Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media today after NC State’s first day of Spring Practice. You can WATCH the video above, or read the transcript below.

Transcript

18 guys had their first college football practice today. 32 new players. You can tell there’s a lot of guys that haven’t practiced here. We’ve got a lot of little things on how we work that need to get better. Great seeing everyone out there. You can tell a lot of guys worked hard in the offseason. When you’ve got a lot of change on a roster, you’ve got a lot of work to do…the chemistry of the team, the timing of things, communication. It’s great to be back out there. It’s going to be a lot to coach off of. I like the way the guys work. With that being said, I’m excited about what’s out on the grass. There’s a lot of talent out there. Now we just have to get it pointed in the right direction.

The first thing you see in Grayson McCall is confidence. You can tell he’s won a lot of games. He’s comfortable as a leader. He has no problem being vocal. He learns quickly. I like how he handles adversity. If he has a bad play, it’s on to the next play. There’s no body language issues, and I like that about him. He’s a natural leader. He knows who he is. The guys around him can feel that. It oozes out of him.

Grayson has the skillset to be a runner. How much we run him? Obviously we’ve got a lot of work to do before that happens. But even when he drops back, he’s going to have some freelancing that goes on because of his athleticism. The design runs come over time. We will just have to see the evolution of things. But he has the skillset to be a runner, and that is something you are going to have to account for. Over his career he has been very dynamic as a runner.

Aydan White hasn’t given up a touchdown in 2 years. Knock on wood, lets go for three. Not many people have a Corner that has that accolade. He’s a really good football player for us. He’s a playmaker. He’s elevated himself as a leader. You can hear him talking to his teammates. He’s more vocal. It’s great to have him back. Excited for him to have this time to develop a little more, and be more ready for the NFL after one more season. It’s great to have Corners that you trust. It’s a big deal when you know he has his side of the field. With Coley and Cisse, there’s going to be some good competition on the other side of the field. It’s going to be fun to watch.

I’m blessed. It’s nice to have all these guys back (all his assistant coaches). I’m very thankful that we have that kind of continuity. It helps in a lot more ways than X’s and O’s. When you get into the recruiting world, these guys have been in the same areas, talking to the same coaches, for 5-6 years for some of them. That’s really helpful in recruiting. It helps in your player development. It helps with your install. It helps me. I’m not having to coach coaches as much. Boo (Coorigan) deserves credit as well, helping us be competitive in rewarding these guys for the work they’ve done. It’s meaningful to me. These guys have gotten opportunities. It’s not like nobody calls them. They like working here. They like working for me. They like their players. They like Raleigh. They love our opportunity here with what we have on home games. We have a true home field advantage. We can recruit here. As you guys know, there’s tremendous talent in the state and around our state. And, we have an opportunity this season with the college football landscape changing to a 12-team playoff. Teams like us, who have been in the Top-20 over and over and over. We can knock on the door differently than we used to. I think these guys feel all of those things. I’m thankful for those guys. Coach Thunder has been with me the whole time.

We’ve done a lot of things to build chemistry with 32 new guys on the team. With our “Real World Wednesday’s,” which is leadership we teach in the offseason, it’s just been us talking to us. Players and coaches getting up and telling their stories. Talking about some really really deep things personally, trying to break down some walls, and create vulnerability on our football roster. For me, it’s been about how to get this group to bond, because that’s what wins games when it’s tight. That brotherhood is a big part of winning.

Momentum helps. Winning 5 in a row. Beating some storied programs back to back, with Clemson and Miami. All those things matter. You get hot, people are talking about you, and that’s all happening around signing day and the transfer portal. We were a hot team at the right time, and we took advantage of that. We have stability, which is an important aspect to these guys. A lot of these guys that transferred, the coach that recruited them at that school isn’t there anymore. Our staff that recruited them, is still here. That’s attractive. They know our people. They know how we do thins. They have friends on our roster. All those things played into it. It’s kind of a trickle down…you get one, and then they’re friends with another one that’s in there, and they want to play together, and pretty soon it’s like lets get the group back together. A lot of these guys grew up playing together in all these 7 vs. 7 tournaments. It’s amazing how this works now, with social media, and how these kids stay in touch with one another. I’ve turned into more of a fundraiser than ever. Part of it is getting out and helping OnePack and Savage Wolves raise money for our collective.

I feel really good about the specialists we have. They have to get out there and prove it, and obviously gameday is different, but we have some guys that have been here awhile. They’ve earned our trust. Feel really good about Kanoah Vinesett and Collin Smith…we’ve got two young guys coming in that have strong legs. With those two guys that have been here, they are very very very talented, and they’ve earned our trust.