Running Back Jordan Waters represented NC State at the 2024 ACC Kickoff this morning. Here’s a TRANSCRIPT of his press conference.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jordan.

Q. You transferred in from Duke. Can you share a little bit about your transition into the Wolf Pack.

JORDAN WATERS: That transition was great. Everybody welcomed me with open arms. There was no ego. Everybody know what we came to do. Everybody is great. I love to be here. I’m excited, I’m happy and blessed.

Q. You were with one family for so long, how have you approached being the new guy in the new family? JORDAN WATERS: Just the same way I did that one. Like I said, everybody welcomed me with open arms. Great coaches, great staff. Nobody treated me differently because I come down the road.

Coach D welcomed me. We went fishing a couple times. I beat him in fishing. So it’s been fun.

Q. Coming into this program and working with the offensive coordinator, what has that been like for you, especially from a guy that’s been at so many other staffs?

JORDAN WATERS: It’s been fun. When I first got here, he showed me all the film of him lining running backs up in the slot, wideout. I feel like I fit right in. I feel like I can play all three downs, catch the ball, anything. I feel like I can fit right in.

Q. There’s a history at NC State of some strong running backs. What does that mean to be able to carry that torch? How would you like to be remembered?

JORDAN WATERS: I got one more year and I just want to be remembered as a great teammate. I do want to come here, play some good ball, rush for a lot of yards, just come in and be a good person, be the best teammate I could, and be remembered as a great person.

Q. In high school you played running back, wide receiver and quarterback, is that correct?

JORDAN WATERS: Correct.

Q. What is it about the running back position that you love so much compared to the other two?

JORDAN WATERS: It’s easy for me to get the ball (smiling). All you got to do is turn around…

It’s fun. I came in as a safety. That wasn’t for me. I went to running back. All I got to do is go out there and run and not get hit – try not to get hit.

Defensive End Davin Vann represented NC State at the 2024 ACC Kickoff this morning. Here’s a TRANSCRIPT of his press conference.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Davin.

Q. How much are you specifically looking forward to stepping up as a leader on defensive side of the ball?

DAVIN VANN: I’m looking forward to it a lot. I had some great guys in front of me coming up, Drake, Payton, Zai, all those guys. They taught me a lot in the four years I’ve been here.

I’m looking forward to it, excited to take charge and be the leader of the defense.

Q. You were awarded the No. 1 jersey. Coach Doeren said because you play with one speed. What speed is that?

DAVIN VANN: 100%, 100%. That’s something Coach Thunder has helped instill in me. Coach Gibby, too. Just playing 100%, giving it all you got every time you go out there. That’s my one speed.

Q. You leave the state three times. How important is that, to play most of your games within the state of North Carolina this season?

DAVIN VANN: That’s real important. We have a great fan base. Wolfpack Nation helps us a lot in games. They bring the energy and stuff like that.

I think playing most of our games in state is a really good opportunity for us and we’re going to enjoy every moment of it.

Q. You were a wrestler in high school. How does your wrestling background help you in football?

DAVIN VANN: It helps me a lot. Wrestling has taught me a lot about self-discipline, body leverage, control, things like that. It’s helped take my game to the next level.

Originally I didn’t really want to wrestle, but my mom forced me to. I’m appreciative of that. But yeah, it’s helped me a lot, for sure.

Q. The video, that decision for you to come back, just that moment, bring me into that, how much fun that was to do with your family, and also the why of doing that. When we hear from NC State, there’s something about when you’re there, you stay.

DAVIN VANN: There was a lot of things that I wanted to work on personally. Coach Doeren has helped me a lot with those things mentally, emotionally and physically as well. It was more the mental, emotional part that was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to stay. I also felt like there was a lot of unfinished business that I had to wrap up before I left.

Those were kind of the biggest factors in why I stayed.

Q. There’s been a lot of talk this off-season about the revamped offense. On the defensive side of the football, are you taking that personally?

DAVIN VANN: Of course, we take it a little bit personally. It’s understandable. A lot of people think that ’cause we lost Payton we lost our whole defense. That’s definitely not the case.

The transfer portal has helped play a really big role in that. We have some dawgs that are ready to go out there and play. Our defense is going to be really good.

Q. You spoke about family. You have your younger brother on campus. Do you give him his space? Do you hang out a whole lot?

DAVIN VANN: Yeah, we see each other every day, of course in the weight room and stuff. We love hanging out outside of football. Having my little brother at NC State with me takes the aspect of brotherhood to a whole ‘nother level. I enjoy being a part of his college journey and I really enjoy having him as part of mine.

Quarterback Grayson McCall represented NC State at the 2024 ACC Kickoff this morning. Here’s a TRANSCRIPT of his press conference.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Grayson.

Q. Talk about what it’s like being in a new program, your last year of eligibility, you’re being tasked as a leader.

GRAYSON McCALL: It’s refreshing to be in a new spot. Unbelievable opportunity for me to put on the red and black and represent NC State.

First of all, just extremely excited for the opportunity that Coach Doeren has given me. As an older guy, I know that’s my responsibility, especially as the quarterback, is to lead the guys, set the example, coming every day, showing them how it’s done.

The transition was really smooth. Those guys showed me how we do it in Raleigh. Now that I know the standard, now it’s my expectation and my job, my responsibility to come in every day and lead the guys. That starts obviously with my actions. Being more vocal on the field, leading those guys in the right direction every day.

Q. The in-helmet communication, that being a part of this, how much have you prepared for that ahead of fall camp? How much is that an emphasis?

GRAYSON McCALL: It was something that we implemented in the spring. We were able to get that going. Some of that’s great. I think it’s about time that college football did that.

Obviously as a quarterback, it makes my job a lot easier. I know for play callers and things like that, it kind of simplifies it for us. It was awesome. You have hiccups with the mics and things like that on a day-to-day basis. Just like anything, the more you use it, the better you’ll get with it.

It was awesome to do it for the first time. Like I said, kind of simplifies things for me. We’re able to communicate quicker and better.

It was awesome. Looking forward to using it in the fall.

Q. Was there a moment or conversation with a player coach that convinced you that State was a place for you to be?

GRAYSON McCALL: On my visit, walking into the place, kind of overwhelmed with the facilities. As I got there and able to talk to Coach Doeren, Coach Roper, Coach Anae, and meet some of the guys, it’s an unbelievable place to be.

The culture is extremely strong. Coach Doeren has been there for obviously over 10 years. The standard that he’s set in place, the play style that the football team has week in, week out, the toughness and the grit, the blue-collar mentality, the chip on their shoulder, that’s been me my whole career.

I think it’s a perfect fit, a perfect mold for me to go in there and get the job done. It’s an awesome, unbelievable transition. Really grateful for the opportunity to be the quarterback at NC State.

Q. I see the hair starting to come back. Will the mullet be in full force this season?

GRAYSON McCALL: It’s coming, baby. It’s coming. I showed it to Raleigh with the buzz cut. I got a lot of mullet requests. I’m ready to let this thing go.

Q. When you committed to Coastal Carolina, they were in their second year as an FBS program. This year you’re a starter in a power conference team. Can you describe that journey?

GRAYSON McCALL: God works in mysterious ways. God is so good. Kind of surreal for me being here at ACC Media Day going into year six as the quarterback at NC State.

It’s been an unbelievable journey, a lot of ups, a few downs. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Excited for this upcoming year. Just so grateful. Every day I walk in the building with a smile on my face because I am truly grateful to be in Raleigh with the guys.

I wouldn’t trade my time at Coastal Carolina for anything. It made me who I am. I love that place, and I’m looking forward and excited to be in Raleigh with NC State.

Q. You went into it a little bit of your relationship with coach. You said being around the guys, something sold you. To know there’s one more ride, opportunity this season for you, what is it about the culture of this team that you felt had to be a place to spend the last year?

GRAYSON McCALL: The best football teams I’ve been on are player-led teams. You get that vibe when you walk into the building. You have guys like Davin Vann, players that have been there a long time that have put in the work, set the standard, continue to build on it year in, year out.

Sitting down talking to the guys, I know everybody says it, but it truly is a family identity in that building. The guys love each other. It’s a special place to be.

Like coach said, he’s around great staff, grit players. He loves doing what he do. I’m the same exact way. You walk in that building, it’s a good time to be there.

It’s exciting to be in there with the guys. I mean, whenever I walked in, walked out of my visit, I knew that was the place for me. A lot of buzz in Raleigh right now with the men’s and women’s basketball team, baseball. A lot of energy. A lot of support from the fans in the community.

Ready to get this thing rolling, take this momentum and keep it going, so…

The 2024 ACC Kickoff has been going on this week, and this morning NC State finally took the stage. Here’s a video of Head Coach Dave Doeren’s Press Conference, with a Transcript underneath.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Doeren.

Q. It seems like you have been super active in the transfer portal. How much of a role has the transfer portal played for you and your program?

DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, I think year to year for us it’s just another method of adding talent, adding the key ingredients to the roster. It’s all based on need, where you may have a void.

In the past, pre portal, you would look into the junior college areas, sometimes find a transfer that was a grad to fill a spot where maybe you had an injury or player left early to go to the NFL.

Obviously, as you know, now there’s outflow and inflow coming in at different times differently than there ever has been.

For us, it’s assessing your roster. It’s never ending, changes weekly on kind of where you’re at based on the health of what’s going on, who’s coming back, where you think you need to be better. Just getting into last season and how all this stuff came together, I mean, we’ve revamped our recruiting office two years ago. Once this stuff started, felt like we were chasing our tails a little bit.

Came up with a plan based on the NFL model on how they assess, evaluate. Once players are deemed players they would want on their rosters, how do they go about the process. Then integrating that into our program.

Have a great recruiting staff. It was regionally based. You look at Jordan and Grayson, two guys that chose to move on from their schools. They were guys that are in-state players to us, guys I knew would have personal value in staying home and doing something with the team that has the largest alumni base in the state.

Sometimes things just kind of click. There was a bunch of guys in this cycle that wanted to come back to the state. Noah Rogers, Daylan Smothers, several guys from Raleigh or North Carolina that left and wanted to return back closer to their families and be a part of our program. We were able to get the right type of guys.

That’s the biggest thing. When you want talent, that’s one thing. Being here 12 years now, I’m not going to take a risk on the culture with that talent. You have to find guys that fit what we’re all about. It’s earned, not given. It’s guys that want to work, enjoy the brotherhood of the game, that are willing to sacrifice for the cause.

We were blessed this year. We had a bunch of really good players that fit kind of the design of what we were doing, that fit returning players as well. Guys like Davin that have helped build this program, we don’t want to sacrifice all the hard work of the players that have been here for a guy that’s coming in for a year. They needed to understand they were joining something, and in that helping them to continue to grow what we do and increase what we’re doing.

We’re very pleased. Obviously two of the guys are here. The team is pretty mixed if you look at that recruiting class. There’s still a great emphasis on high school recruiting, as well.

Q. These last couple years your team has talked about wanting to be different, doing things that take this program to the next level. What have you seen from your guys this year that might prove that they are different?

DAVE DOEREN: Well, we’re about to hit the grass on Wednesday. I think every day we’re out there it’s a measuring stick, it is. We’re one of five programs over the last four years that have won eight or more games in college football. We’ve sustained a level of competitive greatness that not many people have been able to do.

With that being said, we want to win a championship. So different is that. It’s taken the program from the second most wins since 2020 to winning the league. That is different.

What we did last year and the year before and the year before is good. Winning nine games is good. We don’t want to be good, we want to be the best at what we do. These guys understand that. We’ve talked a lot about what it looks like to be the best and how do we do that, using the voice of the players to describe that. What does it not look like? What do we need to stay 8-8 from, safeguard our program there?

There’s been a lot of discussion, a lot of hard work by these guys and our staff as we evaluate our schemes to utilize the roster talent, to utilize the coaching talent that we have, to be integrated together.

Each day it’s really a challenge. You go out there day by day trying to be better than we were. A year ago Wednesday when we started camp, that’s a measuring stick to when we start camp this Wednesday. It’s everything. It’s how the grades come in from the summer, what Thunder says about the summer workouts, what Justin Smith says about the guys in the training room, in the nutrition area, ask how the guys are doing.

You’re always looking for signs of improvement and signs where we need to call this up, talk about this, we’re better than this. Just holding each other accountable to what we want. We want to be elite.

That means everything that we do, can’t cut corners. It’s going to be something that we push forward together.

Q. The last few years the running game hasn’t quite been there for this offense. You get a guy like Jordan Waters out of the portal. How much better does that make this run game?

DAVE DOEREN: Jordan is going to help us in the run game, for sure. The whole offense in general, it always starts with what is the quarterback going to do, right? We feel great about what Grayson can do. Then the offensive line, the blocking schemes that those guys are good at, the depth that you have there. How the tight end plays into that game.

Blocking at the perimeter is critical. There’s no doubt being balanced on offense is something that you know I like. At the same time we’re going to play to our strengths.

To answer that question today, we need to get on the grass, go through training camp, see where we’re at. I feel good about not just Jordan but the running back room in general. It’s a great room. There’s good leadership but there’s depth. There’s competition and the guys are working hard. Jordan has done a really nice job showing them what it looks like coming back from the season he had last year. You have young guys below him.

That’s part of your job as an older player, this is what it looks like, this is what it doesn’t look like, holding those guys to a standard.

I know coach and I and the staff on offense, offensive football has changed a lot, you guys know that, with the rule changes, the linemen down the field, the RPOs, tempo.

Now you have another change, sideline communication, which allows our coaches to speak to these guys in the huddle on the field. You’re going to see another evolution how to plays into offensive football this fall which hasn’t been talked about a lot.

I’m excited to see how that does things for us and how we can take advantage of what those rules bring. I think for Grayson and for any quarterback, he would tell you having a run game helps, it changes the coverages you’re throwing the ball against. It does. If they’re worried about what’s going on with the handoffs and pressure we can put on people not just with the runs but the RPOs behind them, it opens up a lot of things.

When you’re talking about getting one-on-one coverage with the receivers we now have, obviously KC coming back, Dacari Collins came on in the spring, the way we’ve seen Wesley Grimes and Noah Rogers coming in from the transfer portal, the weapons for him are different out there. It plays into the entire thing.

Not that you just call plays where you’re taking what they give, but sometimes you are. When you can spread the ball around to different people, it just opens up things and creates a different pressure system on the defensive coordinator. That’s one of the things that I really like about football. Trying to create chaos on the other side of the ball.

If you’re on offense, defense, whatever that is, let’s make their jobs really hard.

Q. Looking at the fact that you’ve spent a lot of time within the ACC, you’ve seen change, new institutions come in. We see accomplish greatness. When you look at this conference throughout, how would you define it, who is coming in, what this looks like?

DAVE DOEREN: I think maximizing the gift that God gave you, to me. One of the tenets, one of the standards of our program is no underachievement allowed. That’s maximizing the opportunity you have as a person. Accomplishing greatness is that. When you go to bed and lay your head down, did you do everything you could that day to be the best version of yourself? If I get enough coaches and players to do that on a daily basis compared to those we compete against, the score ends up being the consequence of those actions.

What does greatness look like for NC State? We want to hold that trophy up at the end of the year. Day in, day out, it’s about maximizing the gift. You expect to wake up every day, you expect for things to be a certain way. We all know that’s not reality. Every day we get is a blessing.

Taking advantage of that blessing is something that the older I get, the more that I value. I do. Really the relationships and the gratitude I have for the staff that I get to work with, for the players that I get to coach, I mean, I got a great job. I got great guys to work with. I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful that these guys are here, getting ready to go to work, and the work they put in this summer.

They know it’s going to be hard. I look forward to that with them. When you talk about accomplishing greatness, it’s not something you can define in one sentence. Football seasons are crazy. The emotional swings that take place day to day, minute to minute, the amount of things that happen over the course of the year, how fast it goes, within that million things that goes on.

It’s going to be a fun journey with these guys (smiling). Just really thankful for the opportunity to do this with them, and looking forward to where it goes.