TSN’s Hayes: Pack Football an Instant Contender?

'07 Football General Media NCS Football Tom O'Brien43

Here’s some good press from my March 19, 2007 hard copy of The Sporting News:

I keep seeing early projections that NC State will be among the worst teams in the ACC. Let’s not forget the one thing former coach Chuck Amato did well: recruit. There is talent on that roster, and if the players buy into new coach Tom O’Brien’s disciplinarian style, they’ll compete for a division championship this fall.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

'07 Football General Media NCS Football Tom O'Brien

43 Responses to TSN’s Hayes: Pack Football an Instant Contender?

  1. beowolf 03/24/2007 at 3:01 PM #

    I think it’s important to underscore also that TOB is a proven winner as a head coach. There is a clear Leadership quality that proven head coaches have that assistant coaches may not have. For all the things that he DID have as a head coach, Chuck was a poor manager. He lost key assistants, then he lost games, and then he lost control.

  2. vtpackfan 03/24/2007 at 4:47 PM #

    We are going to have to be opportunistic on offense and defense. On offense our OL will not allow our talented group of RB’s to just chalk up 3 + yards in a cloud of dust every play. We will have to keep them honest with the playcalling and hopefully break some nice chunks off now and then. The passing game will be much of the same. We know we’re going to get sacked some, but we’re going to also have to take our shots down field, epecially on play action, if we ever plan to break 24 points again.

    On defense, we’re just not dominating at LB so we have got to find ways to take some chances and force TO’s. Archer and defense will decide if we are Bowl bound or not, IMO. We have some talent on that side of the ball, but not with the same depth of explosivesiveness we’ve had in the past. We’re going to have to manufacture some pressure, either in safety or corner blitz’s to compensate.

    Lastly, No Deraney so we are just going for it every 4th down, right. Kidding, the JC punter and two red shirt kickers out to get it sorted out. With some hard work and Blackman using his head, we may have some very good special teams this year.

  3. brown pelican 03/24/2007 at 5:19 PM #

    evans still running with the 1’s at QB?—would hate to see us waste his year of experience from last season

  4. Pack92 03/24/2007 at 7:38 PM #

    The timing of penalties is what killed us so often. It seemed to me the OC position was one that never really gelled for us. Holding can be tolerated and overcome in a drive but not on the opposition 3 yard line. Remember the Clemson game 2 years ago? How many TD’s were taken off the board? 3? I have never seen a BC team look as bad as us the last 3 years when it comes to penalties – especially momentum killing, REALLY bad timing penalties. I do understand that type of thing, especially on offense, is hard to control with Assistant coaches jumping ship the way our have the last 5 years. You may see smoke in one area but get burned somewhere else. I agree we may get suprised at how many wins TOB posts this year. Look at Sid, the right coach can do alot with not a wealth of talent. It seems to me TOB has plenty more to work with than Sid and is not an unknown (previously!) when to comes to ability to coach.

  5. waxhaw 03/25/2007 at 7:19 AM #

    I really believe a consistent winner like Sheridan would make the majority of our fanbase happy. We do not have national championships in football hanging in Carter Finley. If O’Brien comes in and simply matches the wins at BC, we are going to be very happy. (at least for 3 or 4 years 😉 )

  6. choppack1 03/25/2007 at 12:44 PM #

    A couple of points here – w/ Chuck it was NEVER just about the penalties. It was just as much about the turnovers and lack of mental focus at key points and time.

    The general carelessness on display of the wolfpack football team reared it’s head in year 4 for Chuck. Not so coincidentally, this is also the year that Chuck’s culture was starting to take shape.

    Against FSU, a late TA fumble right before halftime gives a demoralized FSU new life. In the same game, tied w/ 2 minutes left, we have Philip on the field directing what should be another story book driver (similar to the one we had vs. UVa a week or two earlier) – Brian Clark fumbles after a first down catch.

    This year, w/ the pack nursing a lead vs. Wake Forest, Andre Brown fumbles it, reversing the fortunes of 2 teams for the rest of the year. We weren’t done yet though, in the next series a mental breakdown allows Wake to score on a fluke pass play.

    The bottum line, w/ Amato’s teams it was never about effort. The effort was usually fantastic. To me, there was always something missing on the mental focus area. Dropped passes, ill-timed penalities, turnovers, blown assignments…These aren’t things that winning football programs do in bunches.

    Much like it was w/ Herb, our football team wasn’t far from doing something special during the last 7 years. If the effort remains the same AND the execution is better, I think we’ll all be very happy.

  7. Packaholic1 03/25/2007 at 3:34 PM #

    Legacyman has it right, but what’s done is done and now TOB is our coach and we need to learn to support our coaches and players, whoever they are. Blaming losses on people who are working their tails off gets us nothing but an internets-obsessed fan base living in a fantasy world.

  8. TNCSU 03/25/2007 at 10:26 PM #

    Has anyone heard about some of the uniform changes TOB has in store? I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag, but I think we are in for some excitement this year. TOB can coach, and I have a quiet confidence that the Pack will be back this year! I agree with Choppack, it’s not penalties, it’s “discipline” — the ability to bounce back from penalties, and NOT make the costly penalties, and play like a “TEAM” – not a group of individual football players. TOB will employ that mentality to the team! SEMPER FI!

  9. legacyman 03/26/2007 at 8:24 AM #

    I agree with the analysis involving fumbles but those are unexplained mistakes and how does a coach correct them. I recall TA fumbling when he was 20 yards from a sure TD and no one near him. Other RBs have dropped the ball, for instance, the Clemson game and others.

    We have had critical fumbling problems with other coaches and they had no magic solutions either. You can make a kid carry a football everywhere he goes, to class, to the bathroom, etc. but who knows if it will work.

    Concentration is something that the individual must develop and for many it is very difficult. Sometimes it migt involve a kid who has distraction problems as evidenced in the classroom. Do you sit him or give him several chances…what is right here?

    I hope for the best but some posters are getting a little too hyped and they could be in for a very big letdown next season if TOB doesn’t win the ACC title.

  10. GAWolf 03/26/2007 at 8:28 AM #

    Brown Pelican: The bulk of the information I’ve received says that all three guys are still getting about an equal share of reps at QB. In other words, everyone is getting a good look and the competition is completely open. Rumor has it from folks around the program that Burke seems to have been the most impressive so far. Sounds like a starter might not be named until weeks before our first game next fall, however. We’ll have to see, but Evans is getting the same opportunity as the rest of the guys. It makes sense his in-experience is one of thing that should help him in the position competition over the other guys, but there is no “No. 1” as of now.

  11. GAWolf 03/26/2007 at 8:29 AM #

    “in-game-experience”… sorry.

  12. newt 03/26/2007 at 10:26 AM #

    I agree with the SN writer; I’m expecting about 8 wins.

    Amato was fired because his team didn’t win as much as expected.

    O’Brien averaged about 8-9 wins a year at BC with less talent.

    O’Brien has expressed nothing but confidence that NC State will be bowl bound this year.

    QB is a question, obviously.

  13. GAWolf 03/26/2007 at 11:56 AM #

    Heard first rumblings today on the street that some players are saying that Nelson Beck has shown the most potential as a starter… that being over Burke and then Evans.

  14. pakfanistan 03/26/2007 at 2:36 PM #

    So Beck, Burke, Evans is what you’re hearing?

  15. brown pelican 03/26/2007 at 7:07 PM #

    gawolf—appreciate the update—evans will compete hard—it only bodes well for us if one of the other guys is good enough to beat him out—still—his athleticism or lack of may prove to be his undoing—the way the game is played now in the echelons that we aspire to—ya gotta have a guy who can use his wheels to make a play when the stuff hits the fan—go pack

  16. GAWolf 03/26/2007 at 8:48 PM #

    I was going to email this directly to SFN last week, and it’s old news now to some probably but Ray Brooks is no longer with the team and will most likely not ever be back. If SFN will give some contact info I’ll be happy to share off-blog as to the information I was provided as to why.

    As to the QB’s, the only given I can gather from several differing stories from several different and usually reliable sources is that all the guys are getting a good look. The differences of each story are as to who is “leading.” It doesn’t sound as if the staff really cares who is “leading” so these opinions from people close to the program probably don’t mean much more than yours or mine and we haven’t seen a snap of practice.

    I heard today the stats from a scrimmage are out… anyone know where I can see those?

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Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » TOB Building Bridges - 03/30/2007

    […] Yesterday, Bobby V bridged the past…today, Tom O’ Brien is building bridges to mend some deterioriated relationships between NC State football and local high school football coaches. Tom O’Brien’s priority this spring is preparing N.C. State for the 2007 season during off-season workouts. But cultivating relationships with the people who’ll be supplying talent to his program is also a major focus for the Wolfpack’s first-year head coach. O’Brien spent Tuesday evening working on the latter in Fayetteville as the guest speaker at the monthly meeting for the region’s high school football coaches. “It’s important to get to know these guys,’’ O’Brien said. “We know how strong the high school football in this area is.’’ […]
  2. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » Recruiting’s a low down, dirty game - 04/12/2007

    […] With the Spring Football game approaching this weekend and with NC State’s football recruiting evolving into a very different dynamic under Tom O’Brien than we had under Chuck Amato, we thought that we would share some interesting insight from a former college football coach. […]

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