Everything Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson had to Say About NC State at his Weekly Press Conference

Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson met with the media for his weekly press conference yesterday. Below is everything he had to say about NC State.

And then the challenge this week is a very good and very talented NC State team. This is, I think the 12th or 13th time Coach Dave Doeren and I have brought our teams against each other and Dave’s an excellent coach. He’s the all-time wins leader at North Carolina State. They’ve had a very consistent, successful program under his leadership. When you look at their roster, you can see why the expectations this year were so high for them. It starts upfront with them. They have 110 combined, starts on the offensive line.

They’re big, they’re physical. The tackle (Anthony) Belton is an outstanding player. Their skill is, I mean it’s elite. (Kevin) Concepcion was the ACC Rookie of the Year. He’s one of the top perimeter players in the ACC. The back they got from Duke, Jordan Waters, we thought was one of the very best running backs in the ACC last year. Noah Rogers, who they got from I think Ohio State and (Dacari) Collins that they got from Clemson, their flex tight end (Justin) Joly is a good player. The receiver (Jalen) Coit is also a returner for them. And then they have one that we know really well. Wesley Grimes, who certainly looks really, really good on film as well. So they have elite skill. They have a true freshman quarterback. We don’t know who we’re going to see. We’re assuming it’s Bailey, but Bailey was a guy that we had in our camp and liked him a lot.

We thought he was a really good football player. And I’m sure every week that he plays, he gets more comfortable and the offense will evolve around him on the defensive side of the ball. Tony Gibson consistently is I think one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. Their scheme is unique. He knows exactly what he’s doing with it. They know how to fix problems. Davin Vann, the defensive end, he’s caused three interceptions on his own. They’ve scored really four defensive touchdowns the last three weeks. They’ve had two pick sixes. They had a strip sack that DK Kaufman came off the edge and then they had another recovery that set their offense up at the one yard line. So their defense has really scored 28 points the last three weeks. Caden Fordham, their middle linebacker, he’s somebody that we recruited heavily.

I think the nose guard is a really good player. (Brandon) Cleveland, he’s a 315 pound guy that can two gap. And their system is really well set up that he can two gap it and Fordham can play ahead of him or behind him and Fordham’s their leading tackler in part just because their front is so big and they occupy multiple blockers going into the season. Aydan White is one of the top ranked cornerbacks in the entire country. He’s back for them. And they have a guy, Devon Marshall, who transferred from Villanova that we really liked and tried to recruit. And again, they’re just a really solid, really good football team. And Dave always does a good job of his team. It’s getting better as the year goes on. They always seem to play their best football late. And again, it’s great to be part of rivalry.

It’s 115th consecutive year, but this game’s been played. And so when all the ACC scheduling happened, we were really glad that this rivalry was preserved. And this is a game that we get to play every year, but it is certainly a challenge going to Raleigh. It’s always a great environment. It’s loud. Their fans are always super nice to me and super friendly and they’ve given me some nicknames that I’ve never heard before. But I think it’s what makes college football fun is they have a great crowd at NC State and they’re really into their football team and they’re a factor too. So this will be a great week, great challenge and an opportunity for us to get our season back on track.

The first three years we were here, they got after us pretty good. I mean they beat us in 14 up there. That was a non-competitive game. And then in 15, I think they were beating us like 21 or 28 to nothing in the first quarter. And I just looked at the scoreboard and said times four, this thing could get ugly. And then we kind of settled down and then we went up there in ’16 and they got us, but it was a little bit more competitive. That was the first season that we were good. And then we got them three times in a row. We got them in ’17, ’18, and ’19 and then we kind of traded back and forth in ’20 and ’21 and the win against them in ’21, that might be one of my favorite wins I’ve ever experienced as a head coach.

The winner of that game was going to win the Atlantic and that thing came down to an onside kick that if it rolls six more inches, who knows what happens. But these are for the most part, been other than the first two years. And then we got them pretty good in ’19 and obviously they got after us last year. But other than that, these have been really good. Really a lot of three point games. I think when we got them it was by three points and they got us by three points in ’22 or ’22 might’ve been like an eight point game. But their great games and our players know their players, they know us. And Dave is the second longest tenured coach in the conference. And I’m third, so Warren (Ruggiero) and Tony (Gibson) have gone against each other all these years and they’ve had some changeover on the offensive staff like we have on the defensive staff. So that part of it has been a little different. But the cat and mouse game between our offensive staff and their defensive staff is always fun to watch. Last year they pressured us and we didn’t handle it too well.

When you look at our schedule up there every year that we play NC State, Carolina and Duke, we know there’s an opportunity to win the Big Four. And so those games are your red letter games or your highlighted games and then you kind of get into the season and all of a sudden because you’re worried about Ole Miss and you’re worried about Louisiana and now the game’s suddenly here and you’re much more focused on the execution of the game plan. So I think in some ways those games become bigger when the schedule comes out. And then once the season starts, you get into your routine and you get so caught up trying to fix your problems. And then it becomes, we know who they are, we know the rivalry, but when you prepare for a team, you’re preparing for their three stack. You’re preparing for a 6-foot-6 quarterback, you can run and throw. You’re preparing for an offensive line that’s massive preparing for KC Concepcion. And then when you show up game day, it hits you again that yeah, this is pretty cool. This is great that you’d be able to coach and play in games like this.