Ray Michel - Linebacker Ray Michel is coming off 102 tackle Junior campaign (7.9 tackles per contest). Last night Michel quietly posted 11 tackles, which marks the second highest game total of his career (his career high was against South Florida last year with 13). He owned the middle of the field last night, and was visibly the leader of the defense. 
Earl Wolff - Safety Redshirt Freshmen Earl Wolff came into last nights game 2nd on the depth chart behind Clem Johnson. Watching the game you wouldn't have thought he was a back-up whatsoever. #27 was seen flying all-over the field, taking down opponents much bigger than him with pure speed and momentum accompanied by solid technique. Wolff finished his first career college football game with 8 tackles (2 special teams tackles), which tied for second on the team with Willie Young. 
Audie Cole - Last night's box score doesn't do justice to the impact that Audie Cole made. His line might only show that he had 4 tackles, but everyone in the stands was looking down at their programs trying to figure out who #42 was after he demolished South Carolina's running back in the backfield on the first drive of the game. The sophomore looked like a stud out there, matching his size with crushing speed. Cole was in the backfield a good portion of the night, nearly collecting half of his tackles back there (1.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks). He also had a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry. His quarterback hurry was vitally important, forcing South Carolina's Garcia to throw the bowl out of the back of the end zone, forcing a field goal attempt, that was botched. 
Steven Howard - Steven Howard came into the game 3-deep on the depth chart, but he had to be pleased that Wilson threw the ball his way 3 times (which tied for third on the team), reeling in 2 catches for 13 yards. Howard came out and did what was asked of him, he caught the ball when it was thrown his way.Team Defense - Last year in the opener against South Carolina, the Wolfpack gave up 369 yards of total offense. Last night was a different story, with the Pack only allowing 256 yards of total offense. Last year South Carolina averaged 4.1 yards per rush. Last night the Gamecocks mustered a measly 2.6 yards per rush. While last night was not how you want to start a season, you have to give credit to how the defense kicked things off this year.
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17 Responses to "Bright Spots After The Loss"Notice how most of these guys are TOBs recruits, im thinking the leaders of the team AKA chucks guys, fell back mentally.
Michel is an Amato guy...
Also, Young, Cash and McKeen played well who are Amato guys...
I'm tryin to stay positive, look at wolf and lemon. And that freshman on the D-line. They played well and there TOB guys. I'm just brainstorming and thinking that Amatos guys did not step up and lead the team, mentally.
Rashard Smith?!? Freshman big timer. Did you forget him? He's a facemask away from only having to beat the kicker for a punt return TD that could have won the game. Played well on ST, in coverage, and blitz packages.
Didn't forget Rashard. He played great. This wasn't an exhaustive list of players that played well.
Also could have thrown James Washington's name in the hat.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes Robert.
To be fair, the defense played well at times, but they missed a lot of tackles bouncing off ball carriers and just running into them instead of wrapping them up. Several 2-3 yard gains would have been tackles for loss if not for the poor tackling. Holding USC to 7 points doesn't account for their mistakes on kicks. Probably should have been 13-3. However, they did show that the pieces are there. They just need to put it all together.
Agreed Bradford. There were quite a few missed tackles, especially in the backfield. The score could have easily been 13-3 if South Carolina didn't botch to easy field goals.
With that being said, I still feel like the Defense put up good numbers, despite some mistakes.
We can at least all agree that it is a better start for the Defense than last year.
**two
"Howard came out and did what was asked of him, he caught the ball when it was thrown his way."
He was the only one. The WR's REALLY hurt us last night and they are supposed to be one of our strengths.
I expected Brandon Barnes to see playing time ahead of Washington because I figured he would be redshirted.
WPP, Did Washington perform that much better than Barnes in preseason practices?
Despite my depression last night, today I think the loss is not that major unless we were expecting a national championship this year. The conference race is more important than it once was. This may actually be a good thing in the long run. I think we may have started believing our own press a little bit.
Everyone is a TOB player at this point. We've seen a small but constant exodus of former players who didn't make this team as the HC visions it.
Shea McKeen was a JC transfer out of Nassua County but had started off for South Carolina. TOB and his staff brought him aboard and most likely had recruited him when at BC. At this stage Shea is still one of our best at pressuring the pocket and you will always see him chasing down plays till the "echo" of the whistle. The one area where to still has work to do is controlling his gap and helping stuffing the run.
Added in another post that Jeff Ruiz was definitely a bright spot after the block (which was a unit failure).
Agreed with the Audie Cole mention for just his presence and intensity he brings to us. With him we were able to mix effective blitz packages that will help off set the loss of Nate. Cole also flashed the athleticism and instincts needed to play in space. IMO, field LB they have him in fits him so well. It's a wide open throw your body on the line type of set up and it should stock up the highlight reel for the big screen operators.
My only question is if Asante played at all and if not how much action will he get? Audie has a motor no doubt but I thought that there were times last season that Robbie Leonard straight ran out of gas because we lacked depth.
Slick...Washington must have impressed the coaches this preseason to get the nod over Barnes after Eugene got hurt. He had to be pretty excite.
Didn't know Eugene got hurt. What happened to him?
O'Brien said that he was able to go back in the game but didn't know the details. We should know more on Monday.
I think we have a lot to be happy about, other than the loss. Nobody is talking about our LB or our corner as a major concern and the freshmen look like potential stars. The depth we will have by the end of the season will be at level we haven't seen in pack nation. The offense and RW are the biggest question marks then, I'm not worried nobody is better at making a team better than TOB (ex. last 2yrs)and RW is RW. star in 2 maj. sports and find the time to graduate in 3 years. You don't become that guy by accident.
I'm also thankful that so far Defensive Coordinator Mike Archer appears to have some parts in place to dial up the pressure he likes.
Cole can bring a some hurt off the corner and is fast and big enough to stunt with the DE and blow up the inside gaps.
Rashard Smith comes in and gives the D a 3rd a long package with the extra DB. He timed the blitz once and hit the pocket like a bullet. He brings some much needed excitement and athleticism that we lost with NI, even though they play different positions.
Obviously the DL will keep doing their thing but I expect the Michel-Lucas, Maddux-Manning rotation to be a force to reckon with as they get more game experience together.
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