The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/73006
2012 FOOTBALL PREVIEW things we have to get better at with the next 29 practices. Where we are now, as opposed to that first day of spring, we have gotten better. Are we going to be as good as we were last year? I hope so, but I doubt it because, in the last two years, we've lost Nate Irving, Audie Cole and Terrell Manning. All three of those guys were as productive linebackers as we've had in the last 25 years here." this spring? "Number one, Ryan Cheek has been in What did you learn about the linebackers the program and knows what to do. That's great. Sterling Lucas, coming off of a knee injury, is going to give us everything he's got. He's not going to be the same guy that he was two years ago — we understand that — but he's going to get us lined up, he's going to be the leader and he's going to be involved in certain packages. Sterling and Ryan are similar; they're going to have to split that [position]. The combination of those two guys has to give us winning football at that position. "We've got Mike Peek, who played last year as a freshman on special teams, so he's played in games. Brandon Pittman has played in games. Those two young guys have to do it, they have ability, but they've got to learn how to play linebacker on a more consistent basis. "On the other side, we've got Rodman Noel and we've got Rickey Dowdy. Rickey, this is his opportunity; he's got to make the most of it. He's played a little bit for us, but now he has to step up. Rodman Noel has to step up, he's a big kid that has some ability, but he hasn't done it on a consistent basis. They both have to do it on a consis- tent basis. "They're older and Rodman played last year as a freshman but, again, it's consis- tency. That's what we didn't have early in the spring, that's what we didn't have until the last scrimmage — the ability of if you have a chance to make a play, make it. You have to know what to do first, then you have to play fast. That comes from experi- ence. We're going to see what happens." mitting — it seems like the defense is in good shape, at least on paper. "To me, the secondary is where we are Outside of the linebackers — health per- experienced. We moved Dontae Johnson to cornerback in the spring. Dontae is one of our best players; we've got to get Dontae on the field more, other than in the nickel package. "That's why we moved him to corner, he's going to play corner, he's going to play nickel and he's going to play safety. 66 ■ THE WOLFPACKER He's one of our more productive guys; he's one of our smartest guys. "In evaluating our personnel in the offsea- son, one of the things we said was we have to get him on the field more. He's not going to be off the field very much — he's either go- ing to be at safety, nickel or corner. We play so much nickel now because of what people do, and he's going to play corner because he's going to create position competition there. "We believe in pressure. Our philosophy is attack, adjust and win the money down." ■ Archer He has to do it, [Deylan] Buntyn has to do it, [A.J.] Ferguson has to do it." How good can the secondary be? "As good as they want to be, but they're going to get tested. The corner opposite of David [Amerson] is going to get tested every week. Like in the bowl game, I told David, 'They're not going to throw the ball at you much, so when they throw it at you, you've got to take advantage of the oppor- tunities.' They threw four passes at him, he picked two of them off. "Don't get me wrong, people aren't go- ing to shy away from him, but most people are going to do what they did at the end of the year last year — they're going to throw away from him, so whoever the other guy ends up being — Juston [Burris], C.J. [Wil- son] or Dontae Johnson — they have to get their lunch pail ready because they're going to get tested." man and Thomas Teal up front, the future looks bright. How much potential do they have? "They have potential, and the guy we With young guys like T.Y. McGill, Art Nor- haven't talked about who I'm anxious to see practice is Carlos Gray because Carlos Gray, in the short time that he has been here, physically looks the part. He's a man. Now, he has to go out there and dominate. If he goes out there and dominates, that makes our tackle position that much better. He is a physically gifted young man who has to go out there and do it because he's hardly practiced at all. I'm anxious to see what he does in August." Five of the six linebackers listed on the spring organizational chart have combined to play just 57 snaps, leaving Archer with plenty of work to "On the defensive line, I think we're going to be OK there. We've got Darryl Cato-Bishop, McKay Frandsen, Brian Slay, Art Norman, we've got some depth there. Up front, we're probably going to have the most depth at end. At tackle, I'm still concerned. We played guys last year that weren't ready to play — T.Y. McGill wasn't ready to play, Thomas Teal wasn't ready to play, but they played out of neces- sity because of injuries. Now, that has to become a positive. McGill has to get better, Teal has to get better. "Now, the thing that McGill did in the spring game — when he chased Asa Wat- son down — that was impressive and that shows you what he's got, ability-wise. Now, he has to do it on a consistent basis. do to reshape the middle of his defense. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN get pressure on the quarterback in order to be successful, how big was Art Norman in getting pressure on the quarterback last season? "To me, he was as important as anybody You've said the NC State defense has to last year because when we did get pressure rushing four, he was the guy. If you look at our sacks, when we rushed four — which we didn't do a lot — he had 70 percent of them. We're aggressive by nature. Last year, in our 900 snaps, we're rushing five guys 60 percent of the time. Two-thirds of the time, there's more than four guys coming. "We believe in pressure. Our philosophy is attack, adjust and win the money down. That's never changed, not since Jon got here. We're going to attack on first down, we're going to adjust to what you do by down and distance, and third down is the money down. Get your [butts] off the field, get it back to the offense. We're not chang- ing that." ■