Sporting News Ranks Pack No. 27

Dan Collins of the Sporting News has NC State ranked #27 in his preseason Top-100. They have been counting down the Top-100 by doing a feature on each one up until the opening kickoff of the college football season. Yesterday their feature was on NC State and this is what they had to say about the Pack:

"Tom O'Brien has proven he can coach, averaging 7.6 victories over his 10 seasons at Boston College. And midway through his second season at N.C. State, he had the best quarterback in the ACC.

A series of injuries that hindered redshirt freshman Russell Wilson cleared, and he showed his talent last year. The Wolfpack, after losing six of their first eight games in '08, used the week off in early November to bond as a team. Then the unit, led by Wilson's passing and running, won its final four regular-season games to earn an invitation to play Rutgers in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

But for all his laurels, which included becoming the first freshman to be named a first-team all-ACC quarterback, Wilson has been guaranteed nothing for 2009. He rehabbed his knee in time for spring practices, but split time as an infielder for the Wolfpack baseball team. And O'Brien made it clear that Wilson would have beat out the competition—redshirt freshman Mike Glennon—to start this season.

"Everybody competes," O'Brien said. "They don't own the jersey. N.C. State owns the jersey."

Glennon is expected to be a good player. And he'll have to be if he's going to unseat Wilson, who completed 150 passes for 1,955 yards and carried 116 times for 388 yards and four touchdowns.

But Wilson's most impressive statistic was his 17 touchdown passes with only one interception. He will enter the 2009 season having thrown 249 consecutive passes without an interception, just 21 shy of the ACC record that Drew Weatherford of Florida State set in 2007.

Coaches are usually credited with changing a team's fortunes from one season to the next. But more often, a team evolves during a season, and they never regress.

The Wolfpack arrived during that off week, having lost four in a row. The team that ran the table against in-state rivals Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina, and then knocked off Miami to become bowl eligible, bore little resemblance to the one South Florida buried 41-10 in Raleigh early in 2008.

Seven players will return to a defense that held Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina all to 17 points or fewer. But the ringleader—linebacker Nate Irving—is out indefinitely after sustaining injuries in a recent car accident. Linebacker Ray Michel and defensive end Willie Young must step up to lead the defense in his absence.

The experienced players up front are tackle Alan-Michael Cash, who started 10 games last season, and defensive end Shea McKeen, who started nine. O'Brien will retool his secondary around cornerback DeAndre Morgan, who started 10 games, and safety Justin Byers, who started eight.

The Wolfpack improved dramatically on defense last season, especially against the run. N.C. State's first eight opponents averaged 170.1 yards rushing per game; its final five averaged just 97.6.

If N.C. State's defense carries its 2008 momentum into this season, the Wolfpack could shake up the conference.

Wilson, who is dangerous in the open field, is not the ACC's most accurate passer, but he was good enough last season to lead the conference with a passing-efficiency rating of 133.9. And he should have an improved receiving corps.

O'Brien shuffled his running backs last season. Jamelle Eugene (442 rushing yards, 26 catches) missed spring practices to recover from shoulder surgery, and his place was filled by Toney Baker, who is on the comeback trail after missing the last two seasons with knee injuries.

The offense was good enough to rank fifth in the ACC last season with 329.2 yards per game, but it was efficient when it mattered most. N.C. State tied for eighth nationally in red zone offensive efficiency, scoring 91 percent of the time it made a first down inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

That's the sign of an offensive line that's able to produce holes and a quarterback capable of taking advantage of them.


Three to watch

Russell Wilson, QB, So. Arguably the best QB in the ACC, yet he'll still need to hold off freshman Mike Glennon.
Willie Young, DE, Sr. On the Hendricks Award watch list; ranks 11th in school history with 31.5 tackles for loss.
Jamelle Eugene, RB, Sr. Has nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards in two years, and averaged 4.7 yards per carry in 2008."