Tim Stevens: Pack doing well with in-state prospects

General NCS Football Tom O'Brien115

N&O Preps reporter Tim Stevens notes the progress NC State is making in-state.

State has eight commitments, including six from in the state.

But the key to in-state recruiting isn’t just signing players. It’s signing the right players.

So far, State is hitting that mark, too. Five of its six in-state recruits are ranked among the top 30 North Carolina prospects by rivals.com.

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General NCS Football Tom O'Brien

115 Responses to Tim Stevens: Pack doing well with in-state prospects

  1. RabidWolf 07/01/2007 at 10:34 AM #

    IMHO, this is how TOB will build NC State up to the next level. Remember that DS and MOC recruited NC heavily (Although the latter had coaching issues). I look forward to this season and truly believe that the Wolfpack is going to shock the ACC if not the nation.

    GO ‘Pack!

  2. swedish 07/01/2007 at 6:13 PM #

    I look forward to this season and truly believe that the Wolfpack is going to shock the ACC if not the nation.

    maybe not this year…gotta give it some time so his players and his system gets ready

    but man am i excited…feels good when the Wolfpack nation is united. Which it definitely was not with CTC and herb

  3. beowolf 07/01/2007 at 6:56 PM #

    Herb and Chuck both had the fans united at their beginnings. Both found ways to losing them, part of which included losing to UNC for three straight seasons.

  4. Frank 07/01/2007 at 8:01 PM #

    _____________________

    part of which included losing to UNC for three straight seasons.

    _________________________

    It was not JUST losing to UNC for three straight years, it was losing when NCSU clearly had much better talent than UNC. It was losing because of coaching.

  5. ncsu_kappa 07/01/2007 at 9:04 PM #

    Keep in mind that this coach will live and die like CTC on the development of our QB play. If we would have had the kid from Miami or Reggie Ball from GT; two mediocre QB’s we would still have CTC in Raleigh, way more wins, and somewhat more happy fanbase. One position got him fired. The penalties are synonymous with a lot of aggresive teams especially on defense so that didn’t bother me, but the lack of QB production did. If O’Brien doesn’t get a descent signal caller we will be calling for his job in three and if he does I believe the rest will “continue” to fall into place. RB’s, defense, and WR’s. Our losing was on the shoulders of poor QB play which can be linked into coaching. Look at MD, they were in the same boat as far as QB play. Looks like that software training program they bought may just work out for them, b/c they are landing some tight WR’s.

  6. RabidWolf 07/01/2007 at 10:16 PM #

    Look for Stone to make a nice impact at TE. This kid is the personification of TEAM…he could have pouted, quit, transferred out and played QB somewhere else (a smaller school perhaps), but he stuck it out and learned a new position. Stone has the determination and the heart (not to mention the size) to be a pretty good TE for the ‘Pack. This kid has gone from QB goat to a fan favorite in less than a year, and has earned respect, at least from me.

  7. packpigskinfan23 07/01/2007 at 11:16 PM #

    ^me too.

    with the time he is spending practicing I expect him to improve drastically since that GT game last year. And he didnt play THAT bad then.

    better then Ant. Hill who has the worst hands I have ever seen on a recieving TE.

  8. beowolf 07/02/2007 at 12:15 AM #

    Frank, I figured I didn’t need to spell it all out for Pack fans. Herb was favored in 4 out of 6 games against Roy, and Chuck should have beat the heels without any problems the last three years. And it wasn’t just the UNC games, either, although they were indicative.

  9. ncsu_kappa 07/02/2007 at 6:43 AM #

    Agreed that Stone is the epitome of team player. As far Ant. Hill goes, remember it could be worse like that T.E. that played for Ohio State that dropped that wide open TD against Texas two years ago. Wow I hated it for that guy in Columbus

  10. Great Dane Guy 07/02/2007 at 8:34 AM #

    TOB’s future will depend on Bible and Horton. If they can make a QB and an OL, TOB will be fine.

  11. noah 07/02/2007 at 8:56 AM #

    Daniel Evans’ troubles last year didn’t have anything to do with coaching. He’s just not a very good quarterback. He’s a good div. I backup. He’s like a fifth-starter in baseball. He’s better than a long reliever and he gives your real starters a day off and he gives you a 40-50 percent chance of winning.

    I’m not making excuses for any of our coaches…but we’ve been down this road before. We had one of the best OL coaches in college football in Mike Barry and everyone thought THAT ALONE was going to fix our OL problems. We didn’t have any talent, however, so…this being college sports, everyone blamed the coach (It’s only appropriate to blame players in pro sports).

    “Oh, don’t worry. The problem was coaching! Once we get Pat Meyer in there…everything’s going to change! Totally different mindset with Meyer. Not like with that other chump. You wait and see!”

    Well…the OL still sucked under Meyer. Why? Because we had a bunch of guys who probably ought to be playing for William and Mary and Elon and App. State instead of in the ACC.

    Where’s Mike Barry today? Coaching in the NFL. Where’s Pat Meyer? Seems like he’s a volunteer coach out at Cardinal-Gibbons High School.

    Yeah….it was all coaching.

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m psyched about having Tom O’Brien in Raleigh. But there’s no getting around a serious lack of talent at some very, very critical places on this squad.

  12. BoKnowsNCS71 07/02/2007 at 9:20 AM #

    It all comes down to the product on the field or floor. When CTC won — he was treated like a god, when he lost (consistently) and also demonstrated a shortfall in management skills in keeping and hiring assistants — he was the dog.

    HWSNBN on the other hand was sucessfully lack luster. The product on the floor was a boring game. He had success but it was viewed as shallow and fan support drifted away. Kudos to him for seeing that there were greener fields elsewhere. And thank goodness we got lucky.

    Now we have a coach whos doing what it takes to play an exciting up tempo game which is pulling in the talent who can beat the historically upper echelon ACC teams.

    And in football, we have an organized coach who understand how to manage the staff (a la Sheridan), hires good assistants who can do their jobs well, nurtures good relations with the HS coaches (who influence their players), and knows how to talk to talented kids on both sides of the line to get them to come to NC State. And maybe some discipline? I don’t think we will see the Pack having TDs and plus yardage plays called back like last year (and that was sooooo embarassing to watch).

    Two very separate personalities — both replaced for different reasons with the types of staff needed to be successful. TOB is going to shine at NC State. May take a year or so — but we are in very good hands and I’m excited.

  13. Sam92 07/02/2007 at 9:23 AM #

    Wake Forest delivered such a message about the current state of the ACC — we no longer have (in Miami and FSU) teams in the ACC that have a talent level so far ahead of the rest of the conference that the games aren’t even competitive.

    The difference is now made in the ability to recruit for improvement (as a result of solid coaching and player motivation) and suitability to specific positions. In this environment, WF’s slow, competent recruiting *and player development* paid off over a few years.

    Every indication is that Tom O’Brien can accomplish the same thing, and even better (aided by the better resources available at NCSU).

    I think we’ll start to see the difference right away, but expect the team to really excel in about two years.

  14. noah 07/02/2007 at 9:34 AM #

    Off topic, but if anyone is interested:

    http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6407

    Interview with former NC State baseball player and current Red Sox prospect, Aaron Bates (who is killing it at A ball). Free content.

  15. Mike 07/02/2007 at 10:22 AM #

    With regards to the postings here, most of you are right on. Our QB play will determine the difference in a lot of our W-L’s. QB play sometimes can be misleading. Put Dan Marino behind our line last year, and tell me about his NFL prospects. Peyton Manning would have looked like Eli behind our line last year.

    When we hired TOB, the first thing I was excited about (and I mentioned this before) was his recruitment of lineman. He recrtuis good lineman and understands the OL is the key to good offensive play. Good OL come from Ohio, Pa, areas where TOB has recruited heavily. It wont be immediate – takes some time to get these lineman in – but long term TOB will have very good Olines. At that point, QB play improves dramatically, even with an avg QB.

  16. lush 07/02/2007 at 11:07 AM #

    the o-line is more inmportant than the qb. especially since we have great running backs. we wont need to have spectacular qb play if we have a spectacular o-line to make holes for the killer b’s.

  17. BJD95 07/02/2007 at 11:09 AM #

    Noah is spot on re Evans, IMHO. He’s the kind of guy that is a fantastic backup, but his physical limitations get exposed if he has to start more than a few games (like the junkballer 5th starter once the league gets a good look at him).

  18. CedarGroveWolf 07/02/2007 at 12:00 PM #

  19. BoKnowsNCS71 07/02/2007 at 12:48 PM #

    CGW — I’ll take boring 9-3’s, and 8-4’s, and bowl game for 9 years straight and be happy. Every school alumni has its expectations. My expectations for a National Championsip in football are much less than in basketball.

  20. CedarGroveWolf 07/02/2007 at 1:09 PM #

    “I’ll take boring 9-3’s, and 8-4’s, and bowl game for 9 years straight and be happy.”

    Based on history, a lot of NCSU fans would want more after several years of that.

  21. RedTerror29 07/02/2007 at 1:35 PM #

    ^More than that would be much easier to achieve after several years of 9-3 and 8-4. Let’s start there.

    And if we ever win two national championships in football 9-3 or 8-4 will get old real quick.

  22. CaptainCraptacular 07/02/2007 at 1:58 PM #

    I wonder how differently our season would have gone had Evans gotten us into field goal range (yes I know he had a concussion) and we had won the game vs Wake, which would have put us at 3-0 in the conference.

    I know the easy comment would be to say we would’ve gone 3-5 (4-8), but I tend to believe the season would have been radically different had the end of that one game gone a bit differently.

    I’m incredibly thankful and glad we have TOB now, and although I’m never thrilled about the pack losing, what happened last year turned out for the best. I just wonder what couldve gotten truly rolling had we beaten Wake.

  23. packpigskinfan23 07/02/2007 at 2:23 PM #

    I dont think Evans is a GREAT QB either… BUT he does have some skills when it comes to rolling out of the pocket.

    I still cringe everytime he does it though!

  24. lush 07/02/2007 at 3:03 PM #

    “Based on history, a lot of NCSU fans would want more after several years of that.”

    First of all why shouldnt we? Isnt that the goal? You know, the reason that they are out on the field, to win? Who just sits there and says oh i think 8 wins is good enough, we dont need any more than that, we’re doing fine and we should just stay this way.

    And you posting a broken record has got to win some sort of a reward for irony.

  25. lush 07/02/2007 at 3:04 PM #

    ^ probably should have used award instead of reward. oh well

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