The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK "[Eric Thomas said,] 'In order to take advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime, you have to do it within the lifetime of the opportunity.' I think the urgency that's in that message is one all of us should try to live with … and to make the most out of every day." — NC State coach Dave Doeren on the message motivational speaker Eric Thomas delivered to the football team during fall camp (The Raleigh News & Observer) "Justin is a physically gifted kid who is really tall for the position. He has the hips and the feet to play corner and I'm looking for big things from him. He played a lot last year and has really worked on his confidence. He's playing with great confidence, great effort and great technique. He also has a chance to be a really good player in this conference." — NC State cornerbacks coach George Barlow on redshirt junior cornerback Juston Burris (GoPack.com) "I think once he learns and gets comfortable with our offense and our system, then it's going to skyrocket. Right now, he's in that learn- ing mode. You can tell he's out there looking around like, 'Where do I go? What do I do?' So I think for him it's just getting familiar with our system." — NC State head coach Mark Gottfried on prized freshman power forward Abdul-Malik Abu (Associated Press) "I made some unofficial visits this summer to just to see some places. But I will not make a decision until October. I plan to take all five of my official visits — then make the best decision that I can." — Garner (N.C.) High star running back Nyheim Hines, who is considering NC State, on the recruiting process (The Raleigh News & Observer) "They are good people and when they recruit players, they seem to make them feel at home. They show them around and let them see what a good place it is." — Pinetown (N.C.) Northside High junior post player Edrice Adebayo, whom Rivals.com ranks No. 9 overall in the class of 2016, on getting offered and recruited by NC State (TheWolfpacker.com) Stephen Coetzer, Men's Swimming The rising senior competed in South Africa's Short Course National Championship in Johannesburg in August and won a pair of national titles, taking first in the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes. Coetzer is a dual citizen of both the United States and South Africa who came to NC State from Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C. He finished second in the 200 backstroke at the 2014 ACC Champi- onships and later was an honorable mention All-American in the same event. He holds the school record for the race and also has the second-fastest 100 backstroke swim. Braden Holloway, Men's Swimming The fourth-year head coach of the Pack's swimming program continues to assemble an impressive amount of talent. The buzz around his latest recruiting class in men's swimming was confirmed in the CollegeSwimming.com rankings that were unveiled in July. Holloway's haul was rated No. 6 in the county and tops in the ACC. NCSU had five swimmers rated in the top 50 nationally in the 2014 class. Only California (seven) and Stanford (six) had more, and the rest of the ACC had just four combined. Augusta James, Women's Golf After helping NCSU finish 10th at the NCAA Champi - onships in the spring, the rising senior and native of Bath, Ontario, won the Canadian Women's Amateur Cham- pionship July 22-25. The three-time All-ACC performer captured the event by a dominating six shots, fueled by a tournament-record low round of 63 in the third round. She also competed in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in August in Glen Cove, N.Y., and was one of the final 16 players before losing in a second sudden death hole to Arizona native Hannah O'Sullivan. Lucas Kozeniesky, Rifle The rising sophomore from Fairfax, Va., finished third in the junior division of the three-position smallbore rifle at the USA Shooting National Championships July 1 in Fort Benning, Ga. That helped Kozeniesky earn one of three spots in the event for the USA Junior World Championship Team, which will compete in the World Championships in Spain in September. As a rookie at NCSU, Kozeniesky made the All-SEARC team and had NCSU's best smallbore score of the year with a 583. He also had the highest air rifle average at 580.4. Joanna Nalborska, Women's Tennis Recently named women's tennis head coach Simon Earn - shaw announced that Nalborska, a rising junior, will be his first addition to the program. Nalborska is transferring to NCSU from Louisiana Tech and will be eligible to compete right away with two years of eligibility left. She was Louisiana Tech's first-ever Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year after she went 11-2 in singles action, including a 7-0 mark in conference play, in 2013. She was a two-time, first-team All-WAC selec- tion in both singles and doubles. The native of Warsaw, Poland, has previously been ranked No. 1 in the U12, U14 and U16 junior divisions in her native country. Tim Santoro, Women's Soccer Entering his second season as NC State's women's soc- cer coach, Santoro upgraded the talent on the roster by reeling in a nationally ranked recruiting class. BigSoccer.com rated the class No. 13, while All White Kit had NC State listed at No. 19. "Rankings are always subjective, and to me, it's more about what student-athletes do when they arrive," Santoro said. "However, recognition is great, especially considering how late our staff arrived in the 2014 recruiting process." ■ PACK PERFORMERS "Coming in at midyear really helped B.J. to learn the system and the fundamentals. I don't really look at him as a freshman. He's done a great job in the weight room. He takes on double teams and combination blocks and holds the point well." ■ NC State defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen on freshman defensive tackle B.J. Hill (GoPack.com) QUOTING THE PACK PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN