RALEIGH - With two surgically repaired shoulders, a higher release point on his passes and better arm strength, N.C. State quarterback Daniel Evans understandably is eager to get into preseason camp.

"I feel good. I'm 100 percent," Evans said after a recent workout at the Murphy Center. "I'm doing all the lifting, all the throwing, doing everything,

"I feel better than I have in two years. I'm excited."

With 17 career starts, Evans is the Pack's most experienced quarterback. Entering his fifth season, the former Broughton star has thrown for 3,873 yards -- seventh-best in school history -- and 17 touchdowns, and is called the "incumbent" at his position by State coach Tom O'Brien.

But recurring shoulder problems have hampered Evans the past few years. His left shoulder would pop in and out -- a separation he first suffered in 2006. He played much of last season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, an injury from the 2007 spring game that he reaggravated last season against Florida State.

"I had to compensate a little bit," said Evans, who had 11 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions last year. "My delivery point definitely wasn't where it needed to be."

In the Pack's win over Virginia last season, Evans had a touchdown pass to wide receiver Donald Bowens that was more a sidearm sling than a throw.

"Daniel and I were watching game videos and we looked at each other like, 'Can you believe how low the arm was?' " said Johnny Evans, Daniel's father and a former State quarterback.

Adding injury to insult, Evans again hurt his left shoulder in the first half of Pack's last game, a 37-0 mauling by Maryland that left State 5-7 and cost the Wolfpack a bowl trip.

A few days later, Evans had surgery to repair the labrum -- cartilage in the shoulder joint that gives it stability. In January, he underwent surgery on his left shoulder.

A torn labrum isn't an uncommon injury in football. Quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints has had labral surgery. So, too, North Carolina's T.J. Yates.

But for Evans, it meant missing all of spring practice. It meant standing on the sideline with a football in his hands but being unable to throw it for the first time in his athletic career.

"I'd never had a serious injury," he said.

Evans watched as quarterback Russell Wilson, a redshirt freshman, threw the ball well and impressed. Justin Burke, a redshirt sophomore, had a strong spring game. Harrison Beck, a junior who started four games last year, had his moments.

Also observing at times was Mike Glennon, the highly recruited quarterback out of Virginia. Although a true freshman, Glennon will be in the mix when practice begins, O'Brien said.

But Evans doesn't believe the missed spring work was costly.

"I sat in all the meetings," he said. "Sure, I'd love to have the [repetitions] in practice, but I'm getting that this summer, going out and throwing with the guys.

"I mean, I'm better now than I was at the beginning of last season from the sheer physical standpoint. So I'm not behind at all. If anything, I'm ahead.

"It's kind of weird. I'm ahead despite missing the spring."

Evans' rehabilitation, under the watch of head football trainer Jamey Coll, went smoothly and "by the book," Johnny Evans said.

"I remember in mid-March when Jamey first let Daniel lift the ball over his shoulder," Johnny said. "All he could do is shot-put it five yards."

Call it a start. By May, Evans had good velocity on 40-yard passes although restricted by throw counts. Finally, he was completely cleared by Coll.

"He's back throwing over the top again," Johnny Evans said.

A year ago, Evans beat out Beck and Burke in fall camp and started the season opener against Central Florida. This year, there's a gaggle of guys and O'Brien said a starter may not be named until a few days before the Pack's Aug. 28 opener at South Carolina.

"I'm used to competing for the job," Evans said. "I've done it for four years."

Evans, who has his degree in business, said he never considered giving up his fifth year. Not after that 37-0 loss, he said, that remains a motivating factor for him and his teammates.

"We would have liked to have gone to a bowl and used that as a springboard, but we can use that kind of a loss as a springboard, also," he said. "I'm expecting a lot this year. We definitely have the talent. I think it's going to be fun."