WATCH: Isaiah Crowell Talks Making the Most of His Opportunity (with transcript)

Redshirt Sophomore Nickel Isaiah Crowell started his first college game in the Wolfpack’s last game against California. He met with the media after practice yesterday leading up to NC State’s game against Stanford this weekend. You can watch the video ABOVE, and read the transcript BELOW.

What was it like having your first career start at Cal last weekend?

It was a dream come true, man. Just staying, trusting the process, staying ready, like my pops always tell me. It’s a dream come true, but I mean, I can’t do it without trusting God, faith, so that was a big part.

You had a fumble recovery as well. What’s going through your mind when you see the ball on the ground?

Be a football player. I’ve been doing this since I was six years old, so it was kind of natural to me.

Trust my techniques that my coaches gave me, and yeah, be a football player.

Have you ever played with any kind of guardian cap on?

No, sir. No, it’s just me playing football.

Do you know, have you ever talked to someone who has one that can explain how it maybe would impact your playing, whether it’s the feel, comfortability, or just maybe it feels like extra weight on you?

No, I don’t know.

How did you grade out of Cal, and where’s the growth potential for you in the next four games?

I graded out pretty good. I think we’ve had a lot of growth this season.

As you can see, Tamarcus (Cooley) is playing as well, the number one. And we’re both young guys, so I think we’ve been presented with a lot of growth opportunities to play in real games, and yeah, can’t wait for the future as well.

With the opportunity there, how much do you feel like your play at Cal helped you to be a bigger part of that rotation as well?

I think it just showed the coaches that I can play the game.

Me being thrown into the fire late in the game, and being started in the first half of the Cal game just to show the coaches that I can be trusted, I can play, so yeah.

How much confidence did you get from when Tamarcus went out and you got to play at the end of that game?

It was a huge confidence builder, huge confidence builder.

I know you all take it game by game, week by week, but how big was it to get that win at Cal in terms of the momentum it could give you for the rest of the season?

It was huge, man. It was like a monkey off our back, it was big.

Why is that?

Just so you know, we’re not used to losing like that here, so just to have that win and just break that little losing streak we had, it was big, man, it was big.

You guys came into the year with such high expectations after going into the bye. Has Coach Doeren kind of level set or changed those expectations? How has he sort of modified what you guys are going after at this point?

He stayed the same throughout the whole time. He stayed even-keeled. He didn’t change, Coach Doeren’s been the same guy no matter what kind of circumstances or adversity he’s been hit with.

We all stayed the same, stayed true to what our program has and our values we have in the program. Keeping us motivated, keeping us grounded, and all those things.

How much different was this year’s bye week compared to last year, coming out with a win instead of a loss?

It’s not really that much different at all. We’ve both been going to work every single year, man, just going to work. Nothing, no drop-offs, not taking any days off, no reps off, just still coming every day to work, so.

How have your older brothers and your dad kind of put things in perspective for you and keep you working hard? What role have they played?

Yeah, they’ve played a huge role.

Having a father that played in the league and having two older brothers that’s played college ball as well. They’ve given me a different perspective. A lot of times, everything’s not gonna look good, look sunny.

But they just gave me perspective and given me things and nuggets to have as my career goes on, honestly.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve taken from them?

Just trusting the process, trusting the process and staying ready. You never know when your number’s gonna be called.

So when your number is called, you just gotta stay ready to be ready to attack the opportunity, so.

That helped this year?

Yes, sir, yes, sir.

How is Micah doing?

He’s doing good.

Now he’s getting his degree, he’s going to seminary school, he wants to go into ministry. So yeah, he’s doing great.

How much did work on special teams help you as well, and how do you prepare for your time on the field?

Yes, sir, it definitely helped.

Just getting used to the game speed, and yeah, it helped a lot.

What are you seeing from Stanford as you prepare for them this weekend?

I see that they’re a good team, but we gotta play like we always do.

I mean, they got a good receiver, number 13, I think it’s been a pretty good year. But we’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing, preparing for any moment we get in, getting ready to play on Saturday.

Given the fact that their quarterback is a true dual threat, somebody that will run the football constantly, how much priority are you guys putting on that this week, to make sure that you limit what he’s able to do with his legs?

Just trust our keys, play to our rules, and not beat, and not do too much.

Just trust our players, just trust the guys around us, and play hard, so yeah.

What do you like about playing at Nickel?

I like the different things we can do, blitzing, playing the coverage, playing the zone, just a lot of things we can do to play my strengths in my game. So yeah, I love it.

What’s the hardest part about playing inside like that versus on the outside?

I’ll say just taking on the bigger bodies, me being not the biggest person, just taking on blocks. But I mean, for me, I like contact, so it’s not really a huge thing for me.

How much do you relish that challenge as a smaller guy to go up against bigger guys and show what you can do?

Sure, for me, I feel like I’m an animal on the field, so I don’t care how big you are, I’m gonna play the same, I’m not going to change the way I play, I’m not going to change my speed and everything, so, that’s it.

So are we gonna see you taking down an O-lineman like Amare Campbell did for Carolina last week?

Yeah, yes, you may, you may, you may, you may, don’t be surprised if you do.