Senior offensive guard Tony Adams ready to face South Carolina

Senior right guard Tony Adams is the most experienced player on the NC State football roster. He has started 35 games since he debuted as a true freshman in 2014, starting nine contests during that rookie season.

With each year, Adams seems to be getting better. He had 34 knockdown blocks last fall and did not allow a sack. That is part of the reason why Adams is on the preseason watch list for the Outland Trophy given to college football’s best lineman and nearly made preseason first-team All-ACC by the league’s sportswriters.

The 6-foot-2, 315-pounder does not seem caught up in any preseason hype, however. If anything, his motivation to start strong could be more personal. The Charlotte native is embracing the chance to open the campaign in his native city against SEC rival South Carolina.

“My brother-in-law is a big South Carolina fan,” Adams explained. “And I lived with him for like three years, so he’s always talking smack about it to me.”

Adams has four tickets at his disposal to give to family and friends for the game, but he is hoping for more.

“I am a senior, so hopefully some young bucks can give me some,” he noted. “I am not going to take it from them.”

Adams and his fellow offensive linemen feel prepared to put on a quality performance in front of everyone who will be gathering at Bank of America Stadium. The unit returns four full-time starters plus redshirt junior Terronne Prescod, who started three games at right tackle a season ago and is listed first-team at left guard on the depth chart. Adams called that returning experience “monumental” for the line.

It also helps, he added, that they have more than game experience due to their practices against NC State’s own strong defensive line.

“We are a lot more physical, we have a lot more mental toughness,” Adams said. “We want to carry them to the point you can put it on our backs.”

Thus when Adams takes the field, he will not lack in confidence that at the end of the day he can start talking his own smack to his brother-in-law. As a veteran of 38 total career games, Adams will not have a sense of concern.

“It’s anxiety,” he said. “You just want to go out there and hit somebody else, and it’s a really good opportunity to play an SEC team that’s had a really good history.”