Sloppy Firsts

The season’s first scrimmage was held Wednesday; Tom O’Brien was unmoved.

The highlights:

• Lots of penalties
• Toney Baker did not participate, despite being “100%”. Brown and Eugene didn’t do much, Underwood had the most carries: 12 for 57 yards.
• The O-line mostly sucked.
• Czajkowski was 4-4. All four kicks were from at least 32 yards out; his long was 44.
• Glennon took the most snaps and was 9-13 with 101 yards and one interception.

No word yet on who was on the field when. That is, I don’t if these numbers were against the first or second team.

More news from Blogopotamia:

• Speedy defensive back Dean Haynes of Georgia’s Northwest Whitfield has verbally committed. He’s listed as a 2-star by Rivals and a 3-star by Scout. Via Ken Tysiac:
  

  “He’s just got a good knack for the football,” said Northwest Whitfield defensive backs coach Steve Summers. “He’s got great feet, a really good understanding of the game and what people are trying to do.”

• Brian Williams may be making the move to strong safety.
• A.J. Davis picked up an interception in a scrimmage against the Browns third-string defense.
• Brian Clark is doing his best to win a spot with his hometown Bucs.
• Jerricho Cotchery may catch a few more touchdowns this season.

Rivers is Healthy, Wealthy, and Perhaps Wise

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune just can’t stop talking about Rivers and his zingin’ wing. It loses something in the translation, but I’m pretty sure that Rivers is healthier and stronger than ever after offseason ACL surgery.

Pairing the most dangerous offensive weapon in football with a Lights Out™ defense is good way to get noticed in the league. Add to that mix an improved, more experienced signal caller and you’ve got yourself a legitimate Super Bowl threat.

On the home front, Pack Pride’s Austin Johnson writes that John Ware has returned to his spot at strongside linebacker after being tested as a safety, and he’s a better player because of it:

“My man-to-man skills got better, working with coach Reed,” Ware said. “Doing those DB drills, my feet got a lot better.”

Ware didn’t forget how to be a linebacker, but he developed his pass coverage fundamentals, particularly in open space. His footwork has improved, enabling him to stay with quicker players that he wasn’t able to defend earlier in his Wolfpack career.

“Those fast guys, the wide receivers and things, my freshman and sophomore year I wouldn’t have been able to hang with those guys until after I made the switch to strong safety and my footwork got better. Now you can put me out in space with anybody.”

This is the Biggest Day in the History of this Blog

Joe knows blogs

Never mind that it’s technically only the the third day in the history of this blog.

Being the modest gentleman blogger that I am, I won’t give you the exact numbers, but we got a huge boost on the ol’ hit counter today thanks to some reciprocal linkage from the fine folks at the 850/620 blog.

More specifically, Joe Ovies (who you may know as the voice of reason in a studio shared with filthy, rotten Maryland and UNC alums) decided that five meticulously crafted posts were enough evidence that this blog was the biggest thing to hit the Internet since Ken Lucas’ old nose.

So thanks, Joe. You’ll be in my acceptance speech win I win whatever award they hand out for cracking on a cornerback’s nose job.

State’s Fab Four?

Adam Gold and friends have laid out their picks for the four most important historical figures in each of the triangle schools’ football programs; their ‘Mount Rushmores’, if you will.

I’ll spoil the surprise by telling you that on our mountain Gold has etched the busts of Earle Edwards, Roman Gabriel, Ted Brown, and Philip Rivers.

Fine picks they are; Gabriel, Brown, and Rivers are all undoubtedly among the most elite ACC alumni at their respective positions. I’m a little torn on Edwards, though. He was by far the longest tenured coach at State (17 seasons) but, as Gold points out, he ultimately had a losing record (77-88-8). Five ACC titles and a Liberty Bowl trophy are nice, though, and I guess if any coach deserves the recognition it’s Edwards. Torry Holt, Gold’s first runner-up, wouldn’t have been a terrible choice, either.

Dick Christy and Chuck Amato (or his chest, at least) also earned an honorable mention.

It’s hard to argue much with his picks for Carolina or Duke, although I would probably slide Julius Peppers in over Dre Bly. Bly was a phenomenal corner — one of the best ever in college — and has the more impressive trophy case. Peppers was no slouch, though, winning the Lombardi and Bednarik awards and first-team All-America honors his senior year. To me, it comes down to the players’ impact on the game. I think Peppers changed offensive gameplans from the defensive line a lot more than Bly did from the backfield.

Elsewhere, J.P. Giglio catches us up on the new clock rules for 2008. These seem to make much more sense than the changes implemented before last season, putting the college rules closer to those in the NFL. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually stick around.

And Every Day Should Be Saturday takes a moment to eavesdrop on reinstated Gamecocks QB Stephen Garcia and his good friend, Floating Matthew McConoughey.

Master of the Obvious

Everyone’s favorite ESPN blogger Heather “Football Players are Afraid of Trees” Dinich would like you to know that after months of careful calculation and analysis, she has come to the earth-shattering conclusion that Clemson QB Cullen Harper will not win the Heisman Trophy. Really? Could you perhaps quantify his odds?

I think they’re somewhere in the neighborhood of 25/1.

The ‘Curse of Lew Hege’ Still Haunts Herald

Lew Hege, pictured here with favorite mustache, Lew Jr.

Lew Hege of the Roanoke Daily Herald has written a column aptly titled “The ‘Curse of Philip Rivers’ still haunts Pack”. High marks for the premise, Lew, but you really botched the delivery.

Before you read my take on it, I invite you to first peruse the debauchery for yourself so that we’re on equal footing here. A warning though: the piece is riddled by poor editing and formatting errors and the website itself has to make you think that the good folks at the Herald haven’t hired a web designer since the Barnette regime.

Twenty Four Days, Five Quarterbacks, and No Decision, Yet

There’s a Caulton Tudor piece up on the N&O website detailing the unique five quarterback preseason free-for-all that’s being sorted out by offensive coordinator Dana Bible. While Tudor (and seemingly Bible as well) pretty much gives all five an equal shot at the job at this point, it has to be believed that mum’s the word on any true early favorites; see O’Brien’s coachspeak blurb after Sunday’s practice:

They are all competing, they are all working hard. They seem to be on top of what we are trying to do, which is good. It’s now the fourth go around, they’ve made it through a spring, a season, a spring and back the fourth time so we’re much more advanced at that position than we were from a knowledge standpoint. Getting everybody out of the huddle, getting everybody headed the right direction and knowing where the ball is supposed to go. Now its a matter of decision making and execution.

It’s Football Season, Sort Of

Nothing signals the start of football season like watching Colt Brennan lead the Redskins down field against the Colts seventh-string defense in Akron. Speaking of the NFL, twenty four former Wolfpack players will don pads and helmet (or perhaps just clipboards) for their respective pro teams this year, including that guy who was surpassed by Brennan (and Brennan’s predecessor Timmy Chang) on the all-time NCAA passing yardage list.