Doug Doughty

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Editor's note: Doug Doughty is on vacation. His column resumes on July 13.

North Carolina State, with no clear-cut line of succession at quarterback and a coach known for playing tall quarterbacks, provided the best of all worlds for Mike Glennon.

His decision to commit to the Wolfpack had little to do with a reluctance to play in his older brother’s shadow at Virginia Tech or for his brother’s biggest rival at Virginia.

“The depth chart is one of the main things I’m going to look for in a college,” Glennon said Friday, still speaking in the present tense one day after his announcement. “I’m not going to go to a school where they have all these top quarterbacks lined up and the opportunity might not be as good.”

That’s why he was able to see past the star power of programs like Michigan, Miami and Florida State and look at programs like N.C. State and Purdue.

Purdue?

“The situation there was probably the best situation out of every school,” Glennon said. “Their offense, [with] a quarterback that likes to throw the ball, is perfect for them [in recruiting]. That was just too far away from home. I just felt like I wanted to stay closer to home and be in the ACC.”

Glennon conceded that Virginia probably was his favorite at one point.

“Before I ever went to N.C. State, I think it was,” he said. “They’re still one of my top considerations at the end. It was just something about N.C. State that made it a little better than UVa.”

For one thing, new coach Tom O’Brien will be unafraid to make changes. That’s not his nature and it’s not his mission after the firing of predecessor Chuck Amato.

The Wolfpack finished 3-9 last year and lost their last seven games, failing to score more than 23 points in any of them. They ended the season with walk-on Daniel Evans as their starting quarterback. Evans and early-season starter Marcus Stone yielded 16 interceptions, compared to 10 touchdown passes.

Stone moved to tight end in the spring and the only quarterback to sign with the Wolfpack was Russell Wilson from Collegiate High School in Richmond. Wilson had some fabulous numbers as both a passer and runner but he is shorter than 6 feet.

“They said they would give him a shot at quarterback but, if things don’t work out, they could easily move him to another position because he’s such a good athlete,” Glennon said. “I don’t know a lot about him. I just know he also played baseball.”

O’Brien had a succession of tall quarterbacks at Boston College, including 2006 first-team All-ACC quarterback Matt Ryan and he also tutored 6-7 Matt Blundin at Virginia.

“I think that’s what Tom O’Brien stands for,” said Glennon, who is listed at 6 foot 6 and 190 pounds. “The situation [at State] is pretty good for me because the guys they have right now don’t exactly fit what they want or what they had at Boston College.

“They said that I’m the closest thing to Matt Ryan that they’ve seen. They want me to be the Matt Ryan of N.C. State.”

Of the nearly two dozen offers Glennon received, State’s was one of the last. Thinking back, he now believes he has been leaning toward the Wolfpack since visiting Raleigh during spring break.

“You could tell that they were getting strong consideration because I had plenty of offers and still was faithful enough to go to their camp without an offer,” he said.

“If I wasn’t interested, I’m sure I would have blown them off. A lot of kids wouldn’t have gone to a camp where they didn’t have an offer, but I just really felt a connection there. Once I got to the camp, I knew it was definitely the school for me.”

Glennon also felt a bond with O’Brien and offensive coordinator Dana Bible, but, in the end, it was all about opportunity.

Glennon’s older brother, Sean, has two more years at Tech, where he started this past season, and the Hokies added his heir apparent in Tyrod Taylor, rated the No. 1 prospect in the state. Jameel Sewell has three more years of eligbility at Virginia, which signed West Springfield quarterback Peter Lalich, the consensus No. 2 prospect in the state.

For the sake of argument, say Lalich was at N.C. State and Virginia had a quarterback situation comparable to State’s?

“Then, it probably would have been different,” Glennon said.

HEAD COACH DAN NEWELL, who quietly has been rebuilding the football program at George Washington High School in Danville, says that three of his rising seniors – all academic qualifiers – are getting looks from Division I-A programs

The three are 6-foot-3, 290-pound center Richard Williams; 5-7, 170-pound wide receiver Travis Tarpley and 6-foot, 175-pound wide receiver Dominique Fitzgerald.

Williams, son of Danville mayor Wayne Williams, has an offer from Division I-AA Elon and recently has made stops at Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Maryland, William and Mary and Virginia. Wayne Williams is a University of Richmond alumnus.

A fourth rising GW senior who could play Division I-A is Zach Gibson, a 6-foot, 225-pound inside linebacker who has attracted the interest of the Naval Academy. Gibson and another senior inside linebacker, 5-11, 220-pound Nikita Logan, are 4.0 students.

Two of the Eagles’ best prospects may be a pair of junior running backs, Tahron Goods (5-11, 208) and David Wilson (5-11, 195). Wilson was third in the Group AAA track-and-field championships in the triple jump as a sophomore, Newell said, and has been timed in the high 4.3’s for 40 yards.

UNDER THE HEADING OF “I’ll believe it when I see it” come reports that Virginia will sign only 17-18 football players for the class of 2008.

Of course, Division I-A programs are allowed to sign 25 and the Cavaliers already have taken 11 commitments, the latest from Matt Zubyk, a 6-4, 180-pound punter from San Diego who was recommended by one-time UVa place-kicker Michael Husted.