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Currently rumors have local uber-recruit John Wall headed to Baylor, where his AAU coach and mentor Dwon Clifton was recently hired as the Director of Player Development. Wall, a local prep player, is the #1 recruit in the country according to most rating services, and was considered a must-get for Sidney Lowe as he rebuilt the Wolfpack team.
But is Wall really necessary for NC State to reverse its fortunes?
“Champions are made when no one is watching.” - Julius Hodge
Most folks look at August 28th as the beginning of football season for NC State. They’re right, of course, it’s the first game of the year, when the Wolfpack will travel to Columbia and meet the Gamecocks of the South Carolina.
In reality, however, the season’s real beginning is today, as the Wolfpack begins practice for the upcoming year. Today is the day that the team starts to truly form, and today is the day that questions asked since the end of last season will start to be answered.
Sometimes college football is more of a soap opera than a sport, especially in the offseason. It can be a high form of entertainment, especially when it doesn’t involve your own team, but does involve a rival or a future opponent. In this episode of Master Mouth Theater ™ it involves both:
South Carolina’s Spurrier Takes Shots At Clemson Websites (article with video)
“Usually when a guy’s arrested for whatever, that always make the headlines. And the guy that runs the Clemson Web site, he likes to send those articles to recruits all over the state,” Spurrier said.
Dan Wiederer of the Fayetteville Observer reported online this afternoon that
The Wolfpack have received yet another significant commitment out of the Peach State with Richard Howell offering a verbal pledge to come to Raleigh in the fall of 2009.
Howell, rated 59th overall in the class by Rivals, received a scholarship offer from State earlier this month[.]
I heard a radio report this afternoon that described Howell as a ‘blue-collar player with some good scoring skills down low’ and that he will almost certainly develop into a strong frontcourt presence for the Wolfpack as his college career progresses. He’s rated as a four-star recruit by some of the major recruiting services, and sounds like just the sort of player that will fit in well with the up-tempo offense that Sidney Lowe has spoken of this offseason.
Sidney Lowe’s critical incoming class for 2009 is beginning to take shape as he and the Wolfpack added another backcourt commitment from highly-sought Lorenzo Brown, a 6′5″, 195 pounds rising senior at Roswell, Georgia’s Centennial High. Brown can play both point and shooting guard, and is capable of playing the up-tempo offense that the Wolfpack head coach has said that he prefers to play. According to his high school coach, Brown chose NC State over the University of Florida. Brown joins Indiana Marion High shooting guard Scott Wood so far in the incoming class for the 2009/’10 season.
Good news for sports fans over the weekend: the FCC approved the Sirius and XM merger over the weekend, and the two services will soon merge their programming. Subscribers now be able to get ACC, NFL, MLB, NBA, Nascar, NHL and other sports feeds through one subscription, meaning you will won’t have to miss Gary Hahn’s play-by-play because you have Sirius, or your favorite NFL team because you have XM and so forth and so on. You’ll be able to get it all on one device, and not need to rely on a flaky Internet feed for streaming audio, which can be maddening especially when you are stuck in a hotel room on a business trip. One other little nice thing is that Sirius has a satellite signal footprint that extends into the Caribbean basin (XM’s doesn’t) so if you are on a cruise or on vacation, you’ll still be able to hear the game.
Here are some details from the approval documents:
- Consumers will be able to purchase small a la carte packages.
- Third parties will be allowed to design and sell their own receivers.
- Sirius-XM will soon rollout an interoperable receiver that can receive signals from both companies.
- 4% of the new conglomerate’s channels will be reserved for public interest programming.
- No price hikes for three years.
NC State Has Searched In Vain for its next solid QB, But That Search May Finally Be Over
Since Philip Rivers left NC State, the search for his replacement has been endless and quite honestly, thus far, fruitless. Jay Davis wilted under pressure, but had some shining moments, notably a comeback overtime win against Wake Forest. Problem was, those bright moments were few and far between, and all too often, Davis was ineffective. The less said about the Marcus Stone experiment under center, the better. Luckily for the Wolfpack and Stone, he made a better tight end than captain of a major college offense. Enter Daniel Evans, the son of former Wolfpack star Johnny Evans. Like Davis, Evans has had his moments too, but those moments have also been interspersed with moments of disappointment — interceptions returned for touchdowns, even a failed two point conversion returned the other way for two points for the opposition.
A little note in an article about rented toilets at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium caught my eye:
The other big ticket football item folded into the plan, which was approved by the Duke Board of Trustees last month, is an indoor practice facility.
Seriously, with all respect to Duke football, if they can build an indoor practice facility for their team, why can’t NC State? This is something that Chuck Amato wanted, and also is something that Tom O’Brien would like to have as well. The reason why is simple: it relieves any concerns about the weather, and the interruptions they cause — from heat in the summer and rain and thunderstorms anytime. Given that football teams have limited practice time as is, and that North Carolina weather is predictably unpredictable in the late summer and fall, the need for the facility is obvious.
Naples (Fla) News: Eugene Tops The ACC Locals Heading Into 2008
When Tom O’Brien arrived at North Carolina State before last season, he saw all the hype surrounding a pair of good tailbacks, Andre Brown and Toney Baker.
But he thought the third tailback in that mix, Naples High graduate Jamelle Eugene, wasn’t getting his due.
…
“We call him the Energizer Bunny,” O’Brien said. “He always shows up, always gives 100 percent, and he’s a complete back. He can run with the ball, catch the ball, pass protect and he’ll do whatever it takes to win football games. That’s the type of guy you want out there.”
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