N.C. State's 1st scrimmage Wednesday

N.C. State players eager to establish themselves high on the depth chart will have a big opportunity Wednesday evening during the team’s first preseason intrasquad scrimmage.

“Scrimmages weigh a little bit more (than practices), because you’re out there, you’re by yourself,” said coach Tom O’Brien. “There’s no coaches. You’ve got to make plays. Nobody’s telling you what to do or how to get lined up. It’s exam time when you go into the stadium.”

The scrimmage will be closed to the public and the media, but N.C. State’s sports information staff will release statistics after the scrimmage.

O’Brien expects to scrimmage the first-team offense against the first-team defense, the second-team offense against the second-team defense, and then try different combinations.

He was asked if all five quarterbacks would get an equal number of snaps.“We would hope,” he said. “You never can tell, but we’ll see how it works out.”

Daniel Evans, Harrison Beck, Justin Burke, Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon are competing for the starting quarterback job.

During Tuesday’s practice, starting wide receiver Donald Bowens was wearing a jersey with a red cross signifying an injured player. O’Brien declined to say whether Bowens was injured and said he won’t talk about injuries until the season starts.

“It’s summer practice,” O’Brien said. “It’s not worth talking about.”

O’Brien did say that if a player suffers a season-ending injury during the preseason, he will inform the media. – Ken Tysiac