New North Carolina State football coach Dave Doeren is still getting used to the lay of the land in Raleigh and within his program.
Aside from joking about finally getting one of the nice weather days he had been promised, and that is quite different this time of year from where he previously worked at Northern Illinois, Doeren is working to learn exactly what he has moving into the 2013 campaign.
He noted 6-foot-7 senior offensive tackle Rob Crisp as one of the bright spots so far in spring camp, an important identification given how the offensive line needs some re-tooling. But more than anything, Doeren and his staff are trying to get the players on the same page with the terminology and desired speeds in varying roles.
“It’s slow going, you don’t want to put too much on them, because if you do that then you can’t really evaluate them because they are thinking too much,” Doeren said Tuesday. “At times, it's tricky. You have to be smart about how much you put in because you know you need to get things in, too.
“But I feel like we’re at a point now where we’ve got enough in to evaluate and let our guys just play. We’re not there yet, but we’re pretty close.”
Doeren also noted many of the plays the Wolfpack will execute are similar to what they ran under the previous regime, even though they are switching from more of a pro-style to the spread option Doeren used to lead last year’s NIU team to the Orange Bowl.
Integral in the new offense will be the tailbacks — and Doeren has inherited a pair that have proven they can carry the load in junior Tony Creecy and sophomore Shadrack Thornton. The tandem combined for 1,170 yards and eight scores last fall for a team that finished 7-6, resulting in the firing of Tom O’Brien.
“I think they are tough guys,” the new coach said. “I think there’s times when they are seeing it and getting north and south, and there’s other times when we see Shad just trip on himself and fall down, which isn’t really good. I like what they are and what they could be, but I don’t think they’re where we want them to be, yet.”
With its entry into the ACC, where the teams are generally faster than Big East clubs and certainly produce more NFL players, new Syracuse coach Scott Shafer made a recent hire that should pay immediate dividends.
The program hired Eric White as the director of recruiting operations. White held the same post previously at Arkansas and Wisconsin.
White has been responsible for schedules for recruits on official and unofficial visits, helped with planning the use of social media, and at Wisconsin he even helped produce a recruiting manual.
The average ranking of Syracuse’s classes over the last 10 years, as per Scout.com, is 51.8. That excluded the 2009 class that was ranked No. 102 because it had just 14 members, and would have inaccurately skewed the overall mean. The other nine classes ranged between Nos. 46 and 62.
“The addition of Eric gives us a young gun who has been around top-tier programs that are state-of-the-art in the new recruiting approach in college football,” Shafer said. “He is extremely knowledgeable and creative in using today’s technology to aid the recruiting operation.”
It should come as no surprise that Duke’s defense is ahead of its offense right now.
In an 85-snap scrimmage Wednesday morning at Wallace Wade Stadium, the defensive front was the story, having dominated an offensive line with some new parts to the tune of six sacks and a forced interception.
Duke is also breaking in a new starting quarterback, as Sean Renfree has moved on, likely making way for Anthony Boone, a junior who has attempted 148 passes in his career. He's completed 79 career passes for 829 yards and six touchdowns. Junior defensive end Jamal Wallace got to Boone twice and redshirt freshman A.J. Wolf registered a sack and recovered a fumble.
Offensive-minded coach David Cutcliffe was ecstatic to see his defense dominate.
“It was pretty good football to watch,” Cutcliffe said. “I know this, we have a lot of individual players that are getting better, and that’s been a focus of this spring.”
Boone, by the way, completed 11 of 19 pass attempts for 166 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
