{"id":221,"date":"2010-09-08T09:20:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T16:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsports.us\/?p=221"},"modified":"2010-09-08T09:20:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T16:20:00","slug":"obrien-likes-what-he-sees-so-far-in-young-pack-running-backs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"O’Brien likes what he sees so far in young Pack running backs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Quarterback Russell Wilson was the headline in N.C. State\u2019s victory over Western Carolina Saturday, but Wilson will need more help as State\u2019s schedule toughens up with Saturday\u2019s game at Central Florida. <\/p>\n

Two issues for State are whether it can run the ball, and how its inexperienced offensive line performs. The Wolfpack rushed for 129 yards against Western, a decent number considering the fact that redshirt freshman Dean Haynes and true freshman Mustafa Greene had never carried the ball in a college game. Haynes carried 13 times for 69 yards and Greene 10 times for 35 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thought process was keep it simple, hold onto the football, run to the goal line,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. He said he wasn\u2019t looking for his backs to do anything fancy, but to turn upfield and not make a mistake.<\/p>\n

A major issue with young backs is pass protection. While fans often evaluate runners by how they perform with the ball, coaches are watching closely to see if they protect the quarterback. In that aspect, O\u2019Brien said he was pleased with what he saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were perfect in where they were going and what they were doing,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. The technique could use some work but at least they grasped the game plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could be a little better fundamentally but as far as assignment-wise they were going the right direction the entire night,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

UCF, with George O\u2019Leary as coach, is expected to field a defense that will be much tougher than Western Carolina. The Knights beat South Dakota 38-7 and allowed only 220 yards of total offense.<\/p>\n

State\u2019s offensive line is inexperienced, but has talent. O\u2019Brien raved after massive left tackle Rob Crisp, a true freshman who started because Jake Vermiglio did not dress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Rob Crisp it was an exceptional performance from a freshman,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWhat you see is really good athletic ability. You saw great tenaciousness. He\u2019s got a certain confident about himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said Vermiglio is practicing this week but refused to say if he will play Saturday against Central Florida. Vermiglio faced drug charges in the offseason, but they were dropped.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said Crisp and Vermiglio will both remain at left tackle to give the Wolfpack depth at that position this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quarterback Russell Wilson was the headline in N.C. State\u2019s victory over Western Carolina Saturday, but Wilson will need more help as State\u2019s schedule toughens up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}