QUARTERBACKSMarcus Stone heads into the season as the sure No. 1 signal caller after a 5-1 record last year
Only a year ago, quarterback Marcus Stone was second on the depth chart behind then-redshirt senior Jay Davis. Now Stone, a redshirt junior, is the veteran and has the position all to himself.
“It’s definitely a good feeling to know that I have the spot and that I have nothing to look back at,” Stone said.
After starting the final six games of last season, in which he went 5-1, Stone said he never changed his attitude. Coming into this season, even though he is tagged as the outright starter, he said he treats everything the same.
“This year hasn’t been different at all. Even when I was the backup or competing for the job, I came in with the same mentality every day,” Stone said.
“How can I learn this offense more? What can I do to better my talent, and what can I do to help lead this team?”
And answering these questions is exactly what Stone has attempted to do.
According to second-year offensive coordinator Marc Trestman, Stone has a knowledge of the game he didn’t have last season.
“The biggest thing is that he’s so far ahead in his understanding of the offense,” Trestman said. “I can start giving him a play, and he’ll walk away because he already knows the play.”
While Trestman acknowledges Stone’s improved understanding of his duty on and off the field, he said when State throws the ball, “we’ve got to be more effective.”
Not only that, he said throwing the ball well in third-down situations will put the Wolfpack in control of the game, and in the hands of the running backs.
But Stone said he would enjoy airing the ball out.
“I wouldn’t mind going deep more,” Stone said. “To get the opportunity to throw the deep ball is great, and watching these guys run for 80 yards is great, too. Whatever puts us in that end zone makes me happy.”
Coach Chuck Amato said Stone’s job as the quarterback is to protect possession of the football. Amato said Stone needs to work most on “keeping his eyes down the field.”
“[He needs to] continue to protect the ball when he throws it down the field,” Amato said.
“In six games, he had, I believe it was three interceptions, two in the first game. And just location, location, location, and he’s getting better at that.”
Junior receiver John Dunlap had a much simpler plan for his quarterback.
“I just want him to hit the open guy,” Dunlap said. “He’s been working so hard. I’ve never seen anyone work like that. He knows everything. He feels so comfortable. Man, he’s awesome; I love him to death, and I’d do anything for him.”
However, if Stone goes down with an injury, the Pack would be left with the question of who to put in.
The question would be whether true freshman quarterback Justin Burke or redshirt sophomore quarterback Daniel Evans would enter the game. Evans is listed as the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart, and Amato said he “knows the offense” and he “knows what’s going on.”
But, Amato said he still plans to get Burke a lot of opportunities in practice.
“He’s a smart youngster, and he’s going to get a lot of reps,” Amato said.
But that is something the team doesn’t have to worry about for now because Stone remains the No. 1 quarterback, and his teammates said he can do the job.
And even with Stone’s sub-50 percent completion rate, eight touchdowns and six interceptions last season, Dunlap said Stone is going to surprise a lot of people this season.
OFFENSIVE LINELeroy Harris leads an experienced, but not deep, group of offensive linemen for the pack
This year’s offensive line has experience, size and intensity.
But the one thing it doesn’t have is depth. So little depth, in fact, that senior center Larry Harris said players are trying out more than one position in case of injuries.
“We got a lot of guys who can play multiple positions because we don’t have a whole lot of depth this year,” Harris said.
Aside from his normal position at center, Harris has also been working at guard some, placing redshirt junior Luke Lathan at center.
“What we’re trying to do is condition the guys to play more than one position in case we have any injuries,” Harris said. “Like I can play either guard or center, and Kalani [Heppe] can play all four positions.”
Harris said this season’s team was not going to have “six or seven backups” and that the team is “truthfully only going to have about seven or eight guys that can play for us.”
While the team may not have a lot in terms of quantity, Harris said he looks at the quality of the line and believes the veteran group can put together a solid season.
“We’re all expecting big things,” Harris said. “We’ve got a veteran group of guys on the offensive line. We’ve got three seniors that hopefully will be starting in there.”
After spending time at both center and guard during his collegiate career, Harris said the two units must work together for the offense to succeed.
“You got to have a trust in each other and a good feel for each other, especially between the center and the guards,” Harris said.
And trust, he said, is what sophomore Curtis Crouch is earning.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement in [Crouch]. Last year he didn’t know exactly which games he was going to play in, but this year he’s got a different attitude about him because he knows he’s the guy and he’s the starter,” Harris said.
“I’ve seen more of an aggressive approach out of him and more dedication and more of a work ethic.”
Other than Crouch, Harris said he hopes to get a lot of production out of the other two seniors on the line – Jon Holt and James Newby.
“We have three seniors starting for us on the offensive line,” Harris said. ” We’ve got a lot of experience, and by the end of the spring we were making our own checks at the line of scrimmage. And we’re trying to continue that now.”
“He going to shock and impress a lot of people this year. I can almost bet my life on that,” Dunlap said. “I guarantee that.”
WIDE RECEIVERSThe pack’s group of wide receivers is loaded with inexperience and youth
Inexperience is the name of the game for the team’s receivers.
After the graduation of Brian Clark, Tramain Hall, Sterling Hicks, John Ritcher and T.J. Williams, the Wolfpack is left with receivers who have a total of 100 catches. No returning palyer has more than 50 catches in his career.
Even though the graduated receivers are long gone, junior receiver John Dunlap said they left the Pack with plenty of knowledge – knowledge he expects fans to see from himself and senior receiver Lamart Barrett.
“Those guys showed me a lot,” Dunlap said. “They knew the ropes. But I’m going to step up. Lamart has been a great icon to us and great leader.”
Even with a couple experienced receivers, the most noticeable addition to the group will be junior Darrell Blackman, who moved from running back to receiver during the spring.
Blackman said he has been impressed by the group that he’s been around over the past few weeks.
“It’s looking good,” Blackman said. “Coaches are out there working really hard with us, and we are out there just trying to get everything back in focus.”
Blackman also said he considers Barrett one of the team’s leaders.
“He’s a veteran guy that wants to work hard,” Blackman said.
“I just come out and try to follow his lead everyday. He’s had the experience here, running the plays in the game time situations. He pretty much knows the plays like the quarterbacks.”
Even though Barrett, Dunlap and Blackman are all listed less than 6-foot-3, freshman receiver Jarvis Williams, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, said the freshmen receivers can bring a new dimension to the Pack – the deep ball.
“All the receivers that are coming back on the team are the speedy, short type, but the freshmen who are coming in are all over 6-foot-3, so we’ll go for the deep balls and we can help the team out with that. And that’s my favorite route,” Williams said.
Freshman receiver Donald Bowens also said “we’re tall guys, and we can go up top” and that the freshmen receivers will “open up the passing game a lot.”
However, Blackman said the playbook is composed of all sorts of plays, plenty of screens and deep balls which should get a lot of players involved.
“We have a lot of deep balls and screen passes in the playbook,” Blackman said.
“With the younger guys being so tall, we can throw it up to them with their size. With me, Dunlap and Lamart and some of the shorter receivers, we can run screens, do whatever is required.”
As far as tight ends are concerned, the team is left to fill the hole left by T.J. Williams, who was drafted in the sixth round by Tampa Bay. Junior tight end Anthony Hill, who stands at 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds, looks to take over the position.
Hill caught a pass in every game last season, except in the team’s final two games against Maryland and South Florida.
He said the tight end position will play a big part of the season, as it has with previous State teams under coach Chuck Amato.
“I believe the tight end position will play a big, big role as far as doing a lot of blocking for those big time running backs that we have. And then as far as the receiving wise, I believe that Marcus and the other quarterbacks are very confident with us.”
Even though freshman tight end Matt Kushner said he is being used “in goal line and stuff like that,” he said Hill is vital for the team.
“Anthony Hill’s great; he can block, he can run the short routes. It’s a key position in the offense,” Kushner said.
Williams said the receivers still need work, but with Toney Baker, Andre Brown and Jamelle Eugene in the backfield, he said it takes a lot of pressure off the receivers.
“We have three great running backs, so I think [they] will open up the passing game,” Williams said.
RUNNING BACKSTwo-back sets will not be uncommon as the pack expect to play both brown and baker
Finding enough field for Andre Brown, Toney Baker and Jamelle Eugene is a problem coaches and players say they like having.
However, the team is not limiting the field to one player at a time. During the team’s opening practice, both Brown and Baker were in the backfield at the same time.
In addition to having two in the backfield, Brown said the fans could see a third back in the receiver slot.
“We’re doing a lot of two-back sets with Jamelle out at wide receiver some, so we’re just mixing [it] up a lot,” Brown said.
He added fans should expect to see split backs or other formations that will entail two running backs.
“Two out of the three of us are going to be on the field at least about 80 percent of the time,” Brown said.
Even though Eugene, a redshirt freshman, did not see the field last season, Brown said Eugene has qualities he and Baker do not.
“[Jamelle Eugene] looks good. He looked good last year,” Brown said. “He’s a phenomenal athlete. Out of the three of us, I would say he’s the best route runner, and he can get up between the tackles, too.”
Because the three are all vying for one position, the competition goes without saying.
But Eugene said it only helps the relationship between the three and that it has also made them better football players.
“We’re tighter than most people would think, being that we’re so competitive at that position, but they help me a lot,” Eugene said.
“They’re such humble guys that they just show me how things are done and let me know that there’s no pressure and don’t let anybody intimidate you.”
And with three running backs who the team considers dangerous, opposing teams may have to take people out of the secondary and bring them “in the box.”
Brown said when teams start stacking defenders for the run, State has to execute better through the air.
“When they put seven or eight in the box, you got to be able to throw the ball,” Brown said.
“Hopefully our running game will open up our passing game, and then hopefully when that gets good, the passing game will open up our running game. We just want to get more even this year with running and passing the ball.”
Baker said the team doesn’t need to worry about the offensive line, mainly because the linemen are working hard to prepare themselves for the upcoming season.
“Our offensive line, they’re hungry. They’re knocking [people] off the ball, and they’re having a great time,” Baker said. “They love to block for us – it’s going to be great.”
