Not much time today for commentary, but here are several links to stories that came out of the ACC’s annual football kickoff in Greensboro, Ga. this past weekend. If you find other good stories out there, then please link them in your comments so they can be added later in this section.
NC State picked 6th in the Atlantic Division.
-Daniel Evans listed as the starter with Russell Wilson as his backup.
Why Evans as the starter? See here.
“I feel good. I’m 100 percent,” Evans said after a recent workout at the Murphy Center. “I’m doing all the lifting, all the throwing, doing everything,
“I feel better than I have in two years. I’m excited.”
With 17 career starts, Evans is the Pack’s most experienced quarterback. Entering his fifth season, the former Broughton star has thrown for 3,873 yards — seventh-best in school history — and 17 touchdowns, and is called the “incumbent” at his position by State coach Tom O’Brien.
Pack duo sets pace in football:
It was 5:22 a.m., with a full moon still aglow in the southern sky Friday when N.C. State tight end Anthony Hill wheeled his car into the Murphy Center parking lot.
It was time to meet tailback Jamelle Eugene. Time to lift weights, sweat, work, run.Time to be leaders.
“They’re the first ones here every morning,” said Todd Rice, the Wolfpack’s director of strength and conditioning. “And when your best players are your hardest workers, everything else kind of falls into place.”
Sean Glennon, a quarterback who helped lead Virginia Tech to an ACC championship last season, said he supported highly recruited younger brother Mike’s decision to attend N.C. State.
“He has the chance to play right away,” Sean said Sunday at the ACC football media kickoff. “He’s in a good system for his strengths, and he’s in an up-and-coming program.”
Quotes/Video Audio from NC State player interviews from www.packpride.com :
WRAL video/audio from Anthony Hill and Jeremy Gray
“I believe that we got to see the Wolfpack offense… now I just feel like with everybody healthy you’ll be able to see an improved Wolfpack offense.”
“Now that it’s two years into the program, the players know what they have to do and their assignm
Caulton Tudor on the Coastal Division vs. the Atlantic Division:
Wake, as much as anything else, has contributed to the divisional disconnect. When the league went to 11 teams in 2004 — adding Miami and Virginia Tech — the Deacons were still the same inviting scheduling slot they essentially had been since 1953. Jim Grobe’s team went 5-7 and 3-5 in 2003 and then 4-7 and 1-7 (losing to Miami, 52-7) in 2004.
The backstory thinking was easy to figure out. Put Duke in one division, Wake in the other, and there’ll never be a shortage of doormats or automatic wins.
That all changed in 2006, when the Deacons turned downright unruly and started beating almost everyone they played.
“I don’t think anyone really saw that coming,” Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford said. “That beating they gave us in 2006 [at Tallahassee, 30-0] is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
