The Wolfpacker

July 2014 - Football Preview

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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JULY 2014 ■ 15 TRACKING THE PACK Billy Barnhill remembers how he first learned about football. He used to go with his parents to his brother's football games in Apex, back when he was a kid. Blind since birth, Barnhill never saw a play, but after a fellow student explained the game to him, he understood the concepts of how players moved around the field, how they got open for touchdowns, how they stopped the other team. "Football became my passion," Barnhill said. In the early 1960s, while attending the Governor Morehead School for the Blind near NC State's campus, he became a big fan of two-time ACC Player of the Year Roman Gabriel, the quarterback from Wilmington who changed the college game with his strong throwing arm. Barnhill used to listen to radio broadcasts featuring Bill Jackson and Wally Ausley and Garry Dornburg. He loved listening to the descriptions of plays, and he loved it even more when players were mic'd up so he could hear them calling plays in the huddle. In 1974, while living in one of the apartments of the old Hillsborough Street YMCA, he recognized the squeaky voice of a young Lou Holtz and struck up a conversation with the now-legendary coach. "I asked him about calling plays," Barnhill said. "He said, 'I'll tell you what, why don't you come out to practice sometime and I'll show you.' I went there on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon when they were practicing. Coach Holtz told them 'This man right here has been blind all his life, he knows everything about football, please don't run over him.' "He told me to stand right there and not to move. After practice, he gave me a tape recording of plays they had called in the huddle. From that day forward, I was head over heels in love with NC State football." For the next 25 years, Barnhill was a fixture on the sidelines at NC State practices. He was a regular caller on the weekly coaches' call-in show, from Holtz through Mike O'Cain. He can still recite, word for word, the radio calls of some of his favorite plays. At the top of that list was the touchdown scored by wide receiver Danny Peebles against South Carolina in a 1986 game at Carter-Finley Stadium. Time had expired and quarterback Erik Kramer had one final play to make something happen. Kramer was flushed out of the pocket, but flung the ball to the end zone where Peebles made one of the most remem - bered catches in Wolfpack football history. He still has fond memories of players like Bill Yoest, Jim Ritcher, Ted Brown and the Buckey twins. He became a big fan of former Wolfpack star Philip Rivers when Rivers was mic'd up during the Pro Bowl. He still grabs every opportunity to hear what players say in the huddle. Barnhill even got to know Gabriel when the former NFL superstar was the head coach of the Raleigh-Dur- ham Skyhawks of the World League of American Foot- ball, a professional league that often put microphones in the huddle. Barnhill now lives in Angier, N.C., and still has a passion for football. When multiple coaching changes caused his relationship to the Wolfpack to tail off, he became a big fan of Arena League Football, because the games were accessible and because players were frequently mic'd. "I listened to that a lot," Barnhill says. "I have a com - puter with a screen reader, so I can go on different websites to read about football. I know a lot more now about the West Coast offense and the passing tree. "It's something I picked up pretty easily after all those years of being around the sidelines and in the huddle." His thirst for understanding the game learned about on the sidelines of Carter-Finley Stadium has never waned. — Tim Peeler Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. He can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. BILLY BARNHILL HAS HAD A LIFELONG PASSION FOR FOOTBALL AND THE WOLFPACK Pack Adds Three Football Commitments NC State's football recruiting class doubled over the past two months, with the Wolfpack landing a pair of safeties and a quarterback. Austin King is a three-star signal-caller from Alpharetta (Ga.) High. Despite tenders from Central Florida, South Florida and West Virginia, King wanted to camp at NCSU June 11 to see if he could get a Wolfpack offer. The 6-2, 190-pounder's performance earned him one, and he committed on the spot. "I visited multiple schools I had interest in, and none had the package that NC State had," King stated. "That's been the biggest thing from day one. That came across as big for me. They had been recruiting me for over a year. They've always been there. "The campus is so nice. The dorms are huge; I've never seen better dorms anywhere else. Coach [Matt] Canada is a great guy and was straight up with me throughout the whole process. Coach [Dave] Doeren and I had a good connection before, and it's even better now." Canada is NC State's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He worked with defensive line coach and run-game defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen in recruiting King, who is rated as the No. 23 dual-threat quarterback in the country and the No. 56 player in Georgia in the 2015 class by Rivals.com. Last season, he completed 117 of 182 passes (64.3 percent) for 2,036 yards with 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions. The safeties that committed were a pair of three-star prospects according to Rivals. com — Freddie Phillips from Pelion (S.C.) High and Jarius Morehead from Gibsonville (N.C.) Eastern Guilford High. Phillips chose NCSU May 20 over offers from Wake Forest and North Carolina. The 6-2, 195-pounder played primarily receiver until this past season at Pelion when he began to work both ways. Originally recruited by NCSU as an athlete, Phillips asked to be pursued as a safety after figuring that would be his best position at the collegiate level. NCSU running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Des Kitchings led his recruitment, and a multiday unofficial visit in April essentially sealed the deal. "I knew after my unofficial," Phillips said. "I got a feel for what they do every day, and I felt I could call Raleigh home. Now it is. It's going to be a great relief not having as many calls." Phillips is considered a good athlete. He was fourth in the state AA finals of the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.35 seconds, and he's been timed as fast as 22.49 seconds in the 200. At the VTO Combine held in January at Greenville, S.C., Phillips had the fastest 40-yard dash (4.62 seconds) and shuttle (4.31 seconds) times. He also had a 31-inch vertical leap and did 10 reps at 185 pounds on the bench press. The 6-0, 190-pound Morehead continues a strong tradition of Eastern Guilford products ending up in NCSU athletics. The Yow sisters (former women's basketball coach Kay, former women's basketball All-American Susan and current athletics direc - tor Debbie) and Holt brothers (former NC State football players Terrence and Torry, both of whom played in the NFL) are from the high school. Morehead battled a high ankle sprain last season, which limited his production to 289 receiving yards and two scores on offense, and 40 tackles, nine passes broken up and two interceptions on defense. However, he still had offers from Clemson, East Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wake Forest, among others. The Pack, led by safeties coach and co-special teams coordinator Clayton White, won out by making him feel at home. He committed June 14. "Every time I come down I feel like I am already a part of the family," Morehead noted. "I'm ready to play for them." At the Shrine Bowl Combine held at Eastern Alamance High in Mebane, N.C., More- head ran the 40-yard dash in 4.56 seconds, had an 8-11 standing broad jump and did 13 reps at 185 pounds on the bench press. Morehead also runs track. — Matt Carter ■ 2015 NC State Football Commitments Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (High School) Malik Douglas DE 6-4 220 Southport, N.C (South Brunswick) Austin King QB 6-2 190 Alpharetta, Ga. (Alpharetta) Jarius Morehead S 6-0 190 Gibsonville, N.C. (Eastern Guilford) Freddie Phillips S 6-2 195 Pelion, S.C. (Pelion) Brian Sessoms WR 5-8 165 Winston-Salem, N.C. (Carver) Phillip Walton OT 6-7 260 Charlotte (Charlotte Christian) AUSTIN KING FREDDIE PHILLIPS JARIUS MOREHEAD 14-16,18,20,22,24-25.TTP.indd 15 6/27/14 2:38 PM

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