FBall Position Talk

'06 Football General32

NC State released the post-spring depth chart (Link) a couple of weeks ago.

In order of “most concern” to “least concern”, the following is a list of how I feel about the Wolfpack’s different positions:

(1) Offensive line
(2) Linebackers
(3) Wide receivers
(4) Quarterbacks
(5) Secondary
(6) Defensive Line
(7) Special Teams
(8) Running Backs

I’d love to hear your thoughts about some of the position battles for playing time in 2006. The following are some random observations:

* No surprises at quarterback. At this point, no reason exists to expect Justin Burke (see feature story) to burn a redshirt this year. Daniel Evans has earned raved-reviews from those close to the program over the last two years and could see time if Stone struggles. But, the coaches were very complimentary of Marcus Stone during spring practice, so some reason exists to hope that Stone’s passing skills are improving.

* A little surprised to see Andre Brown listed as #1 and Toney Baker as a clear #2 as opposed to the two sharing the starting position with an “OR”.

* Reggie Davis (SR) moves from running back to linebacker and immediately is listed as a starter. That is either great news that Davis is a natural LB talent, or it is bad news that some of the other linebackers, particularly Ernest Jones (JR) is not as good as previously projected.

* Looks like a moderately experienced and talented secondary that does not provide me a lot of concern right now. We’ll learn how much talent the group possesses sicne they will be tested more than last season if for not other reason that the defensive front won’t get as much pressure on opposing quarterbacks this year as last year.

* Good news for the Pack at defensive end with the addition of Raymond Brooks to the roster. But, we did experience two other losses of players that weren’t expected to make huge contributions. Our friends at RAWFS have good comments on this. Since Littleton Wright and Willie Young were already projected to start, the re-addition of Brooks to the line is huge.

* Don’t misunderstand me, the talent exodus that took place last year was painful to stomach. But, 90% of all college football teams would still trade their defensive tackles for DeMario Pressley and Tank Tyler. We are not as talented (or deep) as before, but don’t confuse that for being untalented.

* Because of the presence of Tyler and Pressley, I think that the premature loss of Stephen Tulloch will ultimately be the most impactful to our program this year. Tulloch was an All-ACC linebacker; a very important position where the Pack is thin and inexperienced. Had Tulloch stayed in school he would have made a mark on the NC State record books. He was THE BEST pure tackler on the squad, almost never failing to wrap up the ball carrier.

* One of the biggest concerns from this year’s spring practice was the defense’s struggles with tackling. Tulloch would have made a huge positive impact on this.

* The offensive line is where any offensive improvement must begin. To be honest, the line play simply cannot get any worse than it has been the last couple of years.

* Offensive line coach, Mike Barry, thankfully slipped into the night to the Detriot Lions during the offseason. (Do you remember who was the first to publicly break Barry’s departure? Allow me to remind you with this link.

VAWOLF: It’s not hard to identify problems. But sometimes its hard to separate the blame between coaching and lack of talent. When you can move a DL to the OL and he starts immediately…..and a true FR gets to play on the OL….that’s a sign that the overall talent level on the OL is not good.

If the play of the OL improves dramatically next year…then it will be easy to hold Barry responsible for the poor line play. If the OL line struggles again next year, then I won’t be concerned about blame….I’ll be looking for something else to do on Sat afternoon.

* Leroy Harris is an All-American candidate at center and has been added to the Rimington watch list. Harris will be flanked on the offesive line by two seniors (James Newby & Jon Holt), junior Kalani Heppe and stud sophomore Curtis Crouch. The line definitely has experience…but how much talent in some places?

* State (wisely) chose to redshirt quite a few freshmen offensive lineman last season that are now working their way onto the depth chart. I was hoping that a more than just Julian Williams, Jeraill McCuller, and Andy Barbee are names to watch.

* One name on the offensive line that is receiving some buzz is that of Meares Green. I’m pretty sure that Green was a walk-on and not heavily recruited. But, the redshirt-sophomore is currently sitting second behind Curtis Crouch at right guard.

* One offensive lineman that is yet to make the kind of impact originally projected is that of junior college transfer, Garrett Kline. Kline was rated America’s #31 JUCO player by SuperPrep’s and #24 by Rivals’ after playing left tackle at Lackawanna Junior College for two years. He was expected to battle for a starting position last season, but was instead redshirted and is currently listed behind Kalani Heppe and Yomi Ojo (both juniors) at left guard.

* Despite his struggles, Derek Morris’ decision to jump to the NFL a year too early will negatively impact the Pack’s short-yardage running game this season.

Please feel free to share with us any and all of your thoughts/comments related to the Wolfpack’s current depth chart and player personnel. Thanks.

'06 Football General

32 Responses to FBall Position Talk

  1. VaWolf82 05/31/2006 at 1:52 PM #

    In addition, he appears to have changed his recruiting strategy in an attempt to seal the border in NC and to get commits earlier in the season. However, the timing issue may be more a function of having a staff in place.

    Let’s try and separate cause from effect. The recruiting strategy has certainly changed for this year….but I really don’t think that it has anything to do with “sealing the borders”. Here are the two things that I’m currently leaning towards to explain the apparent shift in recruiting philosophy:

    1 – An unusually deep class in NC
    2 – The new admittance requirements for NC public universities

  2. Dan 05/31/2006 at 2:03 PM #

    The NC class is deep this year no doubt, and the rules are forcing them to look at acedemics more than ever. I still think its mostly a function of a staff being in place, and maybe Trestman, Dixon, and Dunlap bringing their own ideas to the recruiting trail. But there have been some definite strategy changes at certain positions. OL for one.

    Either way you slice it, the recruiting “appears” better for ’07 than it was for ’06. Especially at this point. Lets hope we can add to the momentum, and keep kids like Culliver away from the competition. The disadvantage of football recruiting is that, unlike basketball, the recruits dont sign their LOI until after the season is over. A poor season could hurt us with verbals who are being swayed.

  3. choppack1 05/31/2006 at 3:18 PM #

    Jeff – Regarding the (infamous) 4th down play – I don’t know if you have ever seen the replay or if you can bear it, but if you watch, you’ll see our TE (no names here) run right past the LB who made the game saving tackle in the end zone. If he makes that block – or heck even gets in the way- TD. I saw it on classic sports and screamed at the TV – “HOW COULD YOU MISS THAT BLOCK!” – and it’s rare for me to get upset at our players.

    Regarding recruiting OLs. I disagree. Far too often, Amato has gone up against the titans of college football and come away empty-handed. 2 years ago, w/ Crouch and Julian Williams – he finally got the kind of prospects he should have been recruiting all along. A good staff can do wonders w/ the OL. It’s a position where execution and intelligence can make up for pure talent. To date, we haven’t done that.

  4. RickJ 05/31/2006 at 3:25 PM #

    A most enjoyable read. Thanks to all. This has been discussed before but very early on in last year’s recruiting cycle, our staff determined that the overall talent level in NC wasn’t just bad, but terrible. Time will tell whether their evaluation was correct. Over the next few years it will be interesting to compare the careers of players like Jordan Delagal & Jevon Walker, two or our signees from Florida to Bruce Carter & Shaun Draughn of UNC that are from North Carolina. These are similar type players but Carter & Draughn were much higher rated by the services but our staff chose not to recruit early.

    One thought to consider when recruiting offensive lineman. It is the only position (not counting kickers) that if the player doesn’t work out, there is no place to move them. Tight ends are routinely made offensive linemen, cornerbacks to safetys, safetys to linebacker, etc. Try to name a recruited offensive lineman that ever successfully moved to another position.

  5. class of 74 06/01/2006 at 1:08 PM #

    On the apparent recruiting focus change, it’s like Willie Sutton said when asked why he robbed banks: “because that’s where the money is.” More instate talent means more recruiting effort.

  6. Micky McCarthy 06/08/2006 at 10:04 PM #

    We could have John Elway, Herschel Walker and Walter Peyton in the backfield and nothing would matter without an offensive line. If the front four of opposing teams is getting into the backfield and making hits, we will have a losing record. 220 lbs never trumps 290 lbs. Our success this year depends on whether our RBs can spring through holes and make plays against the 2nd and 3rd layers of defenses.

    The offensive line is the only thing that really matters right now. Will they or won’t they block? They haven’t for 3 years, so we’ll see.

  7. Dan 06/20/2006 at 10:41 AM #

    I’m hoping the running game this year allows the big boys up front to be on their toes more than on their heels.

    Making the opposing LB’s repsect the play action can go a long ways in making an OL and a QB look really good.

    The Pack is going to be ok this year. I really think we are going to see some nice improvement throughout the season. If they can get some production at LB, they might even sneak into a bowl game.

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