Gibson readies NC State for Pirate attack
Tony Gibson has coached on the defensive side of the ball at five different P5 schools, including two stints at West Virginia. He has coordinated defenses since 2014 and was nominated for the Broyles Award as college football's top assistant in 2021.
This is not his first rodeo, but he can help but have butterflies about opening the 2022 season -- especially on the road against a tough foe like East Carolina.
"The biggest worry as a defensive coach in the first game is always live tackling for 70, 80, 90 plays," Gibson said. "That’s always a concern because when you scrimmage, the ones and twos maybe get 30-40 plays, so that’s always worrisome.”
It will not be easy for NC State against the Pirates, who have been steadily improving under head coach Mike Houston. East Carolina will look to avenge blowout losses to the Wolfpack in each of its last two meetings, including a, 34-6, shelling at Carter Finley Stadium in Houston's debut with ECU to open the 2019 season.
If the Wolfpack can navigate this dangerous path to open the campaign, Gibson believes there will be significant growth afterward.
“They always say, from week one to week two, that’s your biggest jump," Gibson said. This first week, hopefully, we’ll learn from our mistakes. It’s going to be a hostile environment. They’re going to run a fast pace and tempo sometimes, so we’ve got to make sure we get our calls in, and the guys execute.”
In terms of talent, Houston has coaxed some terrific players to Greenville since arriving. The Pirates went 7-5 in 2021 and are poised to improve.
Schematically, however, there should be little variance from what NC State saw from East Carolina three years ago.
"They have the same offensive coordinator [when] we played them in 2019, so a lot of similar stuff from back then, zone scheme, stuff like that," NC State linebacker Drake Thomas said of ECU. "They have a mobile, good quarterback; veteran quarterback, so that’s always helpful for an offense when you have a veteran quarterback, so just kind of keying in on that and game-planning every single day, knowing what's coming is important.”
As the Wolfpack completes its first week of game prep mode, shoring up the controllable is a big emphasis.
“It’s all right now," Gibson said. "It’s that next step: communication, making sure we’re all lined up, and making sure we’re all on the same page. We shouldn’t have many mental mistakes with these guys, but they’re 18-to-22-year-old males, so anything can happen.”
What can often accentuate mental mistakes is playing against a solid team in a tough environment. The Wolfpack is a trendy pick to have a top-10 type of season in 2022, but East Carolina has NC State's full attention.
“They’re a great football team," Gibson said. "We broke them down in the summer. We did another breakdown for game week, and we’re preparing for them. They’ve got some skill guys. Their quarterback and tailback are really good. They’ve got a veteran offensive line with three starters back. They do a great job. They can throw the ball. They can run the ball. It’s very scary.”
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A lifelong native of the Triangle area in North Carolina, Rob McLamb has covered NC State Athletics since 2010, as well as writing about each of the five major sports leagues in North America (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS) for various newspapers and outlets. As a journalist who has also served as a high school and college coach, McLamb provides an educated, unfiltered, and analytical perspective on the Wolfpack and the ACC.