NC State’s Dave Doeren talks to the media before the Spring Game

Yesterday NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media before Saturday’s Kay Yow Spring Game. You can watch what he had to say in full here, but you will find a BULLETED breakdown below.

• Spring game will be live. Red – offense. White – defense. First half will be normal play clock. First two punt returns will be live, but will be fair caught after that. Field goals live.
• Field goals won’t be rushed, but they will be on the line with hands up, with the crowd making noise.
• Freshman FG kicker Chris Dunn has kicked in Carter-Finley with the team three times prior to Spring Game.
• Dunn’s been outstanding in Spring. Same guy everyday. Routine guy. Kickers have to be.
• Will still be aggressive on 4th and short, but with a reliable kicker you can be smart and be in position on 3rd down when you know you’re gonna get three points if it’s not there.
• Still want to be balanced on offense this year. Lot depends on yards after the catch. Fall camp will tell a lot about the RB position because Reggie Gallaspy has been out most of Spring. Ricky Person’s been limited because of his hand. Position has a lot of growth still. Need to be able to run if we want to win, especially at end of game.
• Gallaspy is doing ok. Can’t do all the running, so that hurts cardio-wise. Will be good by summer and have 2-3 months.
• Gallaspy & Person won’t play Saturday.
• Obviously lost 4 incredible defensive lineman. We won’t be the same, but these guys have been waiting for this opportunity. Have to make up production in other ways. Linebackers have made a lot of plays this Spring. Twitchy guys. Good blitzers. May have to come up with other ways to get to the quarterback if we can’t use a true 4-man rush, but a lot of time before we get to that point.
• DT’s Eundraus Bryant & Shug Frazier haven’t been able to play this Spring. Resulted in great opportunities for Grant Gibson and Larrell Murchison. Ton of reps. Same for Freshman Joseph Boletepeli.
• RS FR DE Kante Ibrahim has had to play inside this Spring because of depth. Been good for him. Makes him tough going against our O-line with double-teams, weighing around 250. Has good length and fundamentals, but needs to get stronger.
• RS FR DE Xavier Lyas has mase athletic plays, but is still undersized (6’4″/236). Needs to gain weight.
• JC transfer DE Joe Babros has gotten better. Was thinking at first, but starting to see his athleticism. Really strong for his size.
• CB Markel Valdez isn’t 100% healthy yet.
• Former WR Maurice Trowell has seen a lot of action with the 1’s at cornerback. You’ll see him and Nick McCloud with the 1’s and Vernon Grier, Chris Ingram, and De’Von Graves with the 2’s.
• Linebackers have probably made the biggest jump. Louis Acceus and Isaiah Moore have been rotating with the 1’s. They can see and see. I think Moore is a little ahead mentally right now.