Secondary a Primary Reason For Pack Gains

'07 Football NCS Football77

New season, new secondary.

After going 1-5, N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien encouraged his team to think of the second half of the season as a fresh start. Then he went out and put some fresh bodies in the Wolfpack’s defensive backfield.

“The whole secondary got changed,” O’Brien said.

DeJuan Morgan moved from strong safety to free safety, opening a spot for redshirt freshman Javon Walker in the starting lineup. Jeremy Gray moved up to the No. 1 spot at one cornerback, ahead of two-year starter Jimmy Sutton. The only starter who remained the same was cornerback DeAndre Morgan, and the redshirt freshman only moved into the lineup four games ago.

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'07 Football NCS Football

77 Responses to Secondary a Primary Reason For Pack Gains

  1. packbackr04 10/30/2007 at 5:33 PM #

    BUTCH IS ON THE FIRST TRAIN TO ARKANSAS HE CAN CATCH

  2. noah 10/30/2007 at 5:40 PM #

    If we are ever in search of another AD, Charlie Cobb ought to be very high on the priority list.

  3. noah 10/30/2007 at 5:44 PM #

    Les Robinson was so awful that in Herb’s first game…an exhibition no less…we won the tip and we started to run our offense and you could hear everyone in the building saying, “Oh my god…we’re running plays!” And it was said without any irony. I remember hearing someone yell, “A pick! We just a pick! Look! SCREENS!”

  4. RabidWolf 10/30/2007 at 5:48 PM #

    “After a few years of arm-tackling and no Thunder Dan or Adrian Wilson types, I’m really looking forward to some Pain Train players in our defense that will legally lay the wood on opposition players.”

    AMEN AND AMEN…GOD KNOWS I MISS THIS KID!

  5. RabidWolf 10/30/2007 at 5:49 PM #

    I know I’m wearing that clip out, but I was there, and I loved it!

    Everybody say it…..BOOM! 😛

  6. RabidWolf 10/30/2007 at 5:54 PM #

    “BUTCH IS ON THE FIRST TRAIN TO ARKANSAS HE CAN CATCH”

    Looks like UNX has a short-term Mack Brown on their hands!

    I doubt he’ll stick around long enough to match what Brown did with the ‘holes.

  7. Ismael 10/30/2007 at 6:02 PM #

    For a long time, and maybe still, the business world was eager to hire retiring officers and career military men just for their sheer ability to multi-task and organize rather disparate entities. The only real difference between the military and the regular world whether its business or sports is the fact that mistakes in the battle field get people killed and mistakes in sports (Except if you are a south american soccer player) usually just make you embarrassed. So yes, there is no comparing the end results but as Noah said, no one is saying that sports and military are the same, just tend to be able to transfer skills learned in one to the other

  8. Mike 10/30/2007 at 6:08 PM #

    This is a football thread, and while enjoying the memories, I am goign back to football. Miami is hot/cold, no telling which team shows up. Miami team in 1st half of UNX game, we have a very good shot at winning. Miami that shows up in 2nd half of UNX game is going to be tough.

    Other than Clempsun, we have been in every game and have been competitive. Buying into the system I think has been the difference. We are playing with a little talent (not much but a little) but I think the team concept is coming around. Taken some time, but we are getting there. I want to win EVERY game and dont get me wrong, but if we beat the Tar Holes and finish 4-8, I am happy.

  9. RabidWolf 10/30/2007 at 6:11 PM #

    Which is worse, miami’s run D or their pass D?

  10. Ismael 10/30/2007 at 6:26 PM #

    OFFENSE TM PER GAME AVERAGE / NCAA RANK
    Total Yards
    NCST 356.9 / 94th
    MIA 348.4 / 103rd

    Passing Yards
    NCST 266.0 / 38th
    MIA 191.3 / 102nd

    Rushing Yards
    NCST 90.9 / 111th
    MIA 157.1 / 61st

    Points Scored
    NCST 22.6 / 92nd
    MIA 25.4 / 75th

    I think this is gonna be a close game. If we pressure the QB like we’ve been doing the last two weeks though, i think we may actually blow them out. The reason why is that if you look at Kyle Wrights numbers…he got 9tds and 9int. He sounds like a hybrid between Evans and Beck. He is not mobile at all, nothing even close to what we faced with Jameel Sewell. All we have to do is contain their RB’s which we did against ECU. ECU’s RB is like 3rd in the nation in total yds/game.

    Go Pack!!

  11. RabidWolf 10/30/2007 at 6:30 PM #

    I’ll take State by 7.

  12. highstick 10/30/2007 at 6:35 PM #

    Where are you guys getting the info on Butch? I’ve predicted that would be the case, but am curious as to the source.

    You guys are right about the military similarity. Different, but similar in developing the trust and reliance on the guy next to you. As much as I wanted to “finish up and get out”, I’ll never forget those days.

  13. Mr O 10/30/2007 at 6:37 PM #

    Kyle Wright may not even play Saturday.

  14. bTHEredterror 10/30/2007 at 6:40 PM #

    “…….and good enough that the media won’t blow Butch Davis all off-season.”

    Impossible. If we were undefeated and they were winless, the offseason would be the same. Non-stop “sleeping giant” psycho-babble.

    “BUTCH IS ON THE FIRST TRAIN TO ARKANSAS HE CAN CATCH”

    I’m laughing at all of the “he’s got too much class to do a one and done” you hear from the media. Aren’t these the same bunch of hypocrite Tarholes that ran Daugherty off after 2 measly years?

    What goes around comes back around again.

  15. RabidWolf 10/30/2007 at 6:54 PM #

    I still have a firm belief that it was the players who got Doherty fired. Just think about it….who has the coach’s future directly in their hands…the players. Remember the “team only” meetings?
    Think about this objectively…the SAME team, the SAME talent, 8-20 to national champs in 2 years???? It is my contention that these players, who openly disliked Doherty, absolutely threw the season so they could get their new coach…whiny little bastards.

    One glaring example…..UNX goes into the RBC…plays like the teams of old, and even had a 10 point lead at halftime. Then they “break down” and allow NC State to score something like 63 points in the second half and lose by 30+……I’m just sayin’.

  16. Ismael 10/30/2007 at 7:03 PM #

    how do you make tables…is there a site or FAQ about how to format your posts?

  17. vtpackfan 10/30/2007 at 7:04 PM #

    The secondary has been a work in progress so far this season, to say the least. At the beggining of the season I predicted them to be one of our “strenghts”, since I consider the backfield all the RB’s and QB’s rolled up in one.

    Injuries haven’t harmed this group this season (knock on wood), but a system and attitude were really huge hurdles to overcome. Fortunately we seem to be turning the corner and finally going in the right direction. Maybe we can come up with some big plays of our own in the secondary, all while containing the others teams offense and limiting their potency and extra yardage.

  18. Primewolf 10/30/2007 at 7:55 PM #

    I think we have to win out to go to a bowl. That would give us 6 D I wins and 7 wins overall. Going 6-6, with 5 D I wins doesn’t cut it.

    I would be estatic with winning 3 of the last 4. What a turnaround that would be. Winning all 4 is asking for too much, but why not.

  19. VaWolf82 10/30/2007 at 8:24 PM #

    Wins are wins. 6-6 would be good enough for a bowl.

  20. bTHEredterror 10/30/2007 at 8:28 PM #

    I think you’re allowed to count a 1AA win every third year. Could be wrong and we might have used ours to get to the Tire bowl a couple of years back.

  21. VaWolf82 10/30/2007 at 8:46 PM #

    I’m pretty sure that wins are wins and the crazy rule on how many 1-AA wins you could count has been done away with.

    Though I suspect that this will just be of academic interest to State fans this year.

  22. choppack1 10/30/2007 at 9:15 PM #

    “So what in the Sam Hill do you guys attribute Daniel Evans’ AWFUL first half against UCF to? Nerves? Even apart from the awful offensive line play, he just looked terrible in that game. Hasn’t even looked like the same guy out there the last two games.”

    No, he hasn’t Pamilco. It’s one of the damndest transformations I’ve ever seen – kinda of like Ryan going from looking like a confused, pouting QB to John Elway last Thursday.

    He was pretty awful late in the 2nd and a lot of the 3rd quarter vs. FSU. I don’t know what has happened to make him so much better. It’s probably a combo of improved decision making, improved line play and gameplanning that is catered to his needs. However, when you’ve seen him play you like he has against UCF, Clemson, and FSU- you have to believe that we’re not out of the woods yet.

  23. noah 10/30/2007 at 10:29 PM #

    Don’t try to rewrite the Matt Doherty era to make anyone more or less favorable. The man was completely psychotic, should have never been hired…and probably should have been fired months before the end actually came.

    Doherty ought to be in a padded room writing letters with crayons, not coaching basketball.

  24. PackerInRussia 10/31/2007 at 12:15 AM #

    Rabid, I don’t think the 8-20 team and Nat’l Champ teams were the same. The 8-20 team featured standout Kris Wang (I may have mis-spelled that I’m not sure :)). The next year their stellar freshman class came in. They did lose to State that year both home and away (I think the game in CH went into overtime), but they played pretty well considering they were all freshman. I think they won the preseason NIT and it was the official “return of Carolina to glory”. Their record ended up being decent, but not spectacular. Don’t remember if they went to the Tourney or not. That team won the NC two years later. The 8-20 team did actually play well in Raleigh the first half and then blew it and allowed about a million points in the second half. Anyway, I think that’s how it went, but I’ve been wrong before. If I am right, this just shows that bitter and hateful memories stick in your mind just as well as good ones.

  25. bTHEredterror 10/31/2007 at 1:40 AM #

    Perhaps a better example of the one and done coach would have been Bob Huggins, same circumstance and very little negative press.

    IF Butch bounces the bad press will be within N.C. and short lived and few elsewhere will care at all. Most college football fans in the hotbeds would see it as an upgrade, and the Heels basketball team always gives them football amnesia anyway.

    I obviously misspelled Doherty earlier, my apologies.

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