Q&A: Tom O'Brien, HC, NC State

North Carolina State headman Tom O'Brien, who is entering his third season as the head coach of the Wolfpack, joined College Football Insiders Founder Daniel Mogollon in this Coaches Corner on CFI Radio.

With us today is headman Tom O'Brien of the North Carolina St. Wolfpack. How are you today?

O'Brien: I'm doing great Daniel. How are you?

I'm doing great. Spring is upon us and teams are starting to hit the field and put the pads on. But before we get to the college season, let's talk a little draft and some of the guys leaving the program. Lets start with running back Andre Brown, a player who has really impressed while going through this draft process with his size and speed combination. What’s his potential at the next level? Could he be a full time back?

O’Brien: I think he certainly could. His potential is unlimited. We’ve only been here two years and actually he missed the last six games of our first year with an injury. He’s certainly made tremendous strides this year. He can play whether it’s first, second or third down—he can be that back. He has size and he has speed to take that pounding at the next level. So I think he would be a great addition to someone’s team.

Let me ask you—why he hasn’t been able to breakout at the college level? Last season he had a career-high with 766 yards while a lot of the other backs that are compared to him had about 1,500 yards. Is it a matter of durability?

O’Brien: Like I said last year, he only played six games and then he came into a new system. One thing about our backs is we rotate backs. We had two kids, him and Jamelle Eugene. Both of them split time and if you look at the number of plays he played and take into account the yards and production he had it will probably be as good as in the country.

Fair enough, coach. How about tight end Anthony Hill who has dealt with injuries. He was out your entire first season as a head coach—how healthy was he this past season?

O’Brien: Well, he got hurt the first game of the year.

Right.

O’Brien: Then missed the next four or five, but once he came back he steadily made a lot progress. He got much better as the year went on for us. Certainly I think he carried that forward when he had the opportunity to go down and play in the Senior Bowl. I think for both kids the future is ahead of them and they're going to be good players, and good players for a long time.

How about a pair of your former players from Boston College. When you recruited defensive tackles B.J. Raji and Ron Brace did you envision them both being day one picks, possibly first rounders, with Raji possibly going as high as the top five?

O’Brien: I don’t think you envision them like that signing them out of high school. But certainly when he (Raji) got to campus and we saw the ability he had, we knew that if he worked extremely hard and did his due-diligence and got himself in shape and ready to play, that certainly he had the potential to do it. So it’s very gratifying for us to see. You know he spent four or five years at BC because he had to sit out a year. He worked extremely hard to get to that position. Ron Brace was a big kid and same thing coming out high school. He always had the quickness and is very light on his feet for a guy that came in at around 378 pounds. So he’s cut his weight down to get where he is and also worked extremely hard. Those are two pretty good prospects at the defensive tackle position.

I’m sure you will happy you won’t have to face them in the ACC? Is that right?

O’Brien: You're not kidding. (Laughs)

Another duo that I think you will be pretty happy not to face is that pair out of Wake Forest, Aaron Curry and Alfonso Smith. Were they as good as any two defenders that you faced?

O’Brien: They certainly were this year, and Alfonso caused us a lot of problems, even when I was with Boston College. He has a tremendous knack for reading plays and anticipating where the ball's going to be. Curry certainly got better. He’s a guy that got better by leaps and bounds each year. He’s played his way into certainly being a first day guy and he’s a great player also.

How about some of the wide receivers you've faced? You played against a lot of the top guys. Kenny McKinley, Taurus Johnson, Greg Carr, (Darius) Heyward-Bey, Hakeem Nicks and (Brooks) Foster at North Carolina, and then in the Bowl game Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood. Who is the toughest receiver you faced?

O’Brien: I think Heyward-Bey. We were very lucky to get him on a rainy day. He and Kenny Britt against us probably going into the game because they are big guys and I mean, they are big receivers and they can run. And they can out muscle you to the ball, let alone out run you and run by you. I think those are the two kids that stood out the most for me.

It’s kind of funny, coach, to me that supposedly the ACC was down this past season. It seems like there was a decent amount of talent coming out of the ACC wasn't there?

O’Brien: I think there was. I think as the year went on, you get that label from the first week of the year. But I think that people should wait until the end of the year to see how things shake out. I think we proved ourselves as the year went on.

Coach O’Brien has a record of 86-59 which included a impressive eight-game winning streak in bowl games while at Boston College. Coach, last year's team made a bowl game after you went 5-7 (in 2007). I think a lot of time the assumption is, “OK, they are going in the right direction”. But you just don’t show up on the field and get better. What do you do in the spring, right now, to make sure that you continue that progression come fall?

O’Brien: Well, I think we are getting better and certainly we improved as the year went on. Getting that bowl was a big thing in our second season and having a opportunity to go to a bowl. We have had our best strength and conditioning in the three years that we have been here. Kids have made big strides, not only numbers wise but certainly in playing explosive football. Those are things that we measure, and we start spring practice today so we have to get better football players. We lost some really good players, which we talked about, like Andre Brown and Anthony Hill, but now it’s time for some of these young guys recruited the last couple of years to step up and this is there time to grab a job and be players for us as we go forward.

I don't want to bring up bad memories, but how disappointing was that Bowl loss to Rutgers? It appeared that if your quarterback Russell Wilson didn't go down, you guys were in control of that game...

O’Brien: Well, injuries are part of the game. Certainly we had more than our fair share last year, but you know we'll have less than our fair share this coming season. It certainly wasn’t the ending we wanted, but losing our quarterback in the first half with a minute to in the game, we had the football with a chance to score a touchdown and win the game. So it’s the best we could of hoped for.

Lets shift to the 2009 Wolfpack…has quarterback Russell Wilson been cleared for spring duties yet?

O’Brien: Well he’ll be cleared this weekend cause we're in helmets. But he hasn’t been cleared for any full contact. Twelve weeks from the injury will be next Monday (Mar. 23) and I think the doctors are going to look at him through the two practices this weekend and if he feels comfortable, then we’ll get him back for full status on Monday.

Wilson is a two-sport standout and will also be getting on the baseball diamond. How much of spring practice will he miss?

O’Brien: Yeah, he’s going to miss some practices. He’s going to miss one day a week. He’s going to practice football twice a week then he’s going to miss one of our three practices a week to go play baseball.

Is there any concern from a coach's perspective? Some coaches don’t like their players to play another sport…

O’Brien: No. That was the agreement between Russell and the school before he came in. Last year he did football first, then played baseball. We're working in a little bit more baseball this year and we will address the issue each and every year to see what’s best and certainly with his injury, we're going to take care of him this spring and we're going to make sure we don’t do anything to get him hurt. In baseball, they promised him he’s going to start but if he’s going to sit on the bench then he can come back and practice some more football. But if he’s out there starting like they promised, then he will be the starting center fielder or third baseman. But if he can help out baseball team, I am not adverse to that.

Will you go and check out any baseball games this spring?

O’Brien: Yeah, I go to all sports on campus when I get the opportunity...mens, womens...I support everybody here at State.

Does any of his baseball training translate to his football game? Any benefits to his playing baseball?

O’Brien: I don’t know if it translates to football. But certainly his future may be in baseball someday so with that in mind we have to do what’s best for Russell and our football program. So we have our agreement worked out and I’m sure we will sit down and discuss his status next season.

How about Mike Glennon? He was a highly touted kid coming in.

O’Brien: Well I love competition, not only at the quarterback spot, but at any position. So, as I told the team yesterday, we don’t do a depth chart until we get ready to play South Carolina. We will have a organizational chart and if you're listed two or three on the chart, then your job everyday is to tell the guy ahead of you that you're going to take his job away from him. I expect Michael to compete for the quarterback job and he’s very talented individual. It will be a very interesting spring and fall camp.

So we won’t use the C word, “controversy”, but we can use the C word, “competition”, at the quarterback position this off season.

O’Brien: Absolutely. That way we have better quarterbacks this fall.

Makes sense to me for sure. Sometimes it can be a touchy situation—guys like that didn’t come to Raleigh to hold a clipboard. Are you worried about keeping them both happy, or do you say, “It’s my job to win games”?

O’Brien: Their job is prove to me who the starter is.

OK.

O’Brien: They make the decision for me and if they're not the quarterback they have no one to blame but themselves. That's the way I look at it and we'll go from there.

Your losing Andre Brown, Jamelle Eugene isn't healthy, while Tony Baker looks like he's 100 percent. Is this the time for him to show you what he can do?

O’Brien: Well, I think it’s a big spring for Tony Baker. He got hurt the first game two years ago, my first year here, and hasn’t played since. Certainly it’s been a long rehab, it’s been a severe injury. And had surgery (again) in September (of 2008) when he tried to come back and play. He hasn’t been in pads since August of 2007. So this is a big spring for him. If he’s back to 100 percent, which he has been, and has done the strength and conditioning area of it since we’ve come back to school on January 8th till now, then he'll be a contributor. But If he can get back to form—because he was our starter in the first game when we came here two years ago—so this is a big spring for him and out football team. So if he can get back to form he'll get slotted with Jamelle Eugene and if those guys can do the rotation, that would be great for us. Brandon Barnes, a red-shirt freshman, is a very talented individual and he’ll get more work this spring. James Washington signed with us and came in early, he's a kid out of Florida who has really impressed everyone with his athleticism and has his numbers—doing all the runs and jumps and lifts. Then we have Curtis Underwood who's been around the program for two years backing up and (has) played. It's a lot of work for those four kids and we'll shuffle the deck and once again—your C word competition comes out and we'll see who's best.

Thanks for giving us some time on this busy morning with spring about to begin and I know you also are going to be the grand marshal of the St. Patrick's Day parade (delayed because of rain).

O'Brien: I will do that tomorrow...double-duty tomorrow.

Photo Credit: Brian Utesch, Gene Galin & Peyton Williams (NC State)