The Amato Recruit

General NCS Football15

Nothing major…just a little note on Elijah Dukes I ran across on a national blog. Thank God this guy never matriculated to Raleigh.

Elijah Dukes’ wife told a judge that her husband smoked weed on a daily basis and pounded top shelf liquor until he passed out [aside: we went by the Cash Money motto in college, too: drink till you throw up]. Crazy, right? What lies. Dukes was only making $380,000 this year, and after taxes and his agent and his arsenal, there’s no way he can afford top shelf liquor!

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General NCS Football

15 Responses to The Amato Recruit

  1. noah 07/18/2007 at 1:56 PM #

    There’s crazy…and then there’s “Plays in the Tampa Devil Rays outfield”-crazy.

    BTW, anyone see the blurb in the paper about Demo? Proves my point about people never changing. The factors that drive people to a certain general type of behavior overwhelm whatever temporary urge someone may feel to change their life.

  2. dj9686 07/18/2007 at 4:16 PM #

    Well, Dukes is just another example of Amato letting talent be more important than the integrity of the player. Bring in a bunch of hoodlums and worry about the results later. Just didn’t work.

  3. statered 07/18/2007 at 4:51 PM #

    “Dukes is just another example of Amato letting talent be more important than the integrity of the player”

    Find me another example. I can’t. Chuck had a fairly well behaved team when he was here, certainly better than any team MOC had. Even our bad apples like Richard Washington and TA, while not completing their degree here, managed to stay out of any serious trouble. I think Chuck felt like he could discipline these guys and set them straight – something many of them never had in their life. In Washington’s case he couldn’t ultimately but based on some things that happened after he left – coming back to talk to the team and talking positiely about the program – left me with the impression that he appreciated on some level the discipline Chuck was trying to provide.

  4. dj9686 07/18/2007 at 5:01 PM #

    OK, Statered, maybe I over-simplified things. Chuck had a lot of players who couldn’t control theirselves on the field. A few that couldn’t do it off the field–not many–I must admit. Just the guys with the little vending machine scam. More than a few who ended up in Prep school and that’s not integrity, I stand corrected, they are academic risks.

    As far as T.A. went, he was a great talent. Maybe he was lazy, but I think Amato broke him with his media comments on T.A.’s injuries. Why would he have come out early with such a poor junior season? Also I believe he did the same to Bobby Washington. Maybe a little more subtley, but after that fumble on the kickoff against Miami he barely played again. He really didn’t get a second chance and he so wanted to prove himself against the school who dumped him.

    Amato did leave State in a much better position than most fired coaches but I believe his ego got in the way of NCSU being a much better football school (i.e. lots of turnover in the assistant coaches).

    Just my opinion.

  5. packpower 07/18/2007 at 5:31 PM #

    Did Chuck have issues with penalties, fumbles and a poorly coached OL – yes. However, bringing Amato into this is like stating Diana Ross is a bad person because of Michael Jackson’s actions as an adult. (For those of you who don’t know, Diana Ross introduced the Jackson 5 to the world.)

  6. Cosmo96 07/18/2007 at 5:58 PM #

    I don’t know how true it is, but there was a rumor that Amato got Dukes to commit, knowing full well that he would never play for us. He knew that Dukes was going to play baseball, but signed him to increase the ranking of our recruiting class. Can anyone verify if this rumor is valid?

  7. highstick 07/18/2007 at 6:52 PM #

    While we’re on the Amato subject, I was in the Triangle area for a wedding over the weekend and the rehearsal party was held in “The Amato Room” at Mamma Mia’s in Cary. I understand Chuck used to own a part of it and was in there a couple of weeks ago.

    I got a “close up look” at a very Italian party, wedding and reception the next day! It was a lot of fun!

  8. ncsu_kappa 07/19/2007 at 12:58 AM #

    We’ve discussed the swagger of NC States players under Amato before. We can’t forget the like’s of the Manny Lawson’s, Brown and Baker, and Thunder Dans while keeping in mind we can’t forget the K-Rob’s either. If we had a QB that could hit an open reciever any of the last few years. We talk about how we have one of the premier coaches in the country. While our O-line play surely subpar, our skill positions were on par if not above the average and our defense can speak for itself. Chuck Amato went with the success at the QB position. I’m still baffled at how bad of luck/talent we seemed to have at that position since Phil considering the hype surround Jay Davis and Stone. If the offense could have just held on to the ball at times without turning it over, our defense would have won us games taking advantage of other team’s mistakes.

  9. noah 07/19/2007 at 9:27 AM #

    Chuck Amato didn’t have anything to do with TA McLendon’s problems.

    McLendon came to NC State as damaged goods. And I’m talking about physically, not emotionally or mentally. He was a great big guy who could run and for his entire career, he gained yards by initiating contact, not avoiding it.

    Look at Earl Campbell and look at Emmitt Smith. One of those guys sought contact. One of them was amazing at avoiding it. And one of those guys currently suffers from dementia, can’t walk because of knee problems and has chronic back problems. THe other was on “Dancing with the Stars.”

    There’s only so many hits a running back can take. McLendon used almost all of his up before he got here. It’s why he got worse every year he was here.

  10. thebigwood 07/19/2007 at 9:29 AM #

    or if we had an offensive coordinator who designed the offense around the talent we had, instead of forcing an uncomfortable offense on them

  11. CarnifeX 07/19/2007 at 11:56 AM #

    There were problems with all parts of TA’s career here; his onfield grip being the most obvious, but I think off the field there were just as many issues. I know I attended many parties in which he was also in attendance; lets just say, he was not the DD those nights.

  12. Packaholic1 07/20/2007 at 8:34 AM #

    What were you doing at those parties – studying the Bible?

  13. CarnifeX 07/20/2007 at 10:24 AM #

    not at all. I was socializing and looking for the future ex-Mrs. CarnifeX not pounding top shelf liquor till I passed out (ok, so TA didn’t do that till he passed out, however there was a bottle of grey goose in his hand all night)

    I know, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones (my window is broken)

  14. packgrad93 07/20/2007 at 3:02 PM #

    “Amato did leave State in a much better position than most fired coaches but I believe his ego got in the way of NCSU being a much better football school (i.e. lots of turnover in the assistant coaches). ”

    Yes, Chuck did leave NCSU in a better position than when he arrived. I give credit where credit is due.

  15. redfred2 07/25/2007 at 10:35 PM #

    If only Chuck A had his own version of a CedarGroveWolf. Of the two recently departed coaches, the one most deserved a diehard defender is the one now back in Florida, and definitely not the one in Arizona.

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