Spring practice has officially begun for head coach Tom O’Brien and the football team as they returned to the gridiron for a quick two-hour practice Thursday morning.
There were many new faces in new places, as the Wolfpack began without star players Russell Wilson and Nate Irving.
Redshirt junior quarterback Mike Glennon has been given the reins to the offense, while senior linebacker Audie Cole has shifted from outside linebacker to the middle linebacker spot in hopes of replacing Irving.
Even with the loss of Wilson and Irving, two of the key contributors to a 9-4 team last season, senior tight end George Bryan believes the sky is the limit for this season’s team.
“It is limitless how good we can be this year,” Bryan said. “I don’t think that 9-4 is good enough for us this season. We had some great seniors last year who set the bar for us when they left, and I feel like we need to set it even higher this year and hopefully win an ACC Championship.”
Glennon himself is very confident taking over as the team’s starting quarterback after spending the past three seasons watching and learning from the sidelines.
”I came here to be the starting quarterback, and it’s exciting for me to be here,” Glennon said. “I thought it would go a little different than it did in the first three years, but it’s probably a good thing that it did go that way. I learned a lot from Russell [Wilson] and now I think I’m ready to take over this team.”
Glennon seems to have his two time All-ACC tight end already convinced of his abilities.
“Mike [Glennon] can do anything he wants to as a quarterback,” Bryan said. “I have full faith in him to run this team, and he’s going to do awesome things this season and be a guy to watch for.”
Cole is the other big transition, but the senior linebacker feels as though he has already learned a lot during the offseason about making the switch to the middle linebacker spot.
“I feel like I just have to execute on defense from a different position on the field. But I never feel like I can stop learning, and coach Tenuta is always teaching us something new on the field and off the field,” Cole said.
The other big move of the spring is O’Brien attempting to transition sophomore safety D.J. Green over to strong side linebacker, the position Cole used to play.
“D.J. Green will be an experimental move at the linebacker position for now,” O’Brien said. “He’s a pretty guy out there right now, but we’ll see if he can make the right plays to keep him there. You can’t just be pretty.”
Still, O’Brien notes that nothing is final in terms of positioning. He recognizes that spring practice is all about assessing where players fit in the best, what works and what doesn’t and trying to get the best players on the field.
“Experimentation is what spring practice is all about,” O’Brien said. “We will be moving a lot of guys around here in the next couple of practices to see how they fit in. That way, by the time we get to August we have our best eleven guys on offense and defense to start the season.”
Fans will be able to get their first look at the revamped Pack when the team hits the field for the third annual Kay Yow Spring Football Game on April 16 at 1 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium.
