N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien was vague with the details about Monday's scrimmage at Carter-Finley Stadium, the first of training camp, but he was impressed with the team's enthusiasm and his new quarterback.
"There's good competition right now, especially between the offense and defense," O'Brien said. "They have a pretty good thing going right now and that's how you get better."
The 85-play scrimmage was closed to the media and O'Brien released general passing, rushing and defensive statistics, such as four quarterbacks combined to complete 20 of 33 passes for 160 yards and one touchdown.
O'Brien didn't say which numbers belonged to junior Mike Glennon, the team's first-year starter who has to replace the ACC's leading passer a year ago in Russell Wilson, but said that, "Glennon is playing like he has played his whole life."
The other statistics, according to O'Brien, were six running backs combined for 28 carries and 72 yards, freshman kicker Niklas Sade made four of five field-goal attempts and freshman Wil Baumann averaged 38.6 yards per punt over five punts. O'Brien did not provide any specific receiving numbers.
On defense, O'Brien said, the team had 13 tackles for loss, including six sacks, but no turnovers.
"That's good for the offense but not the defense because they have to create some turnovers," O'Brien said.
O'Brien continues to be impressed with Sade. He said Sade made field goals from 28, 37, 37 and 41 yards and missed a 41-yarder.
"That's a pretty good day for your first effort out there," O'Brien said.
The running game, which is searching for replacements for injured sophomore Mustafa Greene, the team's leading rusher a year ago who is expected to miss the first four games of the season, was a concern for O'Brien.
"The defense made it awful tough to run the football for awhile," O'Brien said.
State has been working in full pads since Saturday's practice.
Tuesday is a scheduled off day and the team will have its second scrimmage on Friday.
Overall, O'Brien said he was pleased with Monday's work.
"It wasn't about a ton of plays," O'Brien said. "It was (about) getting a lot of guys, a lot of work, so that we can make some evaluations and move forward."
Comments
Reinforce
Tue, 08/09/2011 - 10:48 — YAR8packWell this only reinforces my worry for the o-line and developing a running game which will be very much imperative to any success for NC State.
QBs
Tue, 08/09/2011 - 11:17 — Heels20But also a bit scary to the opposing fan about how good the passing game could be if State does manage to establish some kind of ground attack. If Glennon is throwing well without the running game, I can't imagine what kind of stuff will open up if State does get production from the backfield.
Kind of tough to tell from scrimmages, though. Is the offense good, or is the defense bad? Hurry up, September 3.
Too early to worry
Tue, 08/09/2011 - 21:33 — JPDOhioAn early scrimmage really doesn't indicate anything. I expect the Pack to need a few real games to get things going. The early schedule should help.
Here's hoping someone steps up, because the Pack needs more than Greene. Who knows, maybe TOB will hand the ball to Taylor Gentry. For all we know, He could be the college football version of Peyton Hillis.
Gentry vs UNC D-line or Gentry vs FSU D-line
Tue, 08/09/2011 - 22:51 — Heels20Talk about true smashmouth football.
True
Tue, 08/09/2011 - 16:13 — mad_maxIt's hard to take anything away from scrimmages like this, especially when they are closed to the public/media.
I would assume that the running game is struggling just a little bit from Greene's absence, but also, I bet our defensive front would make running the ball a challenge for most teams this early in August. Pretty sure that on paper, this is supposed to be our best DL under TOB, and I remember several games last year where our run defense was pretty impressive. I know UNC wasn't running that well, and we sacked Yates a bunch, but didn't we hold UNC to negative rushing yards last year?
Yup
Tue, 08/09/2011 - 19:12 — Heels20-7 on the ground, but 411 through the air.