No Schaeffer for State

General NCS Football14

Brent Schaeffer announced for Ole Miss on Friday evening. As we discussed last week – Schaeffer’s presence would have been very welcome in Raleigh for lots of reasons, but his lack of presence does not kill our program by any means.

Without Schaeffer, State will move on and most people will apply their focus to incoming freshman, Justin Burke. I caution you to avoid this trap. Burke is NOT enrolling early and coming to Raleigh for the spring semester, and therefore will not be on campus until the fall.

IF NC State ends up having to turn to a true freshman to start at quarterback this year…then you can go ahead and toss the towel in on the season as you wave good-bye to Chuck Amato. There is NO WAY this program should be in such a position in the 7th season of a tenure that had the recruiting advantage of a high powered offense and NFL quarterback inthe first four seasons. I highlight JR’s post from a previous thread:

Enough with the talk about Burke starting. That is not going to happen no matter how delusional State fans have gotten. I love NC State, so don’t even think about calling me a flame. The only reason Rivers was able to start right away, was because he enrolled early, and the stable was empty. Neither is the case with Burke.

I crave a true QB leading State more than any one. Marcus Stone is our starter, unfortunately, after today’s announcement. Schaeffer is a gamebreaker, Stone is not.

However, this year, if I’m Chuck I’m putting all my eggs in Brown & Baker’s basket. Schaeffer would have made that tandem unstopable. Next year, any team with a competent coach is going to straight up dare Stone to beat him. Brown & Baker will have to really fight for every yard next season. I feel if Stone works his ass off, studies the game like Rivers did, he can finally live up to all the hype.

At this point, I will throw Daniel Evans’ name into the mix as a potential contender for the starting job next year. Evans’ has received rave reviews from those close to the program over the last two years and may be physically ready to compete for the job. His brains and accuracy could add an element to the offense that could help alleviate pressure from our running game.

Overall recruiting seems to be going “all right” for Chuck Amato this year. The program is currently ranked in the Top 50 of current classes based on Scout.com’s star-ranking system. But, the Pack still has approximately half of its available scholarships unaccounted for. Historically, Amato has pulled off a flurry of last minute commitments that boosts the class. Let’s hope that this season is no different.

We don’t obsess over unproven recruits on this blog…but, we’ll surely be talking about the topic as signing day approaches.

General NCS Football

14 Responses to No Schaeffer for State

  1. SaccoV 01/22/2006 at 11:56 PM #

    Given that our football team lost another coach in the off-season, it was important for Amato to come up with another highly touted recruit. Not necessarily because I think Brent Schaffer is the best quarterback since Rivers, but because it would prove to the fans and the country that Amato can once again get THE GUY that other good teams wanted. Considering that the other FOUR QBs you have are all about the same in terms of talent right now, there’s strong possibility that the overload will prove just as tumultuous as a shortage. Just like with Bobby Washington riding the pine and eventually transferring, which one of the QBs is going to continue to play backup in a struggling offense. Regardless of Stone’s decent performances from last year, he will be under immense pressure to improve as the passing game was the weak spot in the offense.

    One more point. Currently, according to Scout.com, the Pack IS NOT in the top-25 of recruiting classes for 2006. Considering that last year’s group was also good but not great, who going to fill the shoes of the key defensive players we’ve lost? Regardless of his lousy conference record and his revolving-door assistants, Amato’s one “strength” has been recruiting and to lose a top prospect to OLE MISS seems like another chink in the armor.

  2. class of '74 01/23/2006 at 6:44 AM #

    Trestman can now focus on making Stone a Div I QB. The job would appear to be immense given what we have seen so far from Stone. This next season will reveal all we need to know on: 1. Stone; 2. Trestman; 3. Amato and 4. The football program.

  3. Rick Jernigan 01/23/2006 at 8:06 AM #

    Class of ’74 – I agree completely on the Trestman emphasis. Some coaches just have a knack for developing QB’s and let’s hope we have one. Watching Matt Hasselbeck against the Panthers I couldn’t help but notice that he and Marcus are almost clones in physical ability. Hopefully, during this off season, he can learn the nuances of the most difficult position in sports. We have the running backs but I still think the development of the OLine is almost as important as the QB play.

  4. Sam '92 01/23/2006 at 10:06 AM #

    Stone’s performance is the key to the season. Quality running backs we’ve got, but we have to have a good performer under center in order to get quality wins. I have my doubts — because of the coaching — but hope for the best.

  5. choppack 01/23/2006 at 10:37 AM #

    Regarding our QBs and their development – here’s the news: This wasn’t a position that we neglected in recruiting or that we didn’t see desireable results on signing day. Including this year, we’ve focused on key prospects and signed them 4 out of 6 years. Jay Davis, Marcus Stone, Greco and Burke were guys we targeted early, wanted badly, and got. Moore (isn’t that his last name?) and Evans were brought in for insurance and the hope that they could be good fall-back options if we lost starters and the newer guys weren’t ready.

    IMHO, this position has suffered badly from the constant coaching turnover at the QB/OC positions. These guys are talented and the staff at this time wanted most of them badly and was excited to have them. Clearly, this has been an area where the staff has failed to proper develop its existing personnell. Hopefully, Trestman will change that.

  6. class of '74 01/23/2006 at 1:23 PM #

    ^Agree on coaching revolving door comment. Stone has the measurables as they say but does he read and react to the defenses facing him? That’s what Trestman must teach our QB’s. Playing QB is a little like being a point guard in hoops. The good ones always keep their head up looking for the weakness in the defense. Stone has been prone to drop his head and run when under pressure.

    Which brings up the other half of the equation our line play. We have to have better line play next season. Look at Payton Manning against the Steelers. If you don’t give a QB time even Payton Manning can’t be effective.

    Just my opinion but we have more questions next season than anytime since Chuck has been here.

  7. choppack 01/23/2006 at 2:16 PM #

    class of 74 – I agree 100%. I was cleaning out my network drive and I found a correspondence I generated after the 2004 season. Basically, I said, it will be interesting to see how Chuck did w/out Rivers. Sadly, thus far, the results have been sub-par.

  8. db321 01/23/2006 at 8:46 PM #

    I don’t see how this program can re-establish itself as an up-and-coming program with the underachieving results of the last three seasons and big recruiting misses the last two seasons.

    In year 7, the program should be winning more and recruiting should be getting better, not worse. I hope I am wrong, but it appears that momentum has been lost and Chuck will be lucky to survive.

  9. class of '74 01/24/2006 at 8:54 AM #

    The question is will Chuck be gone after next season, or the season following?
    The disappointment in expectations has grown to a level that should make changes inevitable.

  10. choppack 01/24/2006 at 9:08 AM #

    Good question. From what I’ve heard, Chuck had managed to enrage some very important people – the same people Herb somehow managed to placate. If it was Lee’s decision, he’d probably at least have 2 more years. However, I can see this being taken out of his hands.

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