Some Quick Football News: Beck, Clemmons and Geron James Not Returning

'09 Football General Tom O'Brien67

A quick-hitter from the Signing Day presser:

[NC State Head Coach Tom] O’Brien said receiver Geron James will transfer and that quarterback Harrison Beck and defensive end Jamaine Clemmons have decided to graduate and not return.

He said receiver Donald Bowens had knee surgery Wednesday, and receiver Darrell Davis had shoulder surgery Tuesday.

The big news here is Harrison Beck’s departure, who undoubtedly would have been a distant third string on the Wolfpack depth chart next season.  Russell Wilson will almost certainly return as the starter, and Mike Glennon will be eligible as a redshirt freshman and will take the backup role.

'09 Football General Tom O'Brien

67 Responses to Some Quick Football News: Beck, Clemmons and Geron James Not Returning

  1. buttPACKer 02/05/2009 at 8:20 PM #

    ditto, redfred2, I don’t think i’ve ever been in awe of a QB’s sheer unflappability, until last season. . . He’s just really fun to watch–poise personified.

  2. CStanley 02/05/2009 at 8:25 PM #

    I didn’t start following until around ’89/’90…

    Terry Jordan had a pretty good year in ’92. That was a really good football team too.

    Hard to argue with any of Rivers’ campaigns. The 2001 was a little mediocre by some standards, but we did beat FSU that year in Tally.

    Wilson has the most promise though of any QB we’ve had in a long, long time.

  3. Alpha Wolf 02/05/2009 at 9:54 PM #

    Any serious list of all-time great NC State quarterbacks that doesn’t have Roman Gabriel as #1 or #2 is deeply suspicious in my book. And no, I am not old enough to have seen him play, but his record more than speaks for itself.

    Russell Wilson had a great debut season, no doubt. But guys like Rivers, Gabriel, Buckey and Johnny Evans are at the top of the NC State record books because they were there for the long haul and performed throughout their entire careers. Wilson has yet to do that and until he does he can’t really be put in the list of the greats. I think he will get there, but will wait and see what happens before I make up my mind. Two things can stop him: injury and professional baseball. Or maybe Glennon being so good he takes the position away.

    I will say that I did see Evans, Buckey and every other State QB to come along since the Holtz era started, and RW has had one of the very best frosh seasons I can remember. It sure is nice knowing that we not only competence under center once again. I was starting to worry I might not live long enough to see it in the post-Rivers era.

  4. Noah 02/05/2009 at 10:39 PM #

    Was the argument, “Who had the best season as a QB?” or who are the best QBs? Gabriel was a victim of the time he played in. Rivers passed for more yards in his rookie year than Gabriel did in his entire career.

  5. Pack Leader 02/05/2009 at 11:11 PM #

    Its just tough for me to think that Wilson has a better football IQ than Philip Rivers. (sorry to beat a dead horse) I remember Amato saying after Norm Chow, many times in the huddle Rivers would change the play from what the Off Cord would call and Amato would let it go or agree with him because even he knew Rivers could call the game better than whoever we had in the booth. Wilson makes better decisions on the run i totally agree but disagree with the notion that Rivers had such a great O line vs Wilsons O line. I can only think of two players from his career that went pro from his O line and thats Scott Koostra (back up OT for Cinci bangles) and ( his name has left me but he transfered from ohio state and always jumped offside). I dont consider that a good O-line!!!

    On a different note I have a question about a player in our recruiting list,

    Tyson Chandler DT 6-6 340 LBS

    if he is even decent he could dominate the DL on paper….

  6. Alpha Wolf 02/06/2009 at 12:37 AM #

    Gabriel was a victim of the time he played in.

    And he was a two-time All-American.

    That tells me he had two good years no matter the context of his time.

  7. sf59 02/06/2009 at 12:52 AM #

    I am a huge RW fan and was one of the 1st pack fans to scout and see him play before we offered.

    in saying that, RW has a ways to go in reading defenses and making progressions at the same level PR did

    PR was the better pure passer as a true freshman

    but RW has the potential to be the better over all weapon if he can improve the timing and speed of his progressions and stay healthy

    IMO it will be a good sign if RW throws a more picks next year. to really get the ball down field like we eventually need to, some balls just will get picked… thats not necessaily a bad thing (as weird as it seems)

  8. ncsu_kappa 02/06/2009 at 7:41 AM #

    “I can only think of two players from his career that went pro from his O line and thats Scott Koostra (back up OT for Cinci bangles) and ( his name has left me but he transfered from ohio state and always jumped offside).”

    The latter was Derrick Morris, and I didn’t recall him making it to the NFL. Must be a practice squad player. We had one of Phil’s O-lineman play in a superbowl with the Seahawks (may have been a starter by that point) and I can’t remember his name for the life of me either.

    I love RW’s play and the year that he had. Also, I think Phil’s O-line was better and as good as Russel Wilson is with ball placement, he still has more errant throws than Phil did. Not errant in the way of interceptions, of course, but there were plenty of times where he would over throw open deep receivers or put the ball to far to the outside which prevented int’s but also caused a few extra incompletions.

    Question: which one looked down the field more? I remember the older Phil completed more 5-8 yd passes. The QB that keeps an eye down field also gets an edge whichever one did that more

  9. GAWolf 02/06/2009 at 9:40 AM #

    Rivers still throws balls in the NFL that sometimes cross the line from “Gun Slinger” to “Doh.” As a best description, he certainly “gambles” more than Wilson did last year.

  10. Noah 02/06/2009 at 10:19 AM #

    And he was a two-time All-American.

    That tells me he had two good years no matter the context of his time.

    He threw for about 800 yards as a sophomore, 1100+ as a junior and about 900 yards as a senior. His career int:td ratio is a little under 1:1. Those were fine numbers for the 1960s. But it’s pretty silly to bring them up when the topic is “best season by an NC State QB.”

    It would be like bringing up someone from baseball’s dead-ball era in a discussion of best home run hitters.

  11. bradleyb123 02/06/2009 at 10:35 AM #

    There are a lot of posts about Rivers’ arm. There’s no disputing he has a better arm than Wilson. He threw many passes that made my eyes water and the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

    My point about Wilson was that when you combine his LEGS with his ARM, he is arguably better (overall) than Rivers. How many times did Rivers scramble for a 60+ yard touchdown, while zigzagging across the field and back for a total of more like 160 yards? Seems like Wilson did that twice this year.

    Of course, Rivers did his thing for 51 straight games over four years. Wilson has a way to go before you can make any valid comparisons. Right now we can really only compare their freshmen years. Rivers was great then, too. But I think I give Wilson the nod after one year.

  12. BJD95 02/06/2009 at 10:38 AM #

    Again, I didn’t say “best 3 seasons of all time” – I said seasons that you witnessed during your fandom. My memory doesn’t go back before Tol Avery.

    Yes, Wilson misses more passes than Rivers did. That’s why I give Rivers the nod in accuracy. But he doesn’t throw picks, or force things too much. When LBs drop back, or safeties slide over, Wilson always seems to see (or just feel) them. When in the pocket or scrambling, he seems to know where every defender on the field is. To me, that’s instincts and football IQ. He sees the downside as well as the upside in making certain throws, and makes his decisions quickly and accurately. Probably more so than any college QB I’ve seen play.

    Remember, we were behind alot this year. yet Wilson only threw TWO picks, and one of them was a quasi-Hail Mary against Clemson. That’s just incredible.

    IIRC, Rivers’ Wunderlic (sp?) score was very good, but not elite. Among the “Big 3” of his draft class, he was ahead of Big Ben, but behind Eli (although Rivers has better instincts than either of them, while Ben has the best physical tools).

    Please don’t misread – I’m not at all saying that Rivers isn’t that good or smart (he’s very good and very smart) – just that Wilson plays even smarter, and his season impressed me more than all but one of Rivers’ seasons.

    What really sets them both apart is their leadership ability. Their styles are very different, but equally effective. And that’s all we heard about the staff’s evaluation of Wilson before the season – that he was a tremendous leader. Very impressive for a freshman to impress a veteran coach and Marine in that category.

  13. bradleyb123 02/06/2009 at 11:17 AM #

    How many times did Wilson scramble (behind the line) for a VERY long time, looking, looking, looking, drifting toward the sideline, then, just before going out of bounds, sling a pass that appeared to be “throwing it away” as most good quarterbacks would do to avoid a loss of yardage, only to have a receiver actually catch the ball for a first down?

    Seems like he was throwing it away several times, and it was caught. The kid is unbelievable!

  14. Classof89 02/06/2009 at 3:53 PM #

    It did seem to me that teams were adapting to his scrambling as the season wore on–in particular, after he absolutely ate Wake Forest’s lunch, I noticed teams started bringing up more defenders to contain him. I look forward to see how RW adapts to that this year–when teams do that, it should open up some folks downfield or put some guys into single coverage. I hope whats his face, the guy who dropped five or six TD passes last season has been catching a couple of hundred balls every week in the off season…

  15. Noah 02/06/2009 at 4:25 PM #

    Owen Spencer.

  16. Pack Leader 02/06/2009 at 8:02 PM #

    owen “buterfingers” spencer

  17. BSIE80 02/07/2009 at 1:38 PM #

    Spencer should turn out to be a great receiver.
    The guy just gets open, is a big target, and he will get past his “butterfingers”.
    RW will be fortunate to have this guy.

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