Monday Morning Multimedia – 2009 Season Stuff

(1) Coach O’Brien talks about the Wolfpack’s first scrimmage in the video below. The N&O highlights that kicking may have been the major item to come from the scrimmage in this article.

Entering preseason camp, coach Tom O’Brien listed punter as one of the team’s biggest concerns. The staff hoped freshman Chris Ward of Fayetteville, Ga., would be able to challenge junior Jeff Ruiz for the job vacated by 2008 senior Bradley Pierson.

In his first scrimmage, Ward punted twice for a total of 97 yards, an outstanding effort by any account. Ruiz’s yardage on two punts totaled 62 yards. Although Ward’s showing was a welcome development, O’Brien wasn’t ready to anoint him the answer for the Wolfpack at his position.

[snip]

Place-kicker, meanwhile, was supposed to be one of N.C. State’s strengths with 2008 starter Josh Czajkowski returning. Last season, Czajkowski made 16 of his 19 field-goal attempts in an excellent showing as a sophomore.

Czajkowski missed three of his five field-goal attempts Sunday, which O’Brien said is a cause for concern. He said Czajkowski changed his approach to the ball during the offseason.

 

(2) We chronicled NC State’s status as an emerging ‘sleeper’ in this entry that we hope you didn’t miss. As you gear up for college football season, we thought that you would be interested to see the four teams Mel Kiper chose as his college football sleepers.

 

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12 Responses to Monday Morning Multimedia – 2009 Season Stuff

  1. TheCOWDOG 08/10/2009 at 10:23 AM #

    Interesting. I hit 84% of my field goals and my approach changes?

    One wonders if it’s a hitch, experimentation or coaching. If it’s either of the former, that should get worked out with the later.

    I rarely talk about other teams ’cause I frankly don’t give a rat’s ass. Take care of your own biz train of thought.

    However I’ll admit to mentioning Miami as a team that has some real potential to be very good.

    They played young last yr. Not so this yr. Plus Whipple as OC gives this team a really good shot. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them on top in the Coastal.

  2. SouthernWolf 08/10/2009 at 11:00 AM #

    I am a little concerned about the INT total from the scrimmage. 3 INT’s vs 31 attempts against our secondary is a cause for concern it seems to me. Also our interior OL is obviously struggling if JR Sweezy (at DT) was able to get two sacks.

  3. TheCOWDOG 08/10/2009 at 11:36 AM #

    Or So.Wolf, one could say the reverse. The defense is usually ahead of the offense at this juncture anyways.

  4. packalum44 08/10/2009 at 12:11 PM #

    mabye i shouldn’t read too much into it but…those scrimmage stats make me nervous. looks very sloppy. i don’t interpret it as our D was better than expected, rather our offense is not as good as expected. the D is going to suck again, but hopefully not as much.

  5. Zen Wolf 08/10/2009 at 12:49 PM #

    Listen to the O’Brien interview again. He said we weren’t trying to trick any one today. They were probably running the same 8 to 10 pass plays over and over and the young guys were able to guess right a couple times. I bet O’Brien even asked all three of his quarterbacks to throw a pick intentionally as a return drill for the offense and to give the new corners a little swagger in their step. I would like to see our running backs make some more noise. Maybe our linebackers are that good. I think Audie Cole is going to be the next Irving for us. He looks like a beast.

  6. whitefang 08/10/2009 at 2:37 PM #

    This is the first scrimmage after all. We’re gonna be OK. This staff has done this stuff before. We won’t know until we play in a couple of weeks, but I suspect our real problems will not be the ones TOB is talking about to the media after the 1st week of practice.

  7. travelwolf 08/10/2009 at 4:06 PM #

    When TOB says “We have a long ways to go”, he means it… Last year he said the same thing – and we lost 6 of our first 8 games. I was getting excited, but this has tempered my enthusiasm.

  8. VaWolf82 08/10/2009 at 4:07 PM #

    It’s virtually impossible to determine what (if any) meaning there is in scrimmage stats because they will always make someone look good and someone look bad. Plus the coaches will look at alot of different people at various positions, which could negatively impact certain stats.

  9. McPete 08/10/2009 at 4:39 PM #

    I think it’s safe to say that RW knows how to take care of the football during the game. I don’t see why anyone in the world would be worried about the offense. The o line is the only unit that will look a little different, and Williams, Vermiglio, McCuller, and Larson were all starters last year. Barbee is the 5th guy, and he’s a senior.

    Defensive secondary and special teams should be the only concern, so if a true freshman gets a pick in a scrimmage i think its a good thing. Koyal George will probably start against USC, so if he gets a pick i think its a good thing too.

  10. choppack1 08/10/2009 at 9:22 PM #

    I’ve always thought that spring football games are a little like hitting the ball into a net at one of those golf club shops. You really have no frame of reference about whether the shot is good or bad unless you know exactly what you are looking for.

  11. Wufpacker 08/10/2009 at 9:24 PM #

    I’ve always believed that special teams was extremely important. Even though they essentially only play in one play per series, I’ve always believed they were just as important as the standard offensive and defensive units. Hopefully Chris Ward’s punting isn’t a fluke. Having a guy that can average nearly 48.5 yds per punt definitely would not suck. And I hope it is also a fluke that Czajkowski missed 3 of 5.

  12. NCSUPackfan 08/10/2009 at 11:12 PM #

    I have decided to join in the fun of giving my input. I too am a product of MOC and a mixture of Les & Herb era. I unfortunately live in Tallahassee, & have to deal with the Nole fans here, but can give my perspective from a coach’s point of view. I am a high school varsity basketball coach and feel I have some insight to a coach’s mind.

    I feel TOB, is always going to say we have work to do. How would our team react if he said we are doing grea? Trust me, players would back off thinking they reached the level they need to be. Any good coach will never be
    satisfied with their team. They might be happy with
    improvement, but never satisfied.

    Some of you commented on being discouraged by the stats of scrimmage one… The team hadn’t been in pads
    for an entire week. The strides our players will make after watching the film of scrimmage one & scrimmage two will be noticable. It is the same improvements teams make
    after week one of games into week two of games.

    Don’t be discouraged…they still have 23 days till kick-off.

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