NC State Safety DK Kaufman Felt like NC State was Home, & the Defensive Scheme Fits Him

Senior Safety DK Kaufman transferred to NC State from Auburn this offseason. He met with the media yesterday after practice, and broke down why NC State felt like home, and why Tony Gibson’s Defense is a good fit for him.

You can check out the video ABOVE, or read the transcript BELOW.

It all starts with the coaches. It’s real. It’s authentic. Everybody here is genuine. When I came on my Official Visit, I just felt that love that I had with that staff at Vandy with Derek Mason. Just good people. People I could see myself around outside of football. It’s really the biggest thing. Football is cool. It’s what I do, but not who I am. There’s a lot of other things in life. I think this staff does a good job with that. It feels like home. 

I just like playing football. If I do my part, with the type of player I am, things are going to happen. 

I’ve had a new Defensive Coordinator every year. I’ve been in so many different systems. I’ve run in 4-3 defenses, but this is my first time running the 3-3-5 though. It gets me to play quick. In the 4-3, you run a lot of quarters, and it’s a lot of thinking. There’s thinking in this system, but not as much, so you really get to play free. In this defense, there’s only 1 or 2 things you have to look at. It was easy learning the playbook, and Coach Gibby (Gibson) did a good job with the install, breaking them up into certain days. I’m an older guy. I’m basically a DC (Defensive Coordinator). 

Transferring in with Ja’Had Carter and Kerry Martin was helpful. Coming in with those guys, they are older guys too. They’ve been around and played ball. We lift together. All three of us. Just getting to pick each others brains, and bring that to the younger guys. Trying to show them the right way of how to do things, and have a routine. 

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Rivals ranked Kaufman as a 4-Star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class. They ranked him as the #186 overall player nationally, the #11 Safety, and the #9 player in the state of Louisiana. Out of high school, Kaufman committed to Vanderbilt.

In his first season of college football, Kaufman played 2 games (started) for the Commodores as a True Freshman, collecting 15 tackles and a pass breakup in limited action.

In 2021, Kaufman transferred to Auburn, where he played in 13 games as a Freshman (2020 didn’t count against eligibility due to Covid), starting in 7 of them. In 414 snaps, Kaufman had 33 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, 2 pass breakups and 3 forced fumbles.

In 2022, Kaufman was the returning starter at Safety, starting in the first 7 games, before suffering an injury that kept him out of the final 4 games. Still, he played in 459 snaps, which was a new career high. As a Sophomore, Kaufman recorded a career high 39 tackles, as well as 2 pass breakups and 1 forced fumble. His PFF grade was 72.1 that year, which is the best grade of his career.

This past season, Kaufman started in 4 of the 12 games he played in, recording 395 snaps. As a Junior, Kaufman had 37 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery and 2 forced fumbles.

Kaufman has played 1,369 collegiate snaps in 34 career games, starting in 18.