N&O: TOB evaluates first scrimmage

'12 Football Tom O'Brien19

N&O:

O’Brien enjoyed watching quarterback Mike Glennon throw against the first-team secondary. In 75 plays, the offense scored two touchdowns, both on passes. The defense, which had 27 interceptions last season, picked off two passes in the scrimmage.

O’Brien said Glennon and the secondary are improving.

“(The secondary) is operating at a high level, which is good for them and our quarterback,” O’Brien said. “It’s all about making each other better.”

…

A statistic that was alarming to O’Brien was sacks. The defense recorded 12 against a relatively young offensive line.

“Sometimes you get into matchups in these scrimmages that are good for one side and not good for the other,” he said. “You don’t want to give up 12 sacks in 75 plays. But that’s the way it is.”

O’Brien hinted that he and his coaching staff will spend a majority of their time this spring evaluating linebackers.

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'12 Football Tom O'Brien

19 Responses to N&O: TOB evaluates first scrimmage

  1. choppack1 04/08/2012 at 2:25 PM #

    We will struggle at the lb spot. The big question is whether these struggles will keep us from having a decent year.

    Last year, injuries killed us on dl, but when we got folks back and healthy we played at a very high level.

  2. VaWolf82 04/08/2012 at 4:53 PM #

    O’Brien hinted that he and his coaching staff will spend a majority of their time this spring evaluating linebackers

    Who would have thought?

  3. packalum44 04/08/2012 at 5:11 PM #

    TOB will always have an excuse. Last year d-line. Year before secondary. This year linebackers.

    Here’s a novel idea O’Brien. Go recruit better and quit kicking kids off the team for comparatively minor infractions.

  4. Wufpacker 04/08/2012 at 5:15 PM #

    LBs and WRs will either be our triumph or our downfall, no doubt.

    I hadn’t looked at our ’12 schedule closely until today. Had anyone else noticed that we don’t have a Thursday ESPN game this year (for the first time since I can’t remember)?

  5. ancsu87 04/08/2012 at 6:30 PM #

    “Here’s a novel idea O’Brien. Go recruit better and quit kicking kids off the team for comparatively minor infractions.”

    Packalum44: You are referring to DJ Greene??
    “North Carolina State linebacker D.J. Green says the NCAA has suspended him for the season after he tested positive for using a banned substance that he did not identify.

    Green apologized in a statement. He says he was trying to gain weight during the offseason and took a supplement given to him by someone from his hometown in Macon, Ga.

    He says he “wasn’t responsible enough to check with our coaches to make sure that it was something legal and now I’m paying the consequences.”

    The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Green had 28 tackles, one sack and one interception in seven games last year with the Wolfpack. He missed the final five games with an unspecified foot injury.”

  6. ancsu87 04/08/2012 at 6:33 PM #

    “Had anyone else noticed that we don’t have a Thursday ESPN game this year”

    However we do have a Friday night date on national TV to open the season in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game when it meets Tennessee in Atlanta on Aug. 31. I would take this over a Thur night game in mid-season.

    “This is a high-profile game for the Wolfpack, which hasn’t had too many of the non-conference variety in recent seasons. And with last year’s dismal outing on national television at Cincinnati serving as the signature non-league event, piecing together something better at the start of the 2012 season is something of a concern. Wolfpack officials are pushing hard for their fan base to show up strong because a large Tennessee contingent is expected to be on hand at the Georgia Dome.” — are you planning to be there and support the pack?

  7. Wufpacker 04/08/2012 at 7:51 PM #

    “However we do have a Friday night date on national TV to open the season in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game when it meets Tennessee in Atlanta on Aug. 31. I would take this over a Thur night game in mid-season.”

    Yup, looking forward to the opener with the Vols, but wasn’t trying to make it an “either/or”. Just found it interesting is all. IIRC, Thursday night “availability” is going to be harder to come by now as new conference TV deals go into effect.

    And are you asking me if I’m going to support the Pack, or is that part of your quote?

  8. coach13 04/08/2012 at 8:02 PM #

    When are we gonna NOT have depth issues?

  9. wolfbuff 04/08/2012 at 8:08 PM #

    When are we going to have that dominant OL we were promised six years ago? Glennon’s going to have to run for his life or take 12 sacks per game? Combine that with the LB issues, and it doesn’t look good.

  10. nav 04/09/2012 at 6:41 AM #

    “When are we gonna NOT have depth issues?”

    My answer, when we get a new coaching staff that is willing and able to recruit BCS-level talent. I haven’t been a TOB fan since his third year or so. And it’s not just his recruiting but some of his off-the-wall overly-conservative calling at times. Last year he got lucky just to make it to a bowl game and then we got really fortunate to get the decent bowl we did.

    Put me in the group that thinks the Fed will turn around UNC. The guy, I think, can coach well and we know he has the drive and energy to recruit. Combine that with UNC-CH’s media machine and you have a good combination for success. Arrggg, that kills me.

  11. Greywolf 04/09/2012 at 6:48 AM #

    Perhaps if I were at the scrimmage, I could evaluate the team more accurately. I don’t know what a “sack” looks like. Is it like in the Spring game where all a defensive player has to do is touch the quarterback for a sack? If so then 12 sacks may not be all that alarming. Were some of those sacks by young linemen ‘getting a look’ against our #1 D?

    As far as the simple solution of “recruiting” depth, I guess I will wait until the current recruits show up before evaluating the recruits. IIRC we have help on the way with LBs. And being a JC transfer of even a freshman doesn’t automatically make him a marginal player.

    Finally, I don’t think TOB’s report on the first scrimmage was “excuse making” but if that’s how some want to spin it, who am I to argue. This is college, not the pros. EVERY year we will lose good players and every year we will have new players either stepping up or not.

    I personally like that when all our players are available, we are a force to be reckoned with. I remember some of the past days when at our best we weren’t competitive. Tom Reed, Monte Kiffen and Mike O’Cain come to mind. Not that these weren’t good men or even excellent assistants, just not great head coaches.

    Could someone please cite specific incidences of ‘minor infractions and dismissals’? We can’t have it both ways: bitching about the holes and their infractions and lobbying for ‘looking the other way’ with our own.

  12. Greywolf 04/09/2012 at 6:48 AM #

    Perhaps if I were at the scrimmage, I could evaluate the team more accurately. I don’t know what a “sack” looks like. Is it like in the Spring game where all a defensive player has to do is touch the quarterback for a sack? If so then 12 sacks may not be all that alarming. Were some of those sacks by young linemen ‘getting a look’ against our #1 D?

    As far as the simple solution of “recruiting” depth, I guess I will wait until the current recruits show up before evaluating the recruits. IIRC we have help on the way with LBs. And being a JC transfer of even a freshman doesn’t automatically make him a marginal player.

    Finally, I don’t think TOB’s report on the first scrimmage was “excuse making” but if that’s how some want to spin it, who am I to argue. This is college, not the pros. EVERY year we will lose good players and every year we will have new players either stepping up or not.

    I personally like that when all our players are available, we are a force to be reckoned with. I remember some of the past days when at our best we weren’t competitive. Tom Reed, Monte Kiffen and Mike O’Cain come to mind. Not that these weren’t good men or even excellent assistants, just not great head coaches.

    Could someone please cite specific incidences of ‘minor infractions and dismissals’? We can’t have it both ways: bitching about the holes and their infractions and lobbying for ‘looking the other way’ with our own.

  13. Greywolf 04/09/2012 at 6:48 AM #

    Perhaps if I were at the scrimmage, I could evaluate the team more accurately. I don’t know what a “sack” looks like. Is it like in the Spring game where all a defensive player has to do is touch the quarterback for a sack? If so then 12 sacks may not be all that alarming. Were some of those sacks by young linemen ‘getting a look’ against our #1 D?

    As far as the simple solution of “recruiting” depth, I guess I will wait until the current recruits show up before evaluating the recruits. IIRC we have help on the way with LBs. And being a JC transfer of even a freshman doesn’t automatically make him a marginal player.

    Finally, I don’t think TOB’s report on the first scrimmage was “excuse making” but if that’s how some want to spin it, who am I to argue. This is college, not the pros. EVERY year we will lose good players and every year we will have new players either stepping up or not.

    I personally like that when all our players are available, we are a force to be reckoned with. I remember some of the past days when at our best we weren’t competitive. Tom Reed, Monte Kiffen and Mike O’Cain come to mind. Not that these weren’t good men or even excellent assistants, just not great head coaches.

    Could someone please cite specific incidences of ‘minor infractions and dismissals’? We can’t have it both ways: bitching about the holes and their infractions and lobbying for ‘looking the other way’ with our own.

  14. TLeo 04/09/2012 at 7:40 AM #

    Geeez folks!The season is not even close to starting and already here comes the bitching and complaining. We get it. You don’t like TOB….so I guess some are just looking for something to bitch about. Believe me, if the season is a crapper I will complain like most everyone but let’s wait ’til we se how it goes.
    Sacks in a controlled scrimmage are called in instances that would not necessarily be a sack in a real game if I recall correctly so no need to get carried away and like greywolf said, do we want to be like the ‘holes and all their infractions. It’s pretty hypocritical to complain about their athletes and then want to make allowances for ours.

  15. Daily Update 04/09/2012 at 8:05 AM #

    All football teams have depth issues. It is hard to recruit enough LBs when you lose two starters who were a junior and a sophpmore.

  16. Pack85EE 04/09/2012 at 8:31 AM #

    They scrimaged 1st against 1st, 2nd against 2nd, 3rd against 3rd. Our first team offensive line is not young, 4 seniors and a Soph by my recollection. So I wonder how many of the sacks were the 2nd team defense against the 2nd team offense. Yes – it is way to early to start bitching about a coach who has won bowl games two years in a row and beat the tarbabies 5 years in a row. You can’t build a football team as quick as you can a basketball team. It takes to many tallented players. As I have said before, let the coach get us bowls for a few years in a row and the tallent will improve and then the win total will improve. I like the direction this program is moving in.

  17. packplantpath 04/09/2012 at 8:32 AM #

    The only complaint I really can levy against TOB at this point is O-line recruiting/talent development. Judging from these comments, it still isn’t very good. Based on his past teams here, I’m not hopeful.

  18. WolfBlood 04/09/2012 at 9:12 AM #

    I think TOB has done a decent job here, though I believe his downfall will be that he was not a Debbie Yow hire. And she has made it pretty clear what she expects. If we keep making bowls it would be hard for her to get rid of him, but failure to do that after maybe even one year and he might be out the door quick.

  19. kjjones19 04/09/2012 at 12:07 PM #

    I think it’s a little too early to start worrying about the OL after one scrimmage when all we get is the final stats. For all we know TOB used the 2nd team players more to gauge where they are at. I also think the LB will be fine, they will have a great secondary and a better DL to help them out.

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