State to battle Pirates without NINE injured starters (Updated for attrition 10am)

'08 Football64

Tom O’Brien discussed injuries today in his press conference.

So, NC State will enter Saturday’s game without the services of our best tight end and his back-up; our starting running back and his back-up; our best defensive tackle; our best wide receiver; our most experienced wide receiver; our most experienced offensive linemen; and our two starting safeties.

For the record, the following is our current list of absentees:

Alan-Michael Cash, DT (starter)
Anthony Hill, TE (starter)
Matt Kushner, TE (#2 on depth chart)
Donald Bowens, WR (starter)
Clem Johnson, S (starter)
Javon Walker, S (starter)
Curtis Crouch, OG (co-starter)
Geron James, WR (co-starter)
Jamelle Eugene, RB (co-starter)
Toney Baker, RB (co-starter)

Last week we ran a very interesting entry that was accompanied by a fantastic conversation (seen by clicking here) focused on the impact of excessive recent attrition on the Wolfpack’s program. As a follow-up, some posters at Pack Pride have broken-down the Wolfpack’s current roster and comprised the following:

Players that didn’t qualify that signed with NC State
1. Tobias Palmer
2. Roy Mangram
3. Marty Everett
4. Thomas Lucust
5. Sam Jones

Transfers
6. Ahmad Jaradat
7. Justin Burke
8. Kyle Linney
9. Thomas Barnes

Incoming recruits sidelined due to season-ending injuries as seniors in HS
10. Terrell Manning
11. Colby Jackson
12. Mario Carter

Players sidelined due to injury
13. Toney Baker
14. Javon Walker
15. Clem Johnson
16. Jamelle Eugene
17. Donald Bowens
18. Curtis Crouch
19. Alan Michael Cash
20. Geron James
21. Anthony Hill
22. Matt Kushner

Medically unable to play
23. Mike Golder

Academically ineligible
24. John Ware

Attempting to Redshirt
25.Zach Allen
26.Brandon Barnes
27.William Beasley
28.Akeem Cunningham
29.Mike Glennon
30.Gary Grant
31.RJ Mattes
32.Andrew Wallace
33.CJ Wilson
34.Earl Wolff

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'08 Football

64 Responses to State to battle Pirates without NINE injured starters (Updated for attrition 10am)

  1. redfred2 09/15/2008 at 8:48 PM #

    Nice move Deeeeshaun

  2. PhilipRiversWannabe 09/15/2008 at 8:53 PM #

    Scooter,
    I am wondering the same thing. I am a freshman and I’m 6’3″ and 225. I should probably try out for the football and basketball team. I would at least provide depth.

  3. wufpup76 09/15/2008 at 8:53 PM #

    redfred, if you’re referring to DeSean Jackson – I can’t believe that just happened … WOW … talk about your all-time dumb plays just for the sake of starting a cocky celebration dance … unreal

  4. Scooter 09/15/2008 at 8:58 PM #

    Beautiful play from DeSean!!!! Reminds me a bit of the Amato years…

  5. redfred2 09/15/2008 at 8:59 PM #

    ^Yep pup, I was. Kind of hard to believe wasn’t it. I HATE Dallas but I was hoping they would stop the Eagles from scoring after that foolish crap.

  6. wufpup76 09/15/2008 at 9:05 PM #

    Yeah, that’s about right Scooter – that play was very Amato-esque … God Bless ’em 🙂

  7. Greywolf 09/15/2008 at 10:19 PM #

    Did anybody notice the headline on the N&O link?”Wolfs not the only ones with injury woes” Wolfs! I posted a comment on the Buzzards, Pilates and Turtles injuries together not equaling the “Wolfs.” Doubt it will make it past the censor, I mean moderator.

  8. coppertop 09/15/2008 at 11:06 PM #

    its no wonder EZU fans are paying top dollar to NCSU season ticket holders to get tickets to the shellacking. Good LORD, what is a STATE fan to do?

  9. wolf pack 09/15/2008 at 11:07 PM #

    I live in greenville, go to ecu for Medical School (in my fourth year hear). For the record, ECU FANS are the WORST. We still have a chance and i’m confident. We have great coaches and a QB who is getting better, a good defense, and two good RB’s. GO PACK!!!

  10. inhoc... 09/16/2008 at 1:13 AM #

    “Tommy Bowden told us you made a friend at Clemson after the handshake.”
    anyone know what thats about????

  11. packgrad2000 09/16/2008 at 2:10 AM #

    FYI JP Giglio went to State and is likely NOT biased against us! I used to work with him at the Technician.

  12. PackerInRussia 09/16/2008 at 2:28 AM #

    This (meaning the past two seasons; meaning lack of depth which makes injuries even more catastrophic) is the reason that you don’t wait until a coach/program hits rock bottom to fire them. People sometimes criticize ADs, owners, etc. for firing a coach who didn’t have a bad season, maybe just an average one. However, the more forward thinking ones take care of business before it gets too bad so that a new coach will not have to spend 4 years rebuilding, but already has a very solid foundation to build on. Patience and loyalty have their places in life, but so does wisdom. Letting a program go kersplat and then saying (or having to be told), “We should probably do something about this” is already putting the new coach, no matter how good he is, way behind the 8-ball. I’m not blaming admin/previous coaches for present injuries, but the current situation only makes inherited problems even more glaring.

  13. Scooter 09/16/2008 at 6:28 AM #

    ^ I’m blaming the administration AND previous coaches. Fowler waited too late to can an ineffective Amato. I think we are paying the price now for the hubris of the Amato years.

  14. Dogbreath 09/16/2008 at 7:27 AM #

    Lee Fowler is many things. Proactive is not one of them.

    For example, can you imagine the heavy lifting that our next Volleyball, Mens and womens soccer coaches are going to be staring at?

  15. PortAuthority 09/16/2008 at 7:27 AM #

    We can’t do anything about the injuries. What we can do is step it up on Saturday.
    The players need to feed off of the crowd. The offense needs to score early and I hope the coaches will be creative with the play calling. Take a few chances.
    The defense needs to and will play a great game and we WILL ruin EZU’s dream season.

    GO PACK!

  16. whitefang 09/16/2008 at 7:37 AM #

    At this point it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. We are stuck with Fowler, but at least Amato is gone.
    Enjoy the game. No pressure. They are favored (just like last year). There is always a chance we could play well. If not drink heavily and enjoy the party.

    If not posted here before – Holtz comments from ECU website:
    On N.C. State:
    “This is a rival game. This is a game that we’re excited to have the opportunity to play, especially since it’s the closest game on our schedule, only being an hour away. We have the opportunity to bump heads with N.C. State from a recruiting standpoint as well.

    “We played them the last couple of years and we’re extremely excited to play them again. I don’t care what the records are. People talk about them being 1-2, but they came in here at 1-5 last year and beat us 34-20. The records are absolutely irrelevant.

    “This is a very talented football team. Over the past couple of years, we have tried to recruit most of the players currently on their roster. When I turn and look at their talent and the game film from last year, I know that we’ve got one heck of a challenge. We certainly have to play better than we did last week. I think it’s going to take more of an effort like we put together for West Virginia if we want to have a chance to go over there and have a chance to be successful.”

  17. Classof89 09/16/2008 at 8:27 AM #

    I think it’s fairly obvious to everyone in hindsight that Amato should have been canned at the end of Year 1 A.R. (After Rivers) when it was obvious he hadn’t planned for an effective QB succession…but would even an effective AD have the cajones to fire a coach two years removed from the Gator Bowl win?

  18. Clarksa 09/16/2008 at 8:48 AM #

    “Can anyone add these injuries together with the losses due to academics / the coaching change and give a picture of how many scholarship players we will dress?”

    From PackPride:

    10 Academic/Transfers
    14 Injuries (3 freshman injured during their senior year)
    10 Redshirts

    34 total gone out of a potential 85…and we probably didn’t have 85 to begin with…

  19. Clarksa 09/16/2008 at 8:50 AM #

    “I think it’s fairly obvious to everyone in hindsight that Amato should have been canned at the end of Year 1 A.R. (After Rivers) when it was obvious he hadn’t planned for an effective QB succession…”

    Both Jay Davis and Marcus Stone were rated higher than Philip coming out of high school so there was a plan…though the plan didn’t work.

  20. SEAT.5.F.2 09/16/2008 at 9:15 AM #

    One question to ask during the discussion of “The Scuttle of USS Amato” is interesting.

    Why was Amato never allowed to offer a contract to assistants for multiple years?
    We know that TOB made it clear he wouldn’t come unless this protocal changed. Was Administration that disconnected for the current landscape of college footbal, or were there power struggles internally by folks who did not respect Chuck?

    You cannot lay the blame entirely at the feet of Amato when it is common knowledge that teams like BC (TOB), ECU and WF had made the most out of their situation by coaching continuity.

    Recruiting suffered greatly when Holliday left, we know. How was it suppossed to improve when Amato couldn’t compete with schools for adequate Asst’s?

    Oh, thats right ….the fuh-cilities, never mind.

  21. PacknSack 09/16/2008 at 9:22 AM #

    ECU fans are still PISSED about last year’s loss. The ones I know won’t talk about it. We walked into their house, with one of our worst teams in 20 years and handed it to them.

    Skip can talk about head-to-head recruiting, but when is the last time we lost a top target to them? What they thrive on is cast-off major D-I talent and questionables who the majors are scared of. That being said, they have talent and they have confidence and they are motivated by last year’s embarrassment. They’ll come after us hard and fast, if we can get out of the first quarter NOT down 21-0, we would have a shot.

    All this nattering about injuries is getting old and really comes off as whining.

  22. wpackman33 09/16/2008 at 9:23 AM #

    I have a question. So the players that signed but didn’t qualify, what exactly does that mean. Is it an academic thing? and can they get qualified and eventually play?

    Thanks

  23. Par Shooter 09/16/2008 at 9:36 AM #

    I’m pretty sure that Amato was allowed to offer multi-year contracts, at least during the last half of his tenure. I’m almost positive that Trestman was on a 3-year deal when he came here. It seems that others may have been on multi-year deals as well (Dunlop?) but I can’t recall. Doc wasn’t staying regardless of contract tenure (can you blame him?) and having a 3-year deal to offer didn’t grant us even a passable OC in Trestman. No excuses for Chuck there.

  24. StateFans 09/16/2008 at 9:47 AM #

    SEAT,

    Much of the premise of your post is incorrect. Don’t really know where you get that information.

  25. LKNpackfan 09/16/2008 at 10:04 AM #

    By the way folks, anyone who sells their LTRs to Pirate fans should be excommunicated from the Wolfpack family. Their drunken lunacy makes them insufferable. Heck, they’re the Raiders fans of college football. Keep your tickets in the family!

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