Pack gearing up for contact on Saturday

N.C. State wore shoulder pads in practice on Thursday, taking another step closer to the actual football part of training camp.

The Wolfpack will work one more day in shoulder pads and helmets before they go to full pads on Saturday. The team will hold its first scrimmage on Monday.

Some players are still finishing exams for summer school, O'Brien said, which has been the first priority for the practice schedule for the first portion of training camp.

"Once we get to Saturday, and start camp, then we can focus on football," O'Brien said.

O'Brien is looking for the basics come Monday's scrimmage.

"You like to see the defense tackle and the offense hold onto the football," O'Brien said. "Those are the two things that you haven't done to this point."

O'Brien said it's good prep work for the early part of the season.

"We need this kind of weather," O'Brien said. "Last year we played two games, Central Florida, which was worse than this, and we played Georgia Tech, which was worse than this.

"Second game of the year, we've got to go to Wake Forest and play on the astroturf. At this time of the day, it could be hot or hotter."