Less than a week after N.C. State’s season-ending loss against Maryland last Saturday, coach Tom O’Brien met with the media Thursday to discuss the upcoming offseason, among other topics.
He said going into the offseason, the team must recruit offensive lineman as its first priority, and then look for linebackers as a second priority.
But recruiting priorities won’t be limited to just those two positions, as O’Brien said the team must focus on all aspects.
“There are holes all over this. If you want to think the ship is going down, it’s going down in the offensive line right now,” he said. “There are only eight healthy scholarship bodies that are going to be here in the spring practice.”
The Wolfpack will have the majority of its scholarships dedicated to freshmen and sophomores as the team lacks seniors.
“We’re not going to have a big senior class,” O’Brien said. “There will probably be 55 scholarships or more committed to the bottom two classes. That’s going to be a young football team.”
Of some of the returning athletes, O’Brien indicated running back Toney Baker and tight end Anthony Hill still won’t be available when spring practice comes around. Spring practice is set to start on March 18, according to the coach.
And aside from the seniors who have used up eligibility, O’Brien said he wouldn’t be surprised to lose a few other players.
While O’Brien wouldn’t name specific players, he said he expects a few players to enter their names into the NFL Draft because “that happens every year.”
He also indicated that some of the fourth-year seniors, those who are considered redshirt juniors, might not be invited back to the team next season.
“I met with all of the fourth-year seniors that have a fifth year to come back, and we talked [about] if they all intend to come back. Then, we will meet as a staff to see if we want to invite them back,” O’Brien said. “Our system has always been you don’t want a fifth-year kid that’s not playing hanging around. There are no guarantees.”
The coach also talked about next year’s quarterback position during the press conference. He said the battle will start over and all quarterbacks will have the opportunity to earn the job.
One quarterback O’Brien talked about on Thursday was freshman Russell Wilson. While Wilson also hopes to play baseball, he will have to attend spring practice to have a chance at earning the position — and that’s because he’s on a football scholarship, according to O’Brien.
O’Brien said Wilson has “tremendous leadership ability” and that is one of the most important functions of a quarterback.
“He has skills. He’s got a strong arm,” O’Brien said. “He did a nice job doing the scout team but a lot of that is running off cards so now we’ve got to see if he can call a play, get to the line of scrimmage and execute once the ball is snapped. Those are all things we have to find out about him.”
