Dave Doeren Recaps VMI Win at Weekly Press Conference

NC State head coach Dave Doeren recapped the Wolfpack’s 45-7 win over VMI at his weekly press conference yesterday. Here’s a bulleted breakdown.

• 4 drives over 12 plays.
  • 17-play drive, and it’s hard to sustain drives like that.
• 24 pancake blocks
• 2 drops, both catchable balls.
• Brennan Armstrong really operated well.
• Good to see Michael Allen and Kendrick Raphael get going in a regular part of the game in the run game.
  • Delbert Mimms continues to be a force in short yardage and goal line for us.
• Lyndon Cooper came in and played center after the 1st series for the entire game until the end.
  • He did a tremendous job. He was our player of the game on offense. He graded out at 99 percent in his first real game playing that much at that position.
  • I was excited last year when he started getting reps behind Grant Gibson.
• Jacarrius Peak really helped the run game as well.
  • He’s a guy that we look at as one of our future starters.
  • He’s moved and played some tight end. He’s also playing some tackle.
• Gave up a sack, one that we shouldn’t have given up.
• Robert Kennedy scored a touchdown. That was a great play.
  • He also had a nice sack on a blitz later in the game.
• Played really well on 3rd down.
• Had 4 penalties on defense.
  • One was an offsides by Travali Price that ended up negating an interception by Bishop Fitzgerald, so that was disappointing.
  • Two Defensive Pass Interferences…those will be good teachable moments for Brandon Cisse.
• On the explosive pass we gave up, we had poor eyes on a deep ball.
  • It’s something that we’ve got to work really hard on, and Terrente Hinton will improve from that play.
• Had one run that we misfit, and it ended being an explosive run.
• Return game has been very good for us.
  • Julian Gray had 2 great returns.
  • Jalen Coit continues to average 10 yards per return.
• Great pinned punt by Caden Noonkester, and Bradley Rozner did a tremendous job downing it inside the 10.
• Brayden Narveson made his only field goal attempt, and it was great to get Kanoah Vinesett in at the end to make his 1st extra point.
• Had 2 special teams penalties, both technique-oriented that we have to work on.
• Sean Brown is getting better.
  • He was more active and productive. His eyes were better. He played faster.
  • Being a starter for the 1st time against Notre Dame helped him, and now it’s something he’s more comfortable with, being in that role.
• Kendrick Raphael is a natural guy when it comes to seeing things on the field.
  • He’s got really good balance and vision. I talked about him a lot during training camp; he’s impressing us as a runner.
  • As you know, that’s not the only thing running backs have to do.
    • You have to understand the protections to take care of the quarterback, and as a freshman, that takes a little time.
    • As you have seen, he’s pretty good at running the football. He can see things. He’s got balance, he’s strong, and it’s just continuing to get him game ready in all the other areas.
• We also want to keep the Running Backs fresh, so it’s good to have that rotation back there between Jordan Houston, Michael Allen, Kendrick Raphael, and then using Delbert Mimms and DeMarcus Jones in the way that we are.