The question brought a smile to Mike Glennon, but also some hesitation. Asked to name the specific parts of his game that he wanted to address during N.C. State’s spring football practices, the Wolfpack’s returning quarterback paused and said, “I don’t want to give away any of my weaknesses.”

N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien, though, had no problem identifying where he wanted to see Glennon improve.

“Fundamentals,” O’Brien said after the Wolfpack’s practice Thursday. “I think his feet, his lower body. Getting his feet set. The ball came out much quicker as (last) season went on. It came out very quick in the bowl game – make more decisive in his reads.

“So those are all things that fundamentally he can do much better.”

During his first season as the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback, Glennon passed for 3,054 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also threw 12 interceptions.

He entered the spring with a list of things about his game that he wanted to improve, even if he didn’t necessarily want to identify those weaknesses.

“Just little things, really,” Glennon said, “that I went back and watched (from last season).”

A year ago around this time, O’Brien was preparing his team for life after Russell Wilson, whose desire to miss spring practice to continue his pursuit of a baseball career led to his departure from N.C. State. With Wilson gone, Glennon stepped into the starting quarterback job.

He reflected on Thursday about how far he has come between then and now.

“I feel very comfortable,” Glennon said. “I feel like I’m the leader of this offense, the leader of the team … I’m much more confident. I know what I’m capable of doing, and I also know the sky’s the limit – that I can be that much better.”

Notes

N.C. State will scrimmage for the first time this spring on Saturday, and O’Brien is especially eager to evaluate his unproven, inexperienced linebackers.

Two of the Wolfpack’s top four tacklers a season ago were linebackers Audie Cole and Terrell Manning. Cole was a senior and Manning, a junior, left school early to enter the NFL draft. In addition to those departures, junior D.J. Green will sit out the 2012 season after taking a banned substance.

Rising fifth-year senior Sterling Lucas and sophomore Brandon Pittman are among those who are likely to be counted on to fill the void at linebacker.

“I think Saturday will give us a little better indication,” O’Brien said when asked how much progress the linebackers had been making. “It’s a position that, as I equate, was like our kicking situation last spring, where we had nobody that had played. So I think they’re making progress, but we’ll know better after Saturday if we’ve made any at all.”

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