Depth Chart Released

'07 Football General NCS Football80

Link to pdf. Daniel Evans is listed as the #1 QB, Beck is his backup. Based on what we have read and heard, none of the QBs looked that good in the preseason, and it remains a position to be concerned about. All 3 RBs (including Eugene) are listed as “co-starters.” Interesting.

Demario Pressley is also not listed on the 2-deep. Hopefully, we’ll hear some details during O’Brien’s press conference.

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'07 Football General NCS Football

80 Responses to Depth Chart Released

  1. noah 08/28/2007 at 11:34 AM #

    Ah, my mistake.

    And I agree with Waxhaw — there are six or seven winnable games on the schedule.

    C. Florida, Wofford, ECU, UVa, UNC, Wake and Maryland….that’s seven games that I think we have a reasonable chance to win. I just don’t think we’ll run the table in those games.

  2. BJD95 08/28/2007 at 11:41 AM #

    One game (Wofford) should be a gimme. I figure decent coaching wins 3 of the “winnable” games, and good coaching likely ekes out a 4th. Thus, my prediction of 5-7.

    Beck and Burke failing to win the QB job just reinforces my skepticism that our upside potential is much higher this season.

  3. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 08/28/2007 at 11:44 AM #

    I also remember a bunch of people speaking about how God was on Evans side after the BC game. There seemed to be an entire thread with over hundred post about how God takes care of good people. Which I thought was very absurd but anyway if that was the case, why did God abandon Evans?

  4. noah 08/28/2007 at 11:47 AM #

    “There seemed to be an entire thread with over hundred post about how God takes care of good people.”

    If Job had internet access, he’d be giving those people the finger. 🙂

  5. BJD95 08/28/2007 at 11:53 AM #

    ^ and ^^ Reminds me of the old routine (think it may have been David Cross, who is freaking hilarious) about the post-game interview where the player says “We were going to win…until Jesus made me fumble.”

    Although I can shamefully admit to having prayed for divine intervention in my younger years of Wolfpack fandom. Now, as a mature adult, I can see that God likely has more important things to worry about and just talk to (and plead with) the TV, or the ambient air.

  6. packgrad93 08/28/2007 at 11:56 AM #

    just beat unc & ezu & i’ll be happy

  7. lush 08/28/2007 at 12:16 PM #

    noah that was too funny, and bjd david cross is the man.

    did anyone listen to david glenn yesterday at about 5pm? he called state a swing team. he likes us against ucf and wofford. he likes bc, miami, and lousiville over us. and everbody else is a swing game, including fsu (even though i think chuck was mainly responsible for tour fsu success) and clemson. meaning we could swing our way into a 7 or 8 win season.

  8. cradletograve 08/28/2007 at 12:32 PM #

    Has there been a significant change in Wofford’s personnel since last year? They lost to USC 27-20 after a Wofford pass was batted down on USC’s 10 yard line with 29 seconds left. So why do so many think this is a gimme?

  9. haze 08/28/2007 at 1:02 PM #

    Wholeheartedly agree with BJD on Evans.

    Daniel is an OK QB with a ceiling that looks something like Riley Skinner over at Wake. As the Deacs proved, you can win with a guy like that if you have the right combination of scheme, talent and luck elsewhere. He’s a caretaker and, for Beck at least, he is a litmus test. If you are in year 3 of your college career and cannot beat Evans out, then it’s unlikely that you have what it takes to become an above-average signal caller in D1 football. That Evans is only one year ahead of Beck doesn’t improve the prospects. Now, this is not to say that Beck will never start (I’ll bet he starts this year at some point), just that he’s probably not bringing anything that the fans should be really dying to see. FWIW, I’m cutting Burke a little more slack b/c he’s only in year 2 but, if anything, his situation may be more tenuous than Beck’s as he’s behind not 1 but 2 guys (probably for at least 2 years) and he has 2 more kids of comparable or greater talent coming in behind him (Wilson/Glennon).

    As far as the team’s prospects this year & even next, I think the outcome of this QB race has serious implications. This is mainly b/c you just cannot win if you have both QB and OL problems. Because QB is just one guy, it’s easier to find some talent and have a big turnaround at that position. When you don’t get that quick fix, you are relying on OL improvement and that means fixing a unit of 5-6 guys, plus plug-ins… all in all, a much slower-turning battleship. Point being that we do not appear to have found a savior in the QB ranks and will now rely on coaching up both the OL and the QB. That’s a recipe for not one but probably 2 seasons of transition. Hopefully, transition will mean 5-7 wins per season (not unreasonable) and a couple of UNC beat downs. If so, I think we’ll be very solid in year 3.

  10. PamlicoPack 08/28/2007 at 1:15 PM #

    lush, I was going to say that I thought Clemson should be in Noah’s category of “winnable” games….mainly because we always seem to play amazingly well against Clemson as an underdog (which we will most likely be, barring significant stumbles by them in early September) and because lately TOB has had pretty good success against them.

    And really, given FSU’s dreadful play last year, count me among those who don’t think they are going to instantly solve all their problems this year. I think the enormous talent/speed gap they enjoyed from 1993 until about three years ago is gone, and it isn’t coming back.

  11. TNCSU 08/28/2007 at 1:46 PM #

    Personally, I don’t agree with putting “ceilings” on QB’s. Football is a team sport, and a couple of years ago, alot of people would have said Drew Brees’ ceiling was to be an average to below average NFL QB, while Eli Manning was going to be a perrenial all-pro. Hmmm? Who would you rather have leading your team, now? Not to say Eli won’t be an All-Pro, but what gives a QB his ceiling? His arm strength? His height? His mobility? I can name great QB’s that were lacking in all of the above. Just to say, I think we should give Evans a chance. Last year when he did throw the ball down the field, he had some success – mainly in the FSU game. After that game, I don’t really remember us throwing down the field very often. It was mostly dump off passes. Just my opinion, but good QB’s find a way to win when given the opportunity. I think DE’s season (and State’s) could have (would have) turned out alot differently had Gattis NOT intercepted that pass at the end of the WF game. Let’s give him a chance to keep his job, before giving him some ambiguous “ceiling.” Hopefully, he can prove some of his detractors wrong.

  12. McPete 08/28/2007 at 1:47 PM #

    David Cross is indeed the man. check out Run Ronnie Run if you already haven’t.

    i hate having to say we’ll be good in two, three years. that’s a long time to wait. and if you think this year’s two deep has lots of freshman, i bet next there will be more.

  13. packpigskinfan23 08/28/2007 at 2:18 PM #

    I agree that if Beck couldnt rise up above Evans then it dosnt really say much for him, concidering his athleticism.

    One more reason TOB might have went with Evans is maturity and attitude.

    I think someone linked above some examples of this- and this one was probably in it… but this is from the Technician today from Beck, “I really dont believe in the whole experience thing. How is another QB going to get better if he dosnt get experience? Dan got his shot to get experience last year.”

  14. PamlicoPack 08/28/2007 at 2:52 PM #

    Maybe a spirited QB battle is exactly what we need…it is obvious Beck wants the job and wants it badly. Not such a bad thing, in my book…

  15. TNCSU 08/28/2007 at 3:07 PM #

    ^^I agree! Competition is good!

  16. tvp 08/28/2007 at 3:11 PM #

    “C. Florida, Wofford, ECU, UVa, UNC, Wake and Maryland….that’s seven games that I think we have a reasonable chance to win. I just don’t think we’ll run the table in those games.”

    I’d replace Wake with Clemson on this list. Frightening backfield aside, Clemson does not scare me, especially at home. Conversely, Groves has been a house of horrors, even when Wake was not that good.

    Lots of good points here. Disagree a little with Mr. O on the D. Evans numbers – take out the true desparation heaves, and it’s still something like a 1-6 ratio. The “1” isn’t getting any bigger.

    It’s so tough to look at last year and project this year because so very many things were screwed up last year, making it difficult to tell who bore what percentage of blame.

    I’m going with 5-7. We are one OL injury at every position (save maybe C) away from putting in someone who we really don’t want to see out there.

    Speaking of Noah’s point about JuCo’s not panning out – wasn’t Garret Kline a 3 or 4 star tackle that everyone was raving about? He can’t beat out either true frosh at backup tackle?

  17. haze 08/28/2007 at 3:16 PM #

    Well, we don’t really put ceilings on these guys. We just try to speak efficiently about what we see.

    Seriously, I fully expect both Daniel and our OL to get better. Hopefully, a lot better. In fact, the Luke Lathan interview at PP has some nuggets that make me a bit giddy in my hope for OL improvement, which I think is MUCH more critical for our upcoming season than having Evans or Beck at QB. Still, when you win only 3 games in a season, you can get a lot better and win only 5-6 games the next year. When you are QB that puts up numbers like Evans did last year (it takes a lot of caveat work to make them seem acceptable), you can get a lot better and only begin to approach average. If it all comes together, we might have an above average offense next season (merely above-avg, not really good). That seems really improbable this season.

  18. vtpackfan 08/28/2007 at 3:56 PM #

    To play devils advocate, QB’s with a chip on their shoulder aren’t always a bad thing. One example is this Bennet kid down in GT. All he did was go in and light up the scoreboard in the Jackets bowl game (helps to have had Calvin Johnson as a reciever). This year he’s getting into fights with defensive players and running on edge. Not saying that this is a perfect example, but I’m not going to fault Beck for not just giving in and accepting a back up role. He wants in and he’s pretty aggressive about voicing his opinions. Let’s sit back and watch this unfold a bit and pretend like we have a staff who knows how to handle these things.

    After thinking about it some, I’ve come to accept the fact that some true frosh playing this season could lead to a better situation in the future. Our OL ranks are very thin (vast understatement). With Heppe and Lathan gone next season we may need Roberts and Vermiglio to get some experience going forward into next season. The latest recruit Andrew Wallace may even get a shot next year to crack the depth chart. Pretty pathetic that in CTC’s last recruiting year he only signed ONE OL!

  19. primacyone 08/28/2007 at 3:57 PM #

    It appears Beck will also be gettting playing time in the UCF game. According to this Tony Haynes artical at gopack.com:

    http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=1178771

    As I told [Evans], he shouldn’t be looking over his shoulder,” O’Brien said. “He has to go and play and do the best he can. He understands that he has to perform and perform well to keep his job. As I said to Harrison, he’s got to be ready to go in at the drop of a hat. If he prepares well this week, I think it would be best for our football team to get him in the game because he hasn’t been in a game in a long time. You don’t want to be in a situation eight games down the road and him never being in a football game. When and if he’ll go into the game, that will be a game time situation type of deal. We only have one starter and that’s Dan.”

  20. RochesterRedWolf 08/28/2007 at 4:41 PM #

    vtpackfan, i don’t mind that a guy is upset, i want him to be, the kid was the 4th rated passer coming out of high school, went to freakin Nebraska, he and a few other people thought he was probably God’s gift to football, and now he’s backing up a kid who didn’t even get a scholarship except via legacy and probably can’t throw 50yds in the air, i don’t know. What i question is a kid SHOWING that in public. Alot of things at work piss me off and I let the right people know about it, and we keep it in house, but i don’t air that stuff or show it. I do like Beck’s drive.

    Honestly, i just think there wasn’t that much separation in the scrimmages. TOB/Bible probably said, “hey, Dan[iel] started last year, he’s got game time experience, he knows the offense, let’s just keep things at status quo.” This is similar to the whole short-rope Amato kept Marcus Stone on (and was probably his QB-mental-undoing) last year. As soon as stone failed he was pulled. I have full confidence that TOB/Bible will handle it better. Like they told Stone, its your job, don’t look over your shoulder, perform, lead the team, etc. etc. yada yada yada. But as TOB said, if he doesn’t Beck will get his shot. I know when last year started, i was sortof pulling for marcus to get pulled, i admit it. But comeon, even though we were winning, he would have like 3 yds passing the first half and 89 in the second half. I will not pull for Evans to fail though.

  21. haze 08/28/2007 at 4:41 PM #

    ^ Yes, I hope that TOB and Bible are comfortable getting the back-up QB (whoever he may be) into the game from time to time. CTC never did this very effectively, even when he had a bonafide, no-doubt, unthreatenable stud like Rivers as a starter. Jay Davis could have been reasonably experienced by the time he took the reins, instead he’d throw only a couple dozen passes.

    To enforce my point, I’ll conveniently forget the outrageous number of close games that we played during the Phil’s career 🙂

  22. Primewolf 08/28/2007 at 7:45 PM #

    Look at the bright side.

    CTC could have won one more game or two and he would be coaching this mess. Probably with 2 new assistants to replace 2 that would leave on their own accord.

    Another bright point, if TOB hadn’t come calling, there is no telling what Lee Foulup would have done. We might have ended up with John the Belly.

  23. packplantpath 08/29/2007 at 10:12 AM #

    I was at several games last year, and I have mixed feelings about D. Evans, but here is what I remember. I saw numerous decent passes that were dropped, Evans picking the ball up off the ground after the snap, and opposing linemen in his face often seconds after the snap. Then there was unimaginative playcalling. It seemed like every offensive set was some variation of run, run, pass, punt. It was common to be 3rd and 10 or more, in the last 3 minutes of a game where we were down 3 or 7. Yep, everybody knew to look for the pass. I’ll admit though, this could be a selective memory on my part, because I’m not a stat weenie like some folks (no offense).

    He won’t be great, but he could be decent I think.

  24. packplantpath 08/29/2007 at 3:41 PM #

    lol, no I’m not related, just hopefully optimistic.

    On that note though, since we changed broadcast stations, do our announcers change. I’m not up on this sort of thing, but I would think they are contracted by the university and not the broadcast station, correct? For the most part I like those guys, except the whole NC State just beat a national champion incident after the app game.

  25. GAWolf 08/29/2007 at 4:28 PM #

    As disappointed as I am that one of the younger guys didn’t show foreshadowing of great things in the future such that the staff had no choice but to start one of them, I truly believe Evans has earned the right to at least start the UCF game and show us fans and the staff why he deserves to be our starting QB. He deserves a shot to lose the job if no one else has stepped up and won it.

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