Alim McNeil After UVA: BULLETED

Junior Nose Tackle Alim McNeil met with the media after NC State’s 38-21 victory over UVA. McNeil intercepted a ball, and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown to put the game out of reach. You can watch it here, or check out the BULLETED breakdown below.

Defense getting more confident…

• Oh yeah, absolutely.
• We’re nowhere near where we want to be, obviously, but as each week goes, we are growing better and better together.
• Once we reach our peak where we want to be, it’s going to be scary.
• Y’all are definitely seeing us become one of those top-tier defenses.

Where the Defensive Swagger is coming from…

• Practice. The way we play is the way we practice. It’s the same stuff.
• We had the dog bone and stuff like that today.
• That swagger is what brings fun to the game.
  • We’re always going to play with that.
  • You’re never going to see us without that.

Goal-Line Stand…

• When you’ve got somebody like Joshua Harris, you just kind of expect it.
  • I don’t think anyone in the country can move Joshua out of the way by themselves.
  • We know they’re not going to run it slam up the middle, so they’re going to try to bounce it out.
• We’ve got big ends in there.
• I was at end, Savion Jackson was the other end.
• We had no problem trying to get through the B gaps and the tackles.
• When you’ve got somebody like Joshua in there, the confidence level is through the roof.
• For the defense, it’s a pride thing for us.
  • They are 1 yard from in and they are a college football offense and they can’t score on us. That’s a pride thing.
• It gives energy to the team when we get a 4th-and-goal stop.
  • The offense comes out firing and blazing just like we were when we were on the field. The energy transfers over.

Pick-6…

• It was crazy.
• I had told coach Gibson in the 2nd quarter right before going into halftime, ‘when we come back, I’m going to catch a pick six.’
  • I was just talking crazy. That’s exactly what happened.
  • I was like ‘did this really just happen?’
  • I was celebrating in the end zone like ‘that just happened.’ It was fun.
• I was glad I was able to tip the ball, add some points to the scoreboard and help contribute to the win.
• I didn’t really sense a pick me up type deal.
  • The offense, I knew they were going to get going.
  • I wasn’t too worried about them getting their energy back. I knew our offense was going to score, regardless, but I was just glad I could contribute to the win.
• I think it was huge. The sideline for Virginia, we could notice it, they were kind of down for a little bit.
  • When you see that in a team, that’s when you attack. That’s when you start going forward, and that’s exactly what we did.