True Freshmen Take The Field

NC State Football will kick off practice this Tuesday and it will be reckoning timing for a handful of highly touted true freshmen. Coach Doeren has lots of talent in the form of freshmen this season. He will need them to step up if State is going to reach their full potential this coming season.

Nyhiem Hines is an all-around talented football player who has incredible speed and game breaker potential. He has been impressive in summer workouts but Coach Doeren has been cautious when talking about Hines. The News and Observer ran a story about the freshmen and caught a couple of quotes from Coach D with regards to Hines.

“Is he going to be a huge contributor? I don’t know. … He has so many skill sets, I’d be shocked if he’s not out there, but as a starter or a backup, I don’t know yet.” (N&O)

Coach went on to talk about Johnny Frasier and how he expects him to see time in the backfield along with Thornton and Dayes. However there are two other recruits that Doeren gave a shout out to as he spoke about their outstanding speed in freshmen wideouts Vernon Grier and Brian Sessoms.

“They’re both unbelievably fast, but are they going to be ready? I don’t know yet, when I signed them both, my thought was I wouldn’t need to play them. But when I saw how fast they are, maybe I will, because they can run.” (N&O)

This is the first season in a while that I am genuinely excited for NC State Football. I am disappointed in the class of non-conference opponents that are on the schedule this season, but I believe that the Pacl have the talent to compete in the Atlantic Division.  Coach Doeren will have to sort through the freshmen and find a way to integrate them in if they are going to challenge both Clemson and FSU.

Last season NC State proved on occasion that they are capable of hanging in there with the heavy hitters, but this season they cannot accept just hanging in there.  They must have the mind set to win each time they step onto the field, regardless of who is lined up in front of them. Practice starts Tuesday, August 4th, and we will find out which freshmen will rise to the occasion.