarterback. O'Brien has been impressed with every aspect of Glennon's development since last season ended.
"Michael Glennon has done a wonderful job for us," O'Brien told an overflowing ballroom at the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club in Durham. "He has patiently waited his turn. He's made every practice and every strength and conditioning thing we have had for four years. He's ready to go.
"He had a great spring practice. As I said on numerous occasions, he reminds us of the four kids we had at Boston College that all played in the NFL. He will be fine for us."
He is similarly confident about the rest of his offense.
"On the offensive line, we have a lot of guys back who've played," O'Brien said. "I don't know that we have a lot of depth there, but we have some guys who've played.
"At running back, we are in a much better situation than we were a year ago.
I think we will be fine there."
Last year, the Wolfpack had no experience at all in the offensive backfield.
But Greene and Washington matured as the season went along, with Washington starting the last four games, including the victory over West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl. And junior Brandon Barnes returns this fall after missing all of last season while recovering from ankle surgery.
O'Brien is similarly optimistic about his defense, which improved dramatically last season, and not just because senior linebacker Nate Irving had the best year of his career. The once injury-ravaged secondary developed and matured, and the defensive front improved as the season progressed.
"Losing Nate will be tough for this football team," O'Brien said. "But in the spring, we took Audie Cole from the outside and moved him inside and moved one of our freshmen from last year, D.J. Green, to the field linebacker.
"I think in some respects we could be better there."
There is a glaring weakness that O'Brien sees: on special teams. He welcomes a new placekicker, a new punter and a new long snapper to the squad this season. Wilmington's Wil Baumann was recruited at punter and Wake Forest, N.C., product Niklas Sade, rated the third-best prospect in the nation at his position, was recruited at placekicker.
"If there is an area of concern on our football team it is our kicking game. We are going to have a freshman at kicker and a freshman punter," O'Brien said. "Even though both kids have great legs and the right disposition for college football, until we get into Carter-Finley Stadium and that crowd's there and they kick a ball, we have to figure out which way it is going to go.
"That's the biggest question mark right now."
The Wolfpack finished 9-4 last season, including the bowl victory in Orlando, and was ranked 25th in the final Associated Press football poll. The Pack also challenged for the Atlantic Division's spot in the ACC Championship game until the final few minutes of the regular-season finale.
But the coach has higher aspirations than just to be close to a championship.
"We want to be better than we were last year," he said. "We're not trying to maintain. We got into a situation last year that we lost three games in the last minute of the game. We have to find a way to get over that hump to win those close games.
"Certainly, it's hard the first time you get to that situation, and it was all new to these kids. Hopefully, we'll be a little better poised and a little better prepared. With the experience we have now on this football team, we want to make sure we give ourselves the opportunity to get to Charlotte this year and play in that game."
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
