Wolfpack to Debut New Duds
Click through for a look at the new black unis the Wolfpack will be wearing on Saturday vs ODU…
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Archive for the tag “Pete Thomas”
State of the Pack: QB Change Coming?
The David Glenn show reported this afternoon that Dave Doeren is optimistic that Brandon Mitchell will be ready for Saturday’s game with Syracuse. If he does start, it would give the Pack a more mobile option to Pete Thomas who would likely fit State’s desired style of play.
Not that Thomas has played badly, but Wolfpack Nation will take any straw of hope we can grasp at this point.
Update:
Game is just starting, Thomas will start again. So never mind.
Related articles
- Wolfpack QB Mitchell ’50-50′ for Saturday’s game (newsobserver.com)
State of the Pack: The season so far
Pack fans! It’s football season again! Time to shake off the rust and run over the naysayers!!
But what are your impressions of this team so far? Really hard to tell after only two games, so here are two viewpoints…
The Glass is Half Empty:
The team did win their opener vs Louisiana Tech 40-14 but in the process lost starting QB Brandon Mitchell to a foot injury which will keep him out 4-6 weeks. They followed this up with a nail-biter vs Richmond of the FCS 23-21, scraping by on a field goal by Niklas Sade within the final minute after trailing by 11 points at the half.
In relief of Mitchell, Pete Thomas achieved a QB rating of 128.7 on zero TDs and two picks. Against an FCS defense. Woe is the Pack!!
The Glass is Half Full:
Hey, Louisiana Tech is not just any old team. They posted a 9-3 record in the WAC last year and defeated both Illinois and Virginia in the process. Sure, the Richmond game was closer than expected, but they are probably looking ahead a little as they will begin conference play following a bye next week. This will be a Thursday night game against a conference – make that a national – powerhouse. More on that at the end of the post.
So What Should We Take Away?:
Let’s face it. The Wolfpack isn’t set up for a BCS bowl run. But a decent bowl invite should be in the cards. That’s not bad for a first-year coach teaching a whole new system with recruits that aren’t, for the most part, his own.
Next year, with Jacoby Brissett eligible to play QB and more of Dave Doeren’s guys coming in, should be even better.
But that brings us to the other point of view, the one I didn’t want to mention but can’t leave out…
Who Broke That Glass???:
Remember that marquee game? The one on Thursday night, Sept. 19?
Run!! Clemson is coming!!
Seriously, have you seen those guys? As much as we would all like to think another Pack upset is brewing, there is very little chance the Pack will be Textile Bowl champs this season.
NC State Spring Football Game
Just finished watching the Kay Yow Spring Game on ESPN3. Not sure why Duke gets an HD broadcast on ESPNU and we Pack fans have to watch blocky streaming video, but we will have to wait for the ACC Network to correct that one.
This was definitely a game of two halves. Both the Red (first string) and White (everybody else) looked sluggish through thirty minutes, with only Nick Sade scoring as the teams were tied 3-3 at the break.
In the second, though, the switch to a running clock brought out the no-huddle and this is definitely the way for the Pack to go. Both squads had their moments on both sides of the ball with the Red ending up winning 20-10.
The QB battle wasn’t really very close. Don’t have official stats, but Pete Thomas looked much more comfortable than Manny Stocker. Thomas reminded me of Erik Kramer; not fiery like Phillip Rivers, but cool and calm in the pocket. Stocker, however, was handicapped as he is more of a mobile guy in a game of touch where quarterbacks are concerned, so it may yet turn out to be a horse race.
The best of the batch was Florida transfer Jacoby Brissett. Even with the no-tackle restriction, his speed allowed him to get outside once and get a few yards, and he was the most accurate of the group. Of course, he cannot play this season and will have to wait until 2014 to be a factor.
In this kind of game, you look for the unexpected player. In this one, it was Jr running back Milton Hall. The White squad went down the field in the second half largely on his shoulders. It was Hall up the middle and Hall up the middle again until they moved inside the Red five yard line. There Stocker rushed a throw into the end zone and the drive ended in a pick. One more handoff and the White team would likely have scored.
The coaches must have felt the same way. When the Red team moved downfield deep into White territory on the ensuing drive, they were joined by Hall in a red mesh covering the white jersey and he got his TD after all. He has a strong ability to find the holes combined with speed and should give Shadrach Thornton and Tony Creecy a run for their money once the season starts.
On defense Freshman CB Cole Burroughs was impressive. Every time Thomas tried to throw the deep ball to Quintin Payton, Burroughs was there, as he was on several other occasions. The defense as a whole looked good, but Burroughs was the bright spot.
Another thing that impressed me was the sideline interviews with several members of the new staff, particularly DCoordinator Dave Huxtable. They were energetic and enthusiastic, and not in a Chuck Amato kind of way. Of course we will need to see them in adverse situations before we can really judge, but frankly, first impressions were…wow.
So that’s it. This correspondent has gone from cautious optimism about the 2013 season to the feeling that if this team does manage to claw their way up the Atlantic Division standings, they might not fall back down like other recent Pack teams.
State of the Pack: QBs and more
There was an interesting email in my box yesterday from our own administrator Anthony Caffery (aka Commander Caffrey). It referenced the possibility of Drew Allen, Oklahoma backup, transferring to State. Unfortunately the article he directed me to seemed to indicate that Allen is leaning toward Syracuse. Here’s the link:
Since as the article states he will be eligible immediately following any transfer that makes him a player in the mix for us if he decides to come to State. Which begs the question: what does the QB situation look like for the Pack in 2013?
The two leading candidates to start are Colorado transfer Pete Thomas and soph Manny Stocker. Thomas seems to have a slight edge right now and is getting more first-team snaps. Coach Doeren told the Charlotte Observer that he wanted to go with the guy who makes the fewest mistakes. Link is here:
Of course we will continue to look at the QB and other positions on the Wolfpack roster as the spring and summer progress. New coaches and coordinators, new season coming…I am starting to yearn for fall. At least the part after the less-than-ambitious non-conference schedule.
Here are a few items about other Pack teams:
Basketball:
The 2013-14 edition of the Wolfpack will not look much like this season’s, and perhaps that is a good thing. But TJ Warren says he will stay, and he was one of the brighter spots on the Cardiac DOA Pack.
On the women’s side, former Pack assistant Wes Moore was hired as the new HC. Moore comes from UT Chattanooga with an impressive career winning percentage of .767 and 16 trips to the Big Dance, so it seems the ladies are in good hands.
Baseball: Finally, a quick baseball update. I admit to not really following college baseball until CWS time, but now that we are “in-between” the two attention-grabbing sports, why not take a peek?
Happy to report that the Pack is fine, ranked #25 and coming off a 14-inning win over #30 Virginia Tech. As a matter of fact, the ACC is fine with the following Top 30 teams: UNC #1, Virginia #6, Florida State #7, Georgia Tech #16, and as stated already, the Wolfpack at #25 and the Hokies at #30. As for the Futures, we have Louisville at #14 and Notre Dame at #24.
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