RALEIGH J.R. Sweezy and Jeff Rieskamp, N.C. State's two best defensive linemen, were limited to signing autographs for Wolfpack fans in Cincinnati last Thursday.
Defensive tackle Thomas Teal also sat out the 44-14 loss to Cincinnati, with a foot injury, only to watch defensive tackle Brian Slay and defensive end A.J. Ferguson suffer injuries during the game.
That left Jacob Kahut, a walk-on who practiced earlier in the week on the offensive line, next in line at defensive tackle.
"I didn't really know what was going on, but they just told me to go out there and hit somebody," said Kahut, a junior who began his college career at Campbell.
After going through a similar, injury-marred season in 2009, N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien did not think he would have to go through it again. He certainly would not have guessed that he would have to use a walk-on at defensive tackle in the first half of a game against a Big East team.
At 2-2 heading into today's game with No. 21 Georgia Tech, the Wolfpack program is not where O'Brien thought his fifth team would be before the season started, not after a nine-win breakthrough in 2010.
"Every time we take a step forward, we take two steps backwards," O'Brien said. "This is like (2009) again."
That Wolfpack team finished a disappointing 5-7, with injury issues and lapses on defense. The same problems are plaguing State again with the Yellow Jackets arriving with the country's highest-scoring offense.
O'Brien took the N.C. State job in December of 2006, with the hopes of building on the consistent success he enjoyed at Boston College. He won a school-record 75 games in 10 seasons there and led the Eagles to eight straight bowl games.
After the 44-14 loss to Cincinnati, O'Brien's record at N.C. State is an even 27-27, with a 14-19 mark in ACC play. O'Brien, who turns 63 on Wednesday, has led the Wolfpack to two bowl games and one winning season in his first four years in Raleigh. .
The rebuilding process has been slower at N.C. State than it was at Boston College. BC went 4-7 in each of O'Brien's first two seasons in 1997 and '98 but didn't win less than seven games in any of the next eight seasons. The Wolfpack returned 14 starters from last year's 9-4 team, which finished the season ranked 25th nationally in both polls, but it also lost top running back Mustafa Greene in spring practice to a foot injury as well as Sweezy, the defensive captain, to a fractured bone in his left foot in training camp.
"We're not where we thought we would be or could be, and the reason is we're going to start the fifth different defensive lineup of the year in the fifth game of the year," O'Brien said earlier this week.
N.C. State began training camp with 14 eligible, healthy, scholarship defensive linemen. It has nine for today's game, including two freshmen O'Brien would rather redshirt.
Sweezy, who had six sacks last season, has missed the first four games and is questionable for today's game.
Teal suffered the same type of foot injury in the opener against Liberty, Rieskamp hurt his shoulder in practice before the Wake Forest game.
Finding defensive linemen has been a reoccurring issue in recruiting. Under O'Brien, State has plugged holes on the line with transfers and junior college players, including end McKay Fransden, who'll start today against Georgia Tech.
Attrition across the board - for academic, disciplinary and injury reasons - has contributed to the current talent drain. Twenty-five players have left the program early from the four recruiting classes between 2007 and '10.
O'Brien has used seven true freshmen this season and would prefer to redshirt the other 12. Take away the two scholarship players (cornerback Jarvis Byrd and linebacker Sterling Lucas) who are out for the season with injuries and the 10 players on the injury report for today's game, and State has 52 scholarship players for today's game.
That's how a walk-on ends up on the depth chart before the October and why the Wolfpack has to use its fifth different defensive lineup five games.
"Nobody is feeling sorry for us, so we have to get it done," O'Brien said.
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