(ACC) The Wolfpack play home games on a grass surface at Carter-Finley Stadium (seats 57,583)
- Head coach Tom O’Brien is in his 5th year as head coach of NC State. Last year the Wolfpack had a 9-4 record, which puts O’Brien’s four-year total even at 25-25. With that record, it will be important for NC State to have another successful season, i.e., where they once again are in the race for the ACC Championship. It may be tough with both Maryland and Florida State in their division (both teams finished ahead of the pack in 2010), but otherwise the schedule could keep them looking pretty good nationally.
- Mike Glennon will be starting at quarterback because Russell
Quarterback Mike Glennon
Wilson wanted to spend a portion of his time playing baseball in the off-season (like he always does), but O’Brien said he had to be with the team. Wilson still wants to play football and will—just with Wisconsin now instead of the Wolfpack. In the meantime Glennon has no actual game experience. (Glennon is the younger brother of Sean Glennon, who was in the quarterback mix at Virginia Tech for a few years).
- Leading rusher from 2010 Mustafa Greene will be important
- Running Back Mustafa Greene
for taking the pressure off of Glennon. But Mustafa was injured for the spring game. He had under 600 yards and just four touchdowns rushing last year, but that number led the team and he did this as a true freshman and having started just one game. However, last year it was the quarterback (Wilson) who actually led the team in rushing attempts. With Wilson gone and O’Brien’s preference for a power running game, look for this team to turnaround one of the worst rushing offenses in the ACC (and the nation) and put an emphasis on establishing a strong running game in 2011.
-
The receivers are inexperienced, which will compound the issue they have breaking in a new quarterback. Three of the top four receivers are gone from 2010 and less experience means more mistakes, especially dropped passes and wrong route running.
-
Linebacker should be strong again (led by Terrell Manning and Audi Cole). Cole is switching to middle linebacker though and hopefully he adjusts to the new role. In his previous role as an outside linebacker, his ability to blitz the quarterback as part of the pass-rush (and to that end, speed als0) was more important In his new role as in inside linebacker, his ability to provide rush defense and challenge the players up the middle is more important. However, regardless of OLB or ILB, it is important for any linebacker to defend both against the pass and the rush.
- This defense is built on speed, quickness and getting into the backfield and putting pressure on the quarterback. To this end, the linebackers do a lot of blitzing. The fact that they were 4th in the nation in sacks last year shows that they were successful in getting to the quarterback. And even when they don’t sack him, the pressure on the quarterback forces him to throw the ball faster than he would have liked to or perhaps not have enough time to properly set.
- A more experienced front seven than last year will also help the secondary, who is ultimately responsible for the passing defense. Last year they were not very opportunistic and aggressive as they had just two interceptions total in the last seven games.
