VIDEO: Dave Doeren’s Presser Before Meet the Pack Day (BULLETED)

Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media today before Meet the Pack Day. The video is ABOVE, and a Bulleted breakdown is BELOW.

• Nine practices and one scrimmage in.
• There’s a lot of really, really good chemistry on this football team.
• Lot of guys trying to prove themselves right now. So it’s been hungry at practice. It’s been fun.
• Our secondary right now is playing way above where it was a year ago at this time. Good depth in that group.
• It’s probably as good a freshman offensive line group as I’ve been apart.
• Wide Receiver Tabari Hines (Graduate Transfer) is going to be a great addition. He brings something else to the table. Knew how good a player he was because of what he did to us (At Wake Forest). He’s consistent. He competes. He doesn’t get to do it anymore after this year, if he doesn’t have a great season, and for an undersized guy, they got to play out of this world to get another shot. Really hungry. Very, very football smart. He’s learned every position in our offense wide receiver- wise. He can play X, Z and slot. Not everybody can do that.
• True Freshman Wide Receiver Keyon Lesane has had a really had a good camp.
• QB evaluation, you start with completion rate, touchdown to interceptions, and then you’re looking at drives: getting first downs, keeping us on the field, creating touchdowns instead of field goals. Also, who’s running the system the way it should, delivering the ball to where it should go.
• Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback Matt McKay’s very vocal with his teammates. Wouldn’t say he’s a reserved guy. Reminds me of Jacoby leadership-wise. He’s not going to brag. He’s going to talk more about the guys around him. He says stuff when he needs to say it. He motivates guys in his own way. He’s definitely a servant leader. He’s very confident, but not a cheerleader.
• One of my favorite things to do is to give a walk-on a scholarship, because they’ve earned it. They come here with a lot of work to do. Not glamorous work. Seth Williams is a guy that has impressed everybody. Had a really good day yesterday. Starting now on a couple special teams. No matter what we asked him to do, he’s going to go do it as hard as he can.
• Tabari Hines gives us another option at Punt Return with Thayer (Thomas). Thayer’s more confident than he was a year ago. But also Keyon (Lesane) is a guy that’s a dynamic guy back there, and Tabari has game experience doing that. Haven’t figured out who the guy is on Kickoff Return yet, but two of the options are Tabari and Keyon.
• Freshman Offensive Tackle Zonovan Knight has improved a lot. Very raw, which we expected. Multi-sport guy from a really small school. Weight room was a shock. Came into Fall camp in a much better place than he did going into Spring football. Sprained his ankle, dealing with that right now. Really like how much he’s improved in the short time he’s been here.
• The players look up to him (Junior Receiver Emeka Emezie). They really do because of how hard he works and how serious it is to him. When he talks, they listen.
• Redshirt Freshman Wide Receiver Devin Carter’s having a good camp. Emeka and CJ Riley have worked hard on him in the offseason to get him in there, and he’s improved a lot.
• Bunch of Linebackers have impressed: Drake Thomas (Freshman), Louis Acceus (Junior), Isaiah Moore (Redshirt Sophomore), Brock Miller (Redshirt Junior), Peyton Wilson (Redshirt Freshman) and CJ Hart (RS Freshman) are playing good. Our speed at that positions the best we’ve had across the board.
  • CJ has improved a ton. Has played Will and Mike. Able to handle a lot mentally.
  • It’s great seeing Peyton Wilson on the field right now. He’s a very, very good football player. Trying to knock the rust off and learn all the things that go into playing in our system. He’s making a lot of plays.
• Freshman Running Back Jordan Houston has bounced back. Had a good scrimmage. Definitely gonna be a guy that can help us.
• Freshman Running Back Delbert Mimms is getting better.
• Freshman Running Back Zonovan Knight didn’t really start camp well, but has picked it back up. Good scrimmage yesterday.
• It’s going to be a deal by committee probably for a while with them being so young. Even Trent (Pennix) and Ricky (Person) are young. It’s nice having that depth.
• I think the first thing for NC State to be a good NC State is to not beat NC State, you know, and that’s something I really, really believe in.
• There’s going to be combat penalties where you’re straining and you hold a guy and they call it. That’s going to happen in football. The ones you can’t have are the pre-snap mental things and the post-snap emotional things. We did not do well in that area yesterday in our scrimmage. We had way too many. So an area we got to get better.
• It’s a good competition right now between Redshirt Sophomore Trent Gill and Redshirt Sophomore Mackenzie Morgan at Punter. Two really good options. Excited about both of them to be honest with you. Got to see where it goes.
  • Trent has done a great job in camp with kickoff too. Hit three yesterday that were 7, 8, 9 yards deep in the end zone.

• In some areas, the defense is ahead of the offense. Definitely less thinking going on on that side of the ball. Playing fast on defense right now, which is what you expect.