September 29, 2011
NC STATE FOOTBALL
Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
Meet Jacob Kahut
When both junior Brian Slay and sophomore A.J. Ferguson went down with injuries at Cincinnati, a thin defensive tackle position got even thinner.
Already out were fifth-year senior J.R. Sweezy and redshirt freshman Thomas Teal. State was down to two healthy defensive tackles at that point. That’s when they turned to walk-on Jacob Kahut, and he was just as surprised as probably anyone.
“I haven’t practiced with the defense since April,” Kahut noted. “They were just screaming for me and I had no idea why. I thought I did something wrong.”
Kahut did nothing wrong of course. They told him that because Slay was hurt Kahut was going to be needed as a second-string defensive tackle for the rest of the game.
Bruce Winkworth (GoPack.com)
Program Spotlight: Mikel Overgaard
The Idaho pipeline has not exactly been a staple of NC State’s football recruiting over the years. Unfazed by this little nugget of Wolfpack history, offensive tackle Mikel Overgaard came to State anyway, took a circuitous route to do so, and broke a two-generation-long family tradition in the process.
A 6-foot-6, 289-pound senior from Weiser, Idaho, Overgaard comes from an athletic family. More to the point, Overgaard comes from an Idaho Vandals family, an Idaho football family. His grandfather, Wilford Overgaard, played football at Idaho from 1946-50. His father, Wil E. Overgaard, played for the Vandals from 1973-77, and was a team captain and an all-conference selection in the Big Sky Conference.
It would be an understatement to say that Mikel grew up an Idaho fan. It might be overstating things to say that he grew up always wanting to play there, not that he never entertained the thought.
JP Giglio (N&O)
Amerson steps up for State’s defense
N.C. State cornerback David Amerson ranks second nationally in interceptions with four in four games.
Amerson didn’t have any interceptions in 13 starts as a true freshman last year. Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien attributed Amerson’s improvement to the sophomore’s maturity.
ACC media relations (TheWolfpacker.com)
Q&A: Tom O’Brien’s Wednesday Teleconference
Question about Georgia Tech’s defense, curious what you’ve seen from them schematically so far this year and if you expect kind of different stuff you haven’t seen yet.
“Certainly, [defensive coordinator] Coach [Al] Groh is a 3-4 guy. That’s what they have been playing and that’s what we saw last year from them and that’s how they have been lined up this year. We certainly expect different wrinkles, because they do it every game. Every game that you break down, there’s something different that he puts in that package for what he perceives our offense to be or what he perceives Kansas or North Carolina or whatever they have played each and every week. No, we expect something different.”
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
O’Brien not ready to make drastic defensive changes
When Wake Forest started running out of healthy, experienced bodies on the defensive line last season, coach Jim Grobe made the bold decision to switch from a 4-3 scheme to a 3-4.
It’s a change that helped produce an immediate improvement for the Deacons.
But despite that example, N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien said that moving to a 3-4 is not an option he’s considering – at least not yet – for his own injury depleted defensive unit.
“We really have not talked that way just yet,†O’Brien said Wednesday on the ACC’s weekly coaches conference call.
Erin Summers (WRALSportsfan.com)
O’Brien: We have to be better
“They are throwing the ball a lot on first down, and getting you back on your heels,” NC State head coach Tom O’Brien told Adam and Joe on 99.9FM The Fan ESPN Radio Wednesday. “They play with your eyes, if you focus on the quarterback you’re going to get killed.”
O’Brien said playing option teams like Georgia Tech puts a lot of stress on a team offensively.
“You know that they can keep the ball, so you feel like every time you touch the ball you have to make positive things out of it whether you change field position or you put points on the board,” said O’Brien.
Which is something the Wolfpack is still working on.
ACC Athletics (PackPride.com)
Quotables: Paul Johnson
Just to finish up, the 35 points last week, the big outburst against Kansas the week before, did you see this coming? Did you kind of know in August that I think we’re going to be explosive on offense this year? It’s going to be a good year, or were you at all saying we’re better in this area or that area than I thought we would be?
I think you’re a third of the way through. We’ll wait and see. I thought we might be better than everybody was saying, but you don’t ever know until you play. I think we’ve got a good team that genuinely care about each other and they work hard. When you have that, you’ve got a chance to be successful.
We’re still really young. I think we’ve got 11 scholarship seniors on the team, and we played two on offense or really one, I guess, on offense, and three or four on defense. So that’s a pretty young team.
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
Georgia Tech Items
— Last year’s loss to NC State remains stuck in Paul Johnson’s craw, which is horrible news. Many observers close to the Georgia Tech football program have estimated that it takes anywhere from 60 to 75 points to remove something from Paul Johnson’s craw. Take Kansas for example. After last year the Jayhawks were way up in there. (There being Paul Johnson’s craw.) This year Johnson’s offense set a school record in yards per carry on the way to 66 points. That said, Johnson’s specific words were that it was stuck “a little bit,” which arguably implies that he will need no more than 45 points.
CONFERENCE EXPANSION
JP Giglio (N&O)
Giglio: Money, ratings rule the bloated ACC
But if there was anything to be learned from this century’s previous wave of expansion (when Miami and Virginia Tech joined in 2004 and BC a year later), it’s that you don’t measure the value of new teams in terms of their on-field success but by your league’s access to new television markets. On that front, the ACC wins again by adding the greater New York area and at least western Pennsylvania.
The addition of Miami has been an unqualified disaster (see booster Nevin Shapiro, former coach Larry Coker, the ashy remains of Orange Bowl Stadium and the football program, the Hurricanes’ small and indifferent fan base) on every front except for television appeal.
And college expansion is nothing more than a money grab based on TV dollars, at the expense of its unpaid labor force. It’s a bottom-line business — the NCAA, the conferences and all the schools are classified as non-profits for tax purposes — and the bottom line has boomed.
Craig Harris (The Arizona Republic)
BCS bowl gift-giving draws increasing scrutiny
In the spring of 2010, a group of college football coaches, athletic directors and their spouses took a weekend Caribbean cruise that included a stop at a 141-acre water park, parasailing over a private island and lounging in hammocks while sipping Coco Locos. None of the guests paid for the trip.
Summer Splash is a semi-regular retreat hosted by the Orange Bowl, one of the four bowls in the Bowl Championship Series. The partnership among the bowls, universities and athletic conferences creates college football’s top games and national championship.
Last year’s Summer Splash cost the non-profit organization that runs the Orange Bowl $159,324, and included guests from the Atlantic Coast Conference, according to a trip itinerary. The ACC’s football champion has gone to the Orange Bowl the past six years, and the conference and schools significantly subsidize the game by paying for large blocks of bowl tickets every year.
NC STATE BASKETBALL
Luke DeCock (N&O)
Gottfried selling Pack’s program
Mark Gottfried is selling. Selling, selling, selling. He’s selling himself. He’s selling his program. He’s selling an idea. He’s selling a product he cannot yet deliver.
The new N.C. State basketball coach isn’t shy about admitting what many Wolfpack fans already know: The program isn’t in great shape right now. That’s why he’s here, and Sidney Lowe is gone.
So when Gottfried stood up in front of about 200 members of the Raleigh Sports Club on Wednesday, he did the same thing with them that he does with recruits: He tried to sell them on what N.C. State basketball once was, and what N.C. State basketball can be again.
“I’d love to stand up in front of every group and say we’re going to be a top-10 team,” Gottfried said afterward. “We’re not there yet.”
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Rodney Purvis set to announce Friday
Raleigh (N.C.) Upper Room Christian Academy combo guard Rodney Purvis will be making his college decision at 2:30 p.m. Friday at his high school.
Purvis is likely to choose between NC State and UConn, and he’s unofficially visited both schools in the last month. Upper Room coach Avie Lester said both coaching staffs have been frequent visitors to the school during the fall evaluation period.
“He wants to get focused on his senior year and get the process over with,” said Lester, a former NC State player. “He’s keeping everything close to the vest. When I find out, everyone else will to.
“During the workout period, the NC State coaches have been there quite often. It’s been them and UConn. Those are the two most active to attend.”
Luke DeCock (N&O)
N.C. State close to series with Kansas
N.C. State is close to a home-and-home series with Kansas, new basketball coach Mark Gottfried told the Raleigh Sports Club on Wednesday.
The Wolfpack would go to Lawrence in December 2012, with Kansas coming to the RBC Center in December 2013. Gottfried said the contract had not yet been finalized and signed.
MULTIMEDIA/PODCASTS
WRALSportsfan.com
Gottfried wants to uphold tradition at State
NC State men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried spoke at the Raleigh Sports Club about his first season with the Wolfpack.
GoPack.com
Inside Wolfpack Sports
In today’s episode, Don Shea visits with NC State football spotter Francis Combs.
Joe Ovies (WRALSportsfan.com)
Web chat: Pressure on NC State’s O’Brien
In this edition of “Low Rent Sports Talk Theatre” we discuss the pressure on NC State football coach Tom O’Brien, North Carolina’s visit to East Carolina and the end of baseball’s regular season.
