Mike Glennon took a lot from his brother's experience at Virginia Tech. TOB thinks it helped him make a more seamless transition into a starting role at NC State.
"The thing I think he really was good at last year was, he was able to focus on what he had to do and was able to throw all that other stuff out, which is really difficult. I'm sure bits and pieces got in here and there, but he never let on that it was a distraction. He and (offensive coordinator) Dana Bible did such a good job focusing on his game and trying to make himself better. But there isn't any question (that) family experience, having somebody to talk to, helped a lot."
I was looking at some numbers the other day and was a little bit shocked to see that NC State was 94th in the country in total offense last year. That's a handful of spots better than the offense led by Danny Evans in 2007. It sure didn't seem that bad. (There was essentially no difference between the 2011 and 2007 teams on a down-to-down basis, either. One finished with a +14 turnover margin and the other was -16, though.) And that's why you never fully trust your eyes, people!
EYES: It is not so bad.
BRAIN: You have me at a disadvantage.
EYES: Shut up, we're confirming biases here.
There is not a doubt in my mind that Glennon is going to be a better player in 2012, but given that he may be working with the worst receiving corps State has had in over 10 years, it's reasonable to wonder just how much improvement we'll see from the offense as a whole. Considering that WR group, and what Glennon can (throw ball far) and cannot do (go Russell Wilson, tuck-and-improv style, on some fools), I think the offensive line's development is more important than ever. It seems an obvious thing to say, but to some extent it's always relative. Sometimes you have what amounts to a cheat (Wilson) and sometimes you don't. The presence or absence of that cheat affects where one places the sliders on a scale of important-to-extremely-important when it comes to the offensive line.