The “UNC Is The Only Team That Is Young Argument”

All we have been hearing about is “how young UNC is this year”.Good stuff by James Henderson at PackPride.com, now you can judge for yourself.

Obviously recruiting matters, but you hear a lot about how young UNC is at every position, and rightfully so. However, NC State has some very young players contributing as well. On the current roster, I consider someone a sophomore or below as young because they should be on the team at least two more years. Listed below is a breakdown of every position with “young” players who have contributed noticably in bold or redshirting/not playing/incoming recruit not bolded. I think the team’s are more comparable than most people think.

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20 Responses to The “UNC Is The Only Team That Is Young Argument”

  1. highstick 11/11/2007 at 10:52 PM #

    Everytime I read “Dancing with Sheep”, I totally crack up. Good stats! Just goes to show you how “they rewrite the facts and history” over there!

  2. redfred2 11/11/2007 at 11:36 PM #

    ^Actually highstick, we could be so lucky if it was just “over there”, as you say. Everyone, everywhere, reads or hears that same crapola, as its readily shoveled out by our good friends in sports media.

  3. highstick 11/11/2007 at 11:52 PM #

    “Over there” refers to their “little world that they all live in”. I know what you’re saying. Learned a good one from my son this past year. Everytime a Clempson fan would start giving him crap, he’s just say 31-28 and move on! Guess we can say 31-27 and do likewise!

  4. Todd 11/12/2007 at 12:03 AM #

    Even though it (youth) was never used as an excuse (injuries but not youth) in the sad first half of the season, I often thought to myself “Aren’t we a pretty young team?”. Guess that prooves it. I’m especially excited about the next incomming class. Looks solid, and still a few top guys out there looking at us. Winning games now wont hurt recruiting.

  5. Todd 11/12/2007 at 12:12 AM #

    So what’s the story? It is true what a poster said on an earlier thread… That every other year a team can count one win against a 1AA team towards their 6 wins to be bowl eligable, true?? One more win does it? Thought we needed to win both. After such an awful start, can you believe a BCS game is still possible. we could still win Atlantic division, win champ game and go to BCS bowl. Will it happen? Not predicting it, but why not?? WHY NOT??

  6. PackerInRussia 11/12/2007 at 12:17 AM #

    Just for fun I looked at team recruiting rankings at Scout.com.
    2007 (Freshman)
    UNC 14
    NCSU 60
    2006 (Redshirt Freshman/Sophomore)
    UNC 23
    NCSU 42
    2005 (Redshirt Sophomore)
    UNC 34
    NCSU 23
    2004 (Just for fun since these players are older than those being discussed)
    UNC 18
    NCSU 20

    So, if UNC and State play a similar number of young players, technically UNC should have the edge since their young players are “more talented” based on recruiting rankings (of course you could analyze that in more if you wanted). The only year over the past 4 where State had a better recruiting class was 2005 which would be divided into Redshirt Sophomores and Juniors and I’m not sure who of that class is Redshirt Sophomore and Junior, so that year’s ranking doesn’t mean as much. Over the past two years though, UNC has the decided recruiting advantage.

  7. Todd 11/12/2007 at 12:20 AM #

    We are just one game behind both BC and Clemson with two games left. However we played both of them in the first half of the season (meaning we lost). Should we tie in the standings what is the tie breaker? Head to head? They still play each other, so can’t both go 0-2. Winner of that game wins Atlantic no matter what we do?? If tie breaker is head to head, guess we’re outta luck for winning division.

  8. Todd 11/12/2007 at 12:29 AM #

    Oh well, it was a fun pipe dream for a few seconds untill I saw they still play each other and can’t both go 0-2. We can still go to a bowl and end up having a very respectable season. Who wouldda thought that 4-5 weeks ago. TOB is the man. Things are gonna get much better much sooner than anybody thought. Look out next yeat.

  9. tvp1 11/12/2007 at 1:15 AM #

    We can finish in a tie for 1st in the division (though that is unlikely). But we lose all tiebreakers.

  10. McLovin 11/12/2007 at 2:27 AM #

    does anyone else see a resemblence between last year’s bball team and this years fball team? think about it.

    both started their years out with low expectations, played poorly to begin the season, and seemed to find a spark late in the season. maybe we’ll be thinking ACC championship next year in fball like we are for bball now with this young talent (and injured upperclassmen) returning

  11. RickJ 11/12/2007 at 9:32 AM #

    Marvin Austin was credited with zero tackles in the game. I could have sworn he got in on one assist in the third quarter.

  12. beowolf 11/12/2007 at 11:37 AM #

    It seems to me that this weekend’s game worked out so that both sides were happy. NC State got the win, and UNC got another one of those moral victories they and their media acolytes covet.

  13. redfred2 11/12/2007 at 2:13 PM #

    I mean, how could anyone have expected UNC to win, they’re just so, so young? Not to mention how and cute and cuddley they look in those powder uniforms.

  14. redfred2 11/12/2007 at 2:14 PM #

    ^powder “blue” uniforms

  15. wolfman 11/12/2007 at 7:53 PM #

    I think you have to qualify that statement. They’re younger than the rest of the Orange County inmate population.

  16. Primewolf 11/12/2007 at 8:46 PM #

    Great post by James. I too had bought into it, as it had been repeated dozens of times this year and I mistakenly assumed that someone had done their homework. This raises the next question: “Are UNC and NCST both relatively young teams or is that a myth too, compared to other teams in the conference?”

    Butch has a tough decision to make. Stay at UNC and maybe not be as succesful as UNC thinks he should be and watch his coaching stock nosedive. OR…….leave early before folks could expect him to have a chance to make a difference.

    TOB doesn’t have that problem—-it was NC State or BUST.

    I don’t think it is going to be BUST.

  17. vtpackfan 11/12/2007 at 9:28 PM #

    College football seems different then basketball in this respect. I think you can throw young guys to the wolves in BBall and expect in time that the experience will pay off in the long run.

    In football is seems your better off most of times bringing most of guys along slowly, and put the real studs out there from the beggining.

    We had depth and injury issues really press TOB’s hand in most cases. Underwood burning a RS, Vermiglio starting at OL, and Barnes getting alot of reps at LB come to mind.

    But when you start to put alot of guys out there early it starts to become the “Law of Diminishing Returns”, IMO. Young guys need veterans around them to help them stick together and get through the rough times. If you just let a “young team” just fizzle out on the playing field, how does that help them develop any faster?

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

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    fvXTZM Thanks so much for the blog.

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