NC State Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson met with the media today after practice leading up to the Wolfpack’s Top-25 matchup against Tennessee this Saturday night. Below is the TRANSCRIPT.
When you have an offense that plays as fast as Tennessee’s does, how do you kind of match that without exhausting players out there?
Yeah, it’s hard. You know, in our background, a couple of us, myself, Coach DeForest, Coach Mitchell, were in the Big 12. So that was every week.
That was the type of offense that we played. So, you know, we have to do different things in practice to get reps and make it as game-like as we can. So two huddles, trying to run guys as fast as we can at them.
And, you know, the biggest piece of that is we have to communicate. That’s where the breakdown comes, if we’re not communicating, getting the call in. So I have to do a really good job of doing that, and then the kids have to respond as well.
What have you seen in Tennessee Quarterback Nico Iamaleava?
Yeah, well, we went back and studied him in the Summer against Iowa in the bowl game. He’s very poised in the pocket.
He can extend plays. Smart, understands their system and what they want to do. So, and then, obviously, against UTC, the first half, very accurate.
I don’t think he threw an incompletion until midway through the second quarter. So, you know, we’re going to have our work cut out. You know, we’re going to show up and hopefully be better than we were a week ago.
What do you think you learned? What stuck out from game one?
Just self-inflicted things. I mean, the first play of the game, we should have had an interception for a touchdown, and we dropped it. And then the second play of the game, we had an interception in our hands, and we dropped it.
And then we get an ejection for targeting. So, you know, I just think when I looked out and we first broke our huddle to run on the field, we had eight new starters. So it was a great learning process for us.
I’m really happy with the way we finished, and we adjusted throughout the game, but we have to get much better.
From Game 1 to Game 2 Against a Top-25 Team
Yeah, the speed of this game that we’re about to go to, you know, we’ve not seen anything like it. Preseason fall camp, as far as the tempo that they use.
So that’s our biggest adjustment right now. But what we’re looking for is we have to play very, very fundamentally sound, and we have to communicate. And, again, I can’t say that word enough.
If we don’t, it will be ugly. So, you know, our guys have to make sure that we’re talking, getting the right call, getting guys in position to make a play, and then we have to make plays.
What do you say to Caden Fordham?
He knows. I mean, a quarterback’s untouchable when they go to slide, give themselves up. I mean, that was not very smart on his part, but it’s a learning tool that we could use moving forward.
We have to stay off the quarterback. I mean, they’re going to protect those guys, and they should. And, you know, it’s not very smart on our part.
Sean Brown stepping up with the headset after Fordham’s ejection
Yeah, he, Sean’s a very good communicator. So, you know, we’ve worked a lot of different guys with the green dot in fall camp, and Sean happened to be one of them. So the transition was easy.
You know, and we missed a couple things that resulted in big plays because we did miss checks. And, you know, with Caden’s in there, did we miss those? Probably not, but we did.
Only 6 Missed Tackles
That was big, and, you know, out of the six that we missed for the game, the one was a 50-yard run by a quarterback. Again, that was a blown assignment, a missed check, and then missed tackles, and we missed two on the same play.
So, you know, they came and they cost us when we did miss them. But, you know, our goal is to not miss any. And so, you know, we have to get better with that.
Season isn’t determined in Week 1 or 2, but still want to win Saturday
Yeah, we all know. I mean, you know, obviously right now with the format of everything, your conference games matter.
But this is a national game against a great program, and we’re going to be better. I promise you that. Defensively, we will be better, or they won’t play.
And so it’s going to be a fun night, and I’m excited about it. And what we have to do is just keep preparing and get our guys ready for the tempo piece of all this.
DJ Jackson Playing for the 1st Time
Yeah, that was a great feeling for that young man. You know, he’s missed three years to get his first snaps and play a lot. I think he ended up getting 20 snaps, but very happy for him.
And, again, he’ll get better as we keep going on.
Missed Plays
Yeah, we better make them, you know, so.
But, again, it’s all focused stuff. I mean, the first play of the game, you know, I don’t make many good calls during a game. That was a good one, and we missed the opportunity.
So, you know, what we have to do is we have to. When they give us a layup, we have to make it, and we didn’t.
Reworked Safety and Nickels
Good. You know, there was, again, miscommunication. We gave up some things, but, you know, it’s great to be able to win a football game regardless of the opponent and get better from it, and I think that that’s exactly what happened.
You know, Western Carolina did a great job, you know, not taking anything away from them, but, you know, our kids are going to learn from their mistakes. We won the game, and, you know, our goal was to be 1-0 at the end of the week, and we were. So, you know, we’re never going to apologize for a win.
It was ugly, but, you know, it was a win.
Urgency in Practice this Week
You encountered a slow start last week going against a big, great opponent in Tennessee. You’re like, hey, guys, we got to lock in.
Yeah, and that’s what I told them. I hoped that we were looking to this game going into week one, which I don’t understand why we would do that when we only get 12 opportunities, but, you know, it’s time to shut up and put up right now. There’s, you know, it’s all out there.
Again, a national-ranked team in a great stadium, a great venue. The world’s going to be watching. What are we going to do? And they better come to play.
