Rain doesn't dampen fans' enthusiasm

Staff photo by Ethan Hyman

You’ve got to admire the passion of N.C. State fans.
Coach Tom O’Brien opened a football practice to fans on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium after the Wolfpack basketball game at the adjacent RBC Center.

A steady rain made it a bad afternoon for an open practice, but it didn’t stop a couple hundred fans from staying until the end.

"It’s amazing in the rain, they stand in the rain,” O’Brien said. “They didn’t even go up under the overhang. So it’s tremendous.”

The rain stopped just as practice was ending. The players jogged over to the stands to shake the hands of the hardy fans who came out to watch.

Russell Wilson, Andre Brown and Robbie Leonard were among the last players on the field – posing for pictures and giving autographs – after their teammates returned to the locker room.

“I think the kids appreciated it,” O’Brien said. “You get toward the end before we head out of here (home for Christmas and then to the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.), and it kind of picked up the practice with everybody here, too.”

There are a lot of places where college football isn’t important enough for fans to stand out in the rain and watch practice.

O’Brien and the Wolfpack are fortunate to be at a school where fans care so much.