October 1, 2011
NC STATE FOOTBALL
JP GIGLIO (N&O)
Fordham cleared to play for Pack
N.C. State’s offensive line, which struggled against Cincinnati, will be deeper with the addition of guard/center Cameron Fordham.
The LSU transfer was cleared Friday by the NCAA to play in Saturday’s game against No. 21 Georgia Tech. Fordham, who was one of the top center prospects in the country coming out of high school in Duluth, Ga. last year, redshirted with the Tigers during the 2010 season.
JP GIGLIO (N&O)
Injuries persist for Wolfpack
Plugging the holes
N.C. State began training camp with 14 eligible, healthy, scholarship defensive linemen. It has nine for today’s game, including two freshmen O’Brien would rather redshirt.
Sweezy, who had six sacks last season, has missed the first four games because of the foot injury and is questionable for today’s game.
Teal suffered the same type of foot injury in the opener against Liberty, Rieskamp hurt his shoulder in practice before the Wake Forest game, and then Ferguson (knee) and Slay (ankle) went down against Cincinnati.
But finding defensive linemen has been a reoccurring issue in recruiting. Under O’Brien, State has plugged holes on the line with transfers and junior-college players, including end McKay Fransden, who’ll start today. Colorado transfer Forrest West will be eligible next year.
Four scholarship defensive linemen from the three recruiting classes between 2008 and ’10, are no longer with the program.
Attrition across the board – for academic, disciplinary and injury reasons – has contributed to the current talent drain. Twenty-five players have left the program early from the four recruiting classes between 2007 and ’10.
O’Brien has used seven true freshmen this season and would prefer to redshirt the other 12. Take away the scholarship players (cornerback Jarvis Byrd and linebacker Sterling Lucas) out for the season with injuries and the 10 players on the injury report, and State has 52 healthy, eligible scholarship players for today’s game.
That’s how a walk-on ends up on the depth chart before the calendar hits October and why the Wolfpack has to use its fifth different defensive lineup in five games.
“Nobody is feeling sorry for us, so we have to get it done,” O’Brien said.
NC STATE BASKETBALL
JONATHAN JONES (N&O)
Purvis picks to stay close to home with Wolfpack
The No. 6 ranked senior basketball recruit, according to Rivals.com, Purvis wore a yellow, collared shirt and khaki pants to the scheduled news conference, offering classmates and fans in attendance no team color clues of his intended destination. He was so nervous, he admitted, that he worried he’d trip and fall walking onto the gym floor before taking his seat at a table at midcourt to announce his choice.
Unlike other high-profile recruits, Purvis did not stage any gimmicks or fake out any prospective schools just to pick another. But with fans of N.C. State and N.C. Central – two of the schools he had considered, along with Connecticut, Memphis and Virginia Commonwealth – in attendance, he did make a reference that made them pause for a brief moment.
“After many conversations with the Lord, and visits, I came to the conclusion that there’s no place like home,” Purvis said before looking up at screaming Wolfpack fans to his right and Eagles fans to his left. “I will be joining my brother Tyler Lewis, a.k.a. ‘White Chocolate,’ at the North Carolina State Wolfpack.” Lewis, a 5-foot-11 guard from Statesville playing for Oak Hill Academy this year, is Gottfried’s other Class of 2012 commitment. Having known Lewis for years, Purvis referred to Lewis as his brother, acknowledging that they regularly keep in contact.
LUKE DECOCK (N&O)
Purvis takes on pressures at home
His mother, Shanda McNair, had mixed feelings about that. She wanted him to get the experience of going away to school, meeting new people, seeing new places. And then there was the inherent pressure that would come with being seen by fans as the player to lead N.C. State out of the wilderness.
“My plan is not to allow him to put that pressure on himself,” McNair said. “He just needs to work hard, act with good character and be true to who he is.”
If it feels like we’ve been here before, it’s because we have been. Only 13 months ago, another five-star Raleigh recruit, C.J. Leslie, committed to N.C. State as part of a recruiting class that was supposed to jump-start the Sidney Lowe Era. That group fizzled, N.C. State finished 10th in the ACC and Lowe was invited to return to the NBA.
Purvis’ case is a little different, in part because of how the coaching staff convinced him to buy into their vision for the program. Lowe’s staff offered Purvis a scholarship, but never really pursued him. (“No lines of communication,” McNair said. “Never built a relationship.”) Gottfried, with assistant coach Orlando Early leading the way, pressed Purvis from the moment he backed off an earlier commitment to Louisville.
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
Top recruit Purvis gives State fans something to cheer about
It’s kind of strange that basketball would take center stage on a weekend in which North Carolina travels to Greenville for a rivalry football game against East Carolina and upstart Clemson takes on perennial favorite Virginia Tech for early ACC dominance.
But when you’re N.C. State and your bowl hopes are already starting to deteriorate faster than President Barack Obama’s approval rating, you tend to focus on whatever good news you can find.
And the Wolfpack got a healthy dose of that Friday when Rodney Purvis, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard considered one of the top 20 prospects in the nation, held a press conference to announce his decision to attend State.
WRALSportsFan.com
Rodney Purvis commits to NC State
Rodney Purvis, considered one of the top basketball recruits in the Class of 2012, announced Friday he will attend NC State.
WILSON WATCH
CAULTON TUDOR (N&O)
Russell Wilson up for Heisman pitch
Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson can’t win the Heisman Trophy tonight, but the former N.C. State quarterback can gain plenty of momentum with a big game against visiting Nebraska.
Wisconsin’s schedule is such that Wilson may face only one more ranked foe after the No. 8 Cornhuskers, and that’s iffy.
The No. 7 Badgers will visit Illinois, currently 24th, on Nov. 19. But that game falls after Illinois has to face Penn State and Michigan (No. 19), and the Badgers don’t play Michigan this season.
ACC FOOTBALL
Jim Young (ACCSports.com)
Bag O’ Tweets, Sept. 30
@junemonnie
do you think TOB gets fired if #ncstate finishes with a losing record?
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I really didn’t anticipate getting these sorts of questions before the season started, even after Russell Wilson elected to take his talents to Madison.I’ve always been a Tom O’Brien believer. And even though his recent recruiting classes were bereft of big names, I’ve always had faith in his staff’s abilitity to evaluate talent and develop it, particularly on the offensive line.
But I’ll admit that my faith has been shaken a bit. I know that the Wolfpack’s again getting buried under an avalanche of injuries, but fair or not, that excuse card has been played before during TOB’s time in Raleigh and it’s falling on deaf ears this year. Instead, people are using State’s inability to rebound from injuries to bolster their argument that O’Brien’s not collecting enough talent – and therefore enough depth – out on the recruiting trail.
As for that offensive line? Well I’ve already documented my disappointment with that unit.
Before I get too down on TOB, I’ll point out that both is 2008 and 2009 teams rebounded from horrific starts to go 4-2 in the second half of the season. If that happens again this season and State finishes at, say 5-7 or 6-6, I could see TOB earning another year but perhaps being asked to shake up his staff.
If things keep going the way they are right now? Well let’s just say that Debbie Yow is not the AD that hired O’Brien and she’s also not afraid to cut loose coaches when they don’t meet her expectations.
