During football coach Tom O’Brien’s time at Boston College, one of the Golden Eagles’ staples was a huge, powerful offensive line. Upon taking over at N.C. State in 2007, O’Brien brought that mentality to State, and it started with bringing current senior left tackle Jake Vermiglio with him.
The tackle from Rochester, Mich. had planned on attending Boston College to play under O’Brien, but after he took the State job, Vermiglio decided to follow his coach down south and come to Raleigh.
“I was one of the two players who were recruited by coach O’Brien,” Vermiglio said. “I was at Milford Academy when he was at BC and they were talking to me there. And once he came down here, State offered me a scholarship. That’s when I took my visit and I came down here and loved it.”
But it was not the warmer weather in Raleigh than in Boston that changed Vermiglio’s decision. It was the chance to play under a group of coaches who had a proven track record of getting offensive linemen into the NFL. During O’Brien’s tenure at BC, he coached offensive linemen like Jeremy Trueblood, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and offensive guard Chris Snee, a Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants.
“I liked everything coach O’Brien was doing there and thought he would do the same here and it looks like he is on pace to do it,” Vermiglio said. “I just wanted to be somewhere that I could maximize myself as a player and I thought these coaches gave me the best option. We are big, but it is a lot of coaching.”
Since arriving at State, Vermiglio has not disappointed, as he has been an integral part of the Pack’s offensive line throughout his career, starting in his freshman year, when The Sporting News named him an honorable mention freshman All-American.
Three and a half years later, Vermiglio has started 25 games for the Pack. This season, the offensive tackle’s responsibility includes much more than protecting quarterback Russell Wilson’s blindside. The 22-year-old is the oldest player and the only upper classman on the starting offensive line.
“It is tough because they are all younger. I am about to turn 23 next month and the next oldest starter that is closet to me is 20 years old,” Vermiglio said. “I am a few years older than everyone so I have to be a leader and help everyone. I tell them what to expect coming into the games because the speed is obviously a lot different than anything you have ever seen.
“Once you get into a game its moves a thousand miles per hour. It is just so much faster because you have to think on the run and that just makes it much tougher.”
Through seven games, 10 different offensive linemen have played at least one snap per week. This rate of substitution is unusual considering the offensive line is usually the only group of players that does not rotate throughout the game. But Vermiglio said the group’s chemistry allows it to use frequent substitutions and remain cohesive.
“We are the closet group on the team. If one of us is doing something, a text message will find its way to someone and we will all eventually meet up, whether it going to see a movie or going to eat,” Vermiglio said. “It’s a difference between the last couple of years because we had different groups of guys hanging out, but this year we just are all together. Even the young guys like Rob [Crisp] and Tyson [Chandler] hang out with us and that is usually not the case.”
O’Brien noticed Vermiglio’s leadership along the offensive line as well, noting the versatility and calming influence his senior provides his younger counterparts on the O-line.
“Certainly he is the most senior member up front. He has made a lot of personal strides in his game, starting at guard and moving to tackle,” O’Brien said. “You need someone with that type of experience with all those young kids up front. He is a calming factor in the huddle to help them stay focused on what they have to do and he has done a good job doing that.”
Being the most experienced of the bunch entails more than being a savvy veteran on the field. Vermiglio recently took another big step toward adulthood off the field, as he recently got engaged with his girlfriend. Though the exact date has not been officially set, the senior said he is already looking forward to it.
“My girlfriend is doing most of the wedding planning and I am just kind of helping her out,” Vermiglio said. “But it is getting pretty crazy. We are going to have a pretty big wedding and it is going to be fun.”
But Vermiglio isn’t fretting about his future, whether it will mean working or playing for a professional team in the NFL.
“I am not really worried about that at this point,” Vermiglio said. “I feel like if we take care of what we need to do the rest will take care of itself. If it happens, it happens.”
If everything works out next April in the draft, there is a possibility Vermiglio could once again find himself blocking for his former high school teammate, roommate and current Philadelphia Eagles running back, LeSean McCoy.
“I played with him at Milford. He was my roommate and an incredible player,” Vermiglio said. “He is one of the best running backs that I have seen play. He just moves side to side so unbelievably fast and makes so many people miss. I knew he was going to be in the NFL one day, it was just a matter of when.”
