NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after yesterdays practice prior to the Wolfpack’s matchup against Texas Tech tomorrow night. Here’s what he had to say:

• The guy’s are excited…excited to play a night game at home…excited to play against a Big 12 opponent that has the same record as we do.
• Of the 11 starters on defense, 10 of them are either Seniors or Graduates.
  • They’re very old and experienced.
  • They’re long.
  • Coach McGuire’s done a great job with these guys, but he inherited some nice body types.
  • Their Defensive Line’s got a lot of guys that they can play and rotate.
  • Their Linebackers are fast.
  • Both corners are over 6’2″.
• Our 3-3-5 defensive scheme allows you to do more things in coverage because, when you play some of these up-tempo, speed teams, there’s more plays in space.
  • Allows you to get more bodies there faster to make those plays and still be able to defend the run game as you’ve seen with our statistics on defense.
  • Prior to switching to the 3-3-5, we’d be 1st or 2nd in the league in rushing defense and 8th or 9th in pass defense, not because we didn’t have good corners, but because they were on their own a lot.
  • In this defense, you have the ability to help outside when there’s matchups you’re worried about. It gives you the ability to stop somebody not just with a one-on-one matchup.”
• Teshaun Smith is a 5th-year player, so to have a guy like him is great, but the guys you see listed on our depth chart as a one or a two are the guys we rotate (Battle, Pitts & White).
  • We were fortunate last week to get the 3’s in as well, so I don’t really look at that as a normal rotation.
• I look at the guys we’re playing in the 2-deep, and when you have the ability and competition at practice like we do where Jakeen Harris gets to go in and spell Tanner Ingle and Devan Boykin gets to go in and spell Cyrus Fagan, those things help your defense.
• You see Tim McKay coming in, and he’s playing his butt off right now.
  • He’s helping the offensive line. He’s making Bryson Speas practice harder because he’s playing so well.
  • Depth creates multiple things. It gives you rest, but it also creates competition in practice.
• Obviously, it’s a non-conference game, so win or lose, it’s not going to dictate the ACC Championship for us, but it does in the eyes of the voters as you’re trying to move yourself up in the rankings.
  • Games like this are valuable, and it’s good for our league, and we can lead the conference.
  • Duke beat Northwestern, a Big 10 matchup. Those things are good for our league when we can get those things done on the field.
• When Coach McGuire got hired into the job, I hit him up right away, congratulating him.
  • Earlier this week, he texted me, ‘Hey, man. Looking forward to seeing you.’ I did the same back. He’s a great guy.
  • Both of us come from high school level football to start. There’s a lot of mutual respect.
  • I was fortunate enough to recruit his high school in the early stages of my college career.
    • I offered his first Division-I athlete, and he was one of the 1st Division I players to commit to me as a full-time coach.
  • It was a neat relationship, how it formed, and the fact we’ve been able to carry it forward for 25 years.