i was just reading mel kiper's chat wrap on espn.com and he said this in response to one of the questions:

Andrew (Dover Shores): What do you think about this year's senior class of DE's?

Mel Kiper: The top DE right now is Mario Williams, a junior from NC State. Elvis Dumervil of Louisville leads the seniors and is on pace to set the single-season sack record. Behind him is Tamba Hali, coming off a four-sack game against Wisconsin. Then we have Mathias Kiwanuka of Boston college. The senior group is not deep but the overall class will improve when juniors declare.

looks like if this holds true he will most likely head off to the NFL and our d-line is really gonna take a hit

11/9/2005 9:17:54 PM

yeah, i think we've all been expecting that

is renaldo moses a senior too?

11/9/2005 9:25:30 PM

What position would Manny play in the league??? He's a little light in the ass for the DE position. Just curious.

11/9/2005 9:28:02 PM

i will be happy to see him go pro, you have to think about the program, and the fact is, guys going early and having long and solid careers in the pros is the best thing for the program other than facilities and fans

11/9/2005 9:28:15 PM

Manny just needs to keep hitting the gym and eatin lots of fried chicken....he will be fine in the league.....Mario is gonna break some legs when he gets in!

11/9/2005 9:30:55 PM

Yes, Moses is a senior


We'll lose Manny, Mario, and Moses.... I doubt McCargo will go due to his injury to finish the year.

We have capable guys to step in... but we're gonna be really thin with experience on the entire D-Line...


Manny = Jevon Kearse... He's not as good, but he has that potential to be a super undersized pass/speed rushing DE

[Edited on November 9, 2005 at 9:50 PM. Reason : sdfs]

11/9/2005 9:48:50 PM

great so once we get a good qb and since we already have a sick ass running game we lose our top defensive players. go figure.

11/9/2005 9:56:02 PM

thats how it always goes

lost PR and get a great D, lose the D get a get AB, lose AB get a great d....its a cycle

11/9/2005 10:04:18 PM

i know, it makes me sad

11/9/2005 10:06:06 PM

if u look at the sizes of DE's in teh nfl, they are lookin more and more like mario every year...julius peppers. jevon kearse for examples.

mario is like 6'7 290 or somethin..he is plenty big

Sorry i was thinkin mario not manny...oh well

[Edited on November 9, 2005 at 10:07 PM. Reason : messed up the person, manny not mario]

11/9/2005 10:06:34 PM

I heard that some teams may want Manny to play safety because of his freakish speed. If he can still run a 4.4, they might try to develop him as a safety. They also said that he gained a significant amount of weight this off season, so if they can bulk him up a little bit more, he might still fit right in at defensive end.

Either way, he is too good of an athlete to pass up in the draft....whatever position you draft him in.

[Edited on November 9, 2005 at 10:11 PM. Reason : k]

11/9/2005 10:10:48 PM

I have a feeling if he's not a DE, he'll get another shot at OLB.

Doubt he could be much of a safety... he's fast and tall, but the big thing about defensive backs is that they have to have "the perfect hip turn". Be able to switch directions backpedaling on a dime... I can't imagine Manny having that.

He's fast, but I know NC State looked at him at safety and didn't like it... I would guess this is why.


If NFL teams are looking at him at Safety... more power to him. I'm sure he'd be effective there. If he's gonna make a career, he's gonna be a 3rd and long pass rush DE, IMO

Quote :

"if u look at the sizes of DE's in teh nfl, they are lookin more and more like mario every year...julius peppers. jevon kearse for examples."

Mario and Peppers dwarf Kearse




Mario - 6'7" 295
Peppers - 6'7" 280
Kearse - 6'3" about 260?
Manny - 6'6" 260.... (Gopack still has his Junior weight... preseason he was about 265 or so)


[Edited on November 9, 2005 at 10:18 PM. Reason : sdfs]

11/9/2005 10:15:19 PM

dwarf is ... harsh ... jevon is a monster in his own right

11/9/2005 10:17:37 PM

^^not to sound like im not a state fan, but you cant honestly believe those numbers. mario is by no means anywhere near the size of peppers. and for manny, hes no 260 either.

[Edited on November 9, 2005 at 10:18 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2005 10:18:23 PM

I think Manny could be an OLB in the 3-4 ala Terrel Suggs

11/9/2005 10:19:50 PM

Mario was 297 at the beginning of the season... he plays between 285-295


Manny I believe was 260 preseason.... but he's probably dropped 8-10 pounds in the course of the season... so maybe 250.



Mario is every bit as big as peppers. Peppers is more muscle, Mario is more bulk

11/9/2005 10:20:31 PM

Yea but we signed a kid that is a freshman this year that they say is just like Lawson (i want so say its willie young not sure though) from what they say next year our D will be young but talent wise we will not drop off to much.

11/9/2005 10:20:31 PM

i dunno man, id still say mario's got a ways to go before he reaches peppers size.

11/9/2005 10:21:56 PM

D-Line is where you don't want the players to be young...


Remember when Mario & Co. were freshmen? We were #114 in the country in total defense.

DE is a lot of technique.... you don't want young guys on either line



It's hard to believe it... but if you put Mario beside Peppers they'd look very similar. Just as Peppers dwarfs everyone on the field... so does Mario. Peppers is more "beastly", but Mario is every bit as tall and filled out.

That's what makes pro scouts drool over Mario, despite his mediocre numbers. Scouts basically describe him as "Julius Peppers with more speed". He doesn't have the pass rush abilities and big game abilities as Peppers, but he's a much better run blocker at this point in his career than Pep was (Remember, Pep was in college 4 years... this is Mario's 3rd)

[Edited on November 9, 2005 at 10:25 PM. Reason : asdfsa]

11/9/2005 10:22:20 PM

You wanna talk bruising DEs? Talk about Mario.

11/9/2005 10:22:48 PM

11/9/2005 10:28:10 PM

Just to clarify, I'm in no way, shape, or form saying that Mario = or is better than Pep.


Pep didn't break out until his RS Junior year (4th year)..this is Mario's 3rd. The potential and physical abilities are there... it's more a matter of technique with Mario. He does have a long way to go on the pass rushing though

11/9/2005 10:31:21 PM

[quote]but he's a much better run blocker at this point in his career than Pep was [/qoute]

.... run stopper ?

11/9/2005 11:10:35 PM

Heh, yeah... brain fart


You know what I meant.


I dunno, I'm sure Mario would make a hell of an Offensive Tackle

11/9/2005 11:13:13 PM

WHY THE FUCK is someone gonna argue that Mario isnt near the size of peppers when he is the same fucking height and probably the same playing weight.

on another note...anyone notice that Mario doesnt hit really hard when he sacks the QB? It usually looks like he just wraps them up and pulls them down instead of smashing their backs to the turf. Part of it is that they know we're comming, so they are constantly manuvering to get away, but I really want to see him pound some shoulder pads into the dirt.

11/9/2005 11:16:29 PM

Might be deliberate. Think about the momentum--if you're barrelling into someone, and they maneuver out of the way, you either overshoot them or fall on your face.

If you just get close, grab them, and then use your weight to take them down, you run less risk of missing badly.

11/9/2005 11:23:58 PM

dave is the winner.


running fullspeed looks cool, but frequently backfires. I'd rather a deliberate drag down than a 50/50 truck/fuckup

11/9/2005 11:25:44 PM

haha yeah...He also traps QB's in the backfield a lot and forces the incompletion as opposed to missing the tackle and having them gain yards. Its all about technique, but it is just much more flashy to break some ribs.

11/9/2005 11:29:48 PM

Quote :

"pep didn't break out until his RS Junior year (4th year)..this is Mario's 3rd."

Pep actually had more sacks his sophomore year, his junior yr he had a big drought the second half of the season

11/9/2005 11:46:44 PM

it was funny as shit when that QB on fsu stiff armed mario for about 8 yards while running out of bounds.

11/10/2005 12:10:53 AM

yeah he was running away like a little girl

11/10/2005 12:31:12 AM

^^^true

Peppers was a beast in his Sophomore year. Something like 18 sacks that season.

Clay...Manny and Mario are just about the same size. Both are the same height, and both flirt with 300 in the offseason before playing at about 285.

Manny will play pass-rushing OLB in a 3-4 defense. There are a handful of teams that play the 3-4, and they are always looking for speedy, undersized DE's to use in their system.

[Edited on November 10, 2005 at 12:35 AM. Reason : 1]

11/10/2005 12:34:34 AM

our defense is pretty deep...although a lot of the younger talent may not have that much playing time it is definetely not the same as when Mario was a freshman. We have a lot of defensive talent on the bench right now that has been around and learned enough from the time spent on the team and in practice to step in and play well

11/10/2005 1:09:46 AM

Yeah, Willie Young comes to mind as a potential star at DE in a few years.

But next year our pass rush will drop off substantially. Hopefully it won't be a repeat of 2003

11/10/2005 1:12:58 AM

Watching Peppers while he played basketball...he always looked a lil chunky to me.

Lookin at Mario, I always thought the dude was ripped.

11/10/2005 1:22:50 AM

What ever happened to Chad Green? Still trying to play or what? And like someone said earlier with a lot of NFL teams going to the 3-4, Manny will be a good outside linebacker. Demarcus Ware for my Cowboys has been as good as any rookie in the NFL this year, and he played DE in college and now is OLB.

11/10/2005 2:05:22 AM

Chad Green is too dumb to get into NC State

He tried like 4 times in a row

11/10/2005 2:13:04 AM

^He is dumb then, as shown by plenty of the idiots on this website it isnt too hard.

11/10/2005 2:17:37 AM

Give up on Chad Green.... never gonna wear a Wolfpack jersey. You all realize he was going to be the heir to Mario's #9 jersey? (You remember Terrance Holt gave his #9 to Mario and told him "You'll be the next #9 to make some plays..or at least that's why I hear Mario's #9). From what I've heard, Mario was going to give it to Chad

Our recruiiting is probably going to hurt this season, so I have no idea who it would go to if he decides to continue the tradition

Quote :

"Manny and Mario are just about the same size. Both are the same height, and both flirt with 300 in the offseason before playing at about 285. "

Surely you mean Peppers and not Manny....?



[Edited on November 10, 2005 at 7:19 AM. Reason : sdfsd]

11/10/2005 7:11:33 AM

Quote :

"Something like 18 sacks that season"

Mario got 7 sacks in two games this season

sorry guys, but Mario is going to own Peppers in the NFL

11/10/2005 10:41:56 AM

Quote :

"yeah he was running away like a little girl"

he was white

not an nfl prospect

holding the ball

and got away


thats all im sayin

11/10/2005 10:52:50 AM

Peppers really didn't start to dominate until late in his 2nd & his 3rd season. It takes most linemen about that long until they start to play good, so I wouldn't expect Mario to dominate early either. As for Manny, I see him more like T. Davis on the Panthers. A great athlete, w/o a true position. I see him playing OLB though like a T. Suggs.

11/10/2005 11:06:39 AM

Quote :

"Surely you mean Peppers and not Manny....?"

oops...yeah, Peppers instead of Manny

11/10/2005 6:50:11 PM

im waiting for mario to return an interception for a touchdown

11/10/2005 6:53:06 PM

or run down a RB to avoid the TD.....

11/10/2005 9:07:45 PM

[Edited on November 11, 2005 at 2:50 AM. Reason : sdfkj]

11/11/2005 2:46:12 AM

Mario's away message words of wisdom:

Quote :

"Forget it all it'll never work so stay with what u do best cause ull never get hurt! Football is my life my 1 and only passion and the only thing I'm connected 2!"

GO PACK

11/11/2005 7:54:08 AM