WATCH: NC State’s Caden Fordham Breaks Down Returning from Ejection, Tennessee’s Spread Offense & Maintaining the Standard

NC State Redshirt Junior Linebacker Caden Fordham met with the media this week after practice on Wednesday, and he broke down returning from ejection due to a targeting penalty on play 5 of the WCU game, defending Tennessee’s spread offense & maintaining the standard.

You can watch the video ABOVE, or read the transcript BELOW.

What are your memories of the first game?

I mean, I’m sure all y’all know, I was just trying to play ball, play fast. I know I was a little anxious out there since it was the beginning of the game. Obviously, you would like to make that first interception.

So hopefully it might not happen. But I just been telling myself, God does everything for a reason. Who knows what could happen later in that game to me?

So that’s just the way I was trying to think of it. I was prepared and ready to play. It sucks anytime you’re taken away from your teammates, it hurts.

But I was just on to the next week, now we’re focused on Tennessee and ready to go.

Early in his career, Peyton had issues with trying to play under control and not get too wound up. Was this a lesson now, a learning moment for you?

I mean, yeah, you always try to learn from these mistakes.

And it definitely is a learning lesson, trying to stay up. It’s a big, big play. I gotta be better on that, trying to stay up knowing the situation and knowing he’s gonna slide.

So I’ll definitely learn from that and learn from my mistake.

How much does that say about the coaching staff having that faith in you, saying he’s gonna get better, he’s gonna keep working at it?

Yeah, it’s always great to have someone like Coach Gibson behind you. I love that man. So just knowing that he trusts me and has faith in me, it’s a big deal for me.

What was it like seeing Jayland (Parker) step in for you?

It was huge. Anytime he’s called in the game, I have faith in him and knowing he’ll be able to play and make plays. He’s a dog, he’s an athlete.

He’s been in this defense just as long as me now. So he definitely knows the game plan and knows what to do. So there was no worries there.

Looking ahead to Tennessee, what do you think about their offense?

I mean, they spread out a lot. They like to run that spread offense and they got some speed on the field. So just have be disciplined with our eyes.

Communication’s a big thing for us this week with that tempo offense. So just communicating, I think that’ll be big for us.

Challenges from the spread of their Wide Receivers. What kind of challenges does that pose for linebackers?

Yeah, I mean, anytime they spread it out, it’s just more playing in space, trying to take DBs out of the box and trying to run it downhill on you. So just have to be disciplined in our face, not buzzing out too wide, too quick. So the quarterback can run as well.

So just being disciplined, having good eyes.

What’s it been like getting used to the helmet communication?

Obviously, I didn’t have it for a lot of the game, but, no, it’s great, though. Just having that extra knowledge from Coach Gibson right before the play, getting a couple ideas of what he thinks might be coming or whatever.

It’s huge, it’s helpful for me just being able to get those extra cues right before the ball’s snapped and being able to read the play.

Coach, a couple of weeks ago was talking about how the defense had a chip on its shoulder because the perception that Peyton’s (Wilson) gone and it’s gonna go down. How much of an opportunity is this week for you guys to show on a national stage that you guys, what you can do?

Yeah, I mean, every week we have the same mentality.

Peyton was a great player here and it’s definitely nice having him on the field anytime you can. But he’s gone now and it’s our responsibility to keep this going. We have a standard here at NC State of what this defense is supposed to be like.

And we’re not gonna let that fail now, it’s our job to pick it up and keep it going.

But this opponent and the attention that’s going to be on this game, national TV and everything, how much of an opportunity is it for you guys to make a statement?

Yeah, I mean, it’s huge, it’s a big time game, prime time. So everyone’s gonna be watching.

It’s big for us to go out there and set the tone for further than this year, just playing our style of defense and going out there playing good football.

How do you kind of handle that no huddle offense but not feel too rushed?

Yeah, like I was saying earlier, it’s just communication. That’s the biggest thing.

We’re gonna have to get lined up and communicate all throughout the back end and through the linebackers. So and having that earpiece will help us out some to be able to get the calls in and not have to look to the sideline every single play.