Rivals.com’s “Best Prospects Remaining After Two Rounds” lists:
1. DaJuan Morgan – SS – 6-0, 205 lbs. – North Carolina State - Morgan could develop into an every-down player and maybe even a Pro Bowl performer over time. He also is one of the best special-teams players in this class. He was a borderline first-round pick in our eyes.
** Also, check the headline photo of DaJuan on the Rivals NFL Draft main page! http://nfldraft.rivals.com/
NY: So I am currently in the process of moving from New York to North Carolina. Thus my sporadic entries as of late, and for the next month.
Baseball: The team is rockin! The Pack is doing much better than I, or most others, would have anticipated at this point in the season. That final series with FSU is looking huge now.
BC: Last night, State whooped Boston College 5-1. I say whooped because Clayton Shunick struck out 11 Eagle batters including 8 in a row!!!
I’ll be at the game tonight. Feel free to bring me a beer before the game (or during). I plan on getting there around 1700 hours to tailgate, talk to people. How will you recognize me? Clue: I’ll prob be the only person wearing green shirt. I’m out of clean clothes, don’t hate me.
p.s. If any one you have extra tix, that’d be mighty nice as well. Otherwise I’ll be picking up some general admission. Parking passes appreciated as well. So to recap, free beer, tickets, or reserved parking are all greatly appreciated, haha.
I read a story on Military.com about a trip twelve NCSU football players made to have dinner with the Marines of Wounded Warrior Battalion-East, Wounded Warrior Regiment, Manpower and Reserve Affairs, on April 7. Joining them was also coach Tom O’Brien, a former Marine, and several other State staffers.
Reports LCpl Katie Mathison of Marine Corps News:
At the beginning of the event, Capt. Ray Baronie, the battalion’s executive officer, gave a speech thanking the football players for their visit.
“We appreciate athletes like you coming down here,” Baronie said. “You guys are all heroes in our book.”
The Marines shook hands with the athletes and spoke to them about their experiences in the Marine Corps.
Some of the athletes got a closer look at the barracks. Cpl. Bobby Joseph, a wounded warrior, took a few of the players to his room to show them photos from Iraq.
“I showed them pictures of my injury and talked about the foot patrol I was on when I got hurt,” Joseph said. “It gave them a better understanding of what we have gone through.”
Am I correct in seeing this as a glaring contrast to the Chuck Amato attitude at NCSU? O’Brien is building men, giving them good character and hopefully a moral compass. I think this definitely translates into leadership and courage on the practice and playing field (Heck, in the locker room, where I think we have lacked leadership of late).
Kudos to Tom O’Brien for making this trip. I only hope more players can go next time, and they can spend more time.
As the team left, TOB promised that any of them could have free tickets to NCSU home games, just give him a call. What a stand up guy we have as head coach!
Trying to save time, I’ll just copy some stuff from gopack.com:
NC State cracked the national rankings for the first time all season when it appeared at No. 24 in the Rivals.com poll, released early Monday afternoon. Collegiate Baseball checked in moments later with the Wolfpack at No. 28. Baseball America followed the trend, coming a few minutes later with NC State absent from its top 25.
As noted last week, our record is good, our OOC is good, our ACC schedule is good, thus our RPI is good. Well, it just keeps getting better. We are now one of 6 ACC teams in the top 10 of the ratings index. If we can keep winning the games we need to win and stay healthy, the ACC Tourney could be our ticket to a very high seeding in the playoffs.
Big game this afternoon vs ECU who boasts an RPI of #6!
Yes, 3 days after the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, we’re already putting football on the stove, the back burner, but the stove none-the-less. (Baseball is #1 for now)
The Sporting News released a few articles regarding ACC and National football.
Ranking the ACC coaches
4. Tom O’Brien, N.C. State. He took his lumps last year in his debut in Raleigh, but that doesn’t un-do all of the standout work T.O.B. did for years in Chestnut Hill. Just imagine if Notre Dame or Washington had hired him. I still think it’s a lead-pipe cinch that O’Brien will have the Wolfpack playing in the ACC title game within three-to-five years.
Four to watch: NC State, Miss State, Stanford, Michigan State
NC State: Don’t kid yourself, Tom O’Brien is one of the top five coaches in the game. It took him awhile to weed out the malcontents last year, but by November, the Wolfpack were playing as well as anyone in the ACC (insert your joke here).
This is how Tom O. works: First, he makes the team smarter, then tougher — and once he finds a quarterback, the winning begins. The question: Can junior Harrison Beck become that leader?
Tuesday, the Pack topped #24 ranked UNCW 12-5. Yay!
Wednesday, the Pack handed #22 Coastal Carolina the game by allowing four runs in the top of the sixth inning, letting them taking advantage of a pair of walks, two infield singles and an error by the Wolfpack.
The NCSU 7 game winning streak was snapped. Boo.
The NCBWA released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards. N.C. State 1B/DH Ryan Pond was named National Hitter of the Week.
A senior from Chesapeake, Va., Pond paced the team with a .600 batting average and helped NC State finish the week 5-0. In the series sweep over Wake Forest, he hit .545 with six hits in 11 at-bats, five RBI, and a pair of doubles. Pond also turned in a stellar performance against Elon last Wednesday. The first baseman/outfielder recorded four hits, four RBI, three runs, a double and a home run as the Wolfpack shut out the Phoenix, 12-0. He also had a pair of hits and an RBI in a 4-3 win at No. 24 East Carolina last Tuesday. For the week, Pond collected 12 hits, six runs, 11 RBI, three doubles, two walks and one home run. He was named ACC Player of the Week for his performance the week of April 1-6.
Next on tap for the Pack, a 3 game home series with Duke. Go support the Pack this weekend as we try to get to 24-10 (11-6).
