PEELER: Hill Out for W&M Game; Eugene Could Return
PEELER: Hill Out for W&M Game; Eugene Could Return
RALEIGH, N.C. ? This time, at least, NC State football coach Tom O?Brien had a little good news to offset the bad.
The bad news? Fifth-year senior tight end Anthony Hill will miss Saturday?s home-opener against William & Mary with a chest injury he aggravated in last week?s season-opening 34-0 loss at South Carolina. Hill, who missed all of last season following knee surgery, led the Wolfpack with 45 receptions in 2006.
The good news? There?s a possibility that junior running back Jamelle Eugene could return this week, redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson has returned to campus and is ready to return to classes and one-time starting offensive guard Curtis Crouch has returned to the lineup after the coach held him out of the South Carolina game.
It's unlikely, however, that the good news will temper the bad, since Hill looked to be a big part of an offense that struggled to gain just 138 yards against the Gamecocks.
Wilson has not been medically cleared yet to practice, so senior Daniel Evans is listed as the starting quarterback heading into Saturday?s game, which kicks off at 6 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium. Junior Harrison Beck is listed as Evans? backup.
?Russell is back and into the regular daily routine,? O?Brien said. ?He will be going to class and everything. We will see how he progresses here in the next week or so. But we don?t have any idea yet what his situation is [as far as returning to practice]. We will prepare to play with Evans and backup with Beck.?
Wilson, who won the starting job in preseason came over four other candidates, was knocked unconscious in the second quarter of a 0-0 game and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher. He was released from the Richland Memorial Hospital Friday morning and returned to Raleigh with his mother.
Eugene, the starting tailback for most of last season and the team?s top rusher in 2007, missed the South Carolina game with an ankle injury.
?We will see how he does this week,? O?Brien said of Eugene. ?If he can get out there and practice, then maybe he can get some playing time this week.?
Senior Andre Brown started in Eugene's place against the Gamecocks and rushed for 101 yards on 21 carries. It was his sixth career 100-yard game.
There were several other changes to the depth chart that the coach acknowledged Monday. Junior defensive end Shea McKeen has moved into the starting lineup on the left side, while redshirt senior Ryan Goodman, an All-America wrestler for the Wolfpack, has been elevated to Robbie Leonard?s backup at strongside linebacker.
?McKeen has a lot of pass-rushing abilities,? O?Brien said. ?He performed better than Markus Kuhn did. We are a performance-based organization here, so he moves up.
?Goodman is guy who missed practice in the spring because of wrestling. The more he has been around, the more he has learned that position that Robbie is in. He?s a similar guy, similar-type player. The coaches feel better about him, with what he has done through game week, than we did about Audie Cole at this point.?
O?Brien continued to praise his team?s defense, which intercepted four passes in the first three quarters against the Gamecocks and kept the game close until South Carolina scored 21 points in the fourth quarter.
?I think the defense was fine,? O?Brien said. ?At the end of the third quarter, they had given up 160 yards of total offense. That?s a pretty good night. [South Carolina] ended up with 10 more minutes in time of possession. That?s where we ended up tired and cramping up on defense.?
But O?Brien is looking for better performance from his offense, especially in the passing game. The three quarterbacks, who each saw several series in the game, completed just five of 20 passes for 49 yards.
?Anybody involved in the passing game was not very good,? O?Brien said. ?We didn?t throw very well, we didn?t protect every well and we didn?t get open very well. That?s a major concern for us right now and we have to work those things out.?
O?Brien expects his team to be challenged by William & Mary, a team that returns several skilled offensive players. The Tribe was 4-7 last season.
?Jimmye Laycock is going to have a very good offensive football team,? O?Brien said. ?They have a lot of experience on offense and defense. They haven?t played a game yet, but they got to watch us and know what we do. They will come in here ready to play.?
