NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after practice yesterday before the Wolfpack hosts Stanford tomorrow. He broke down his favorite halloween candy, Grayson coaching, CJ’s confidence, Freshmen developmental players getting action and Payton Wilson being inducted into the Ring of Honor.
You can watch the video ABOVE, and read the transcript BELOW.
I’m surprised you guys are here.
What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
I’m not. That’s a good question though.
Do you have a favorite Halloween candy?
Reese’s peanut butter cups, for sure.
Yeah, I love peanut butter. Anything with peanut butter and chocolate, really.
I do miss, in Wisconsin, we would take the kids trick-or-treating there.
The parents would hand the other parents beers at the door. The kids would get candy, and the parents would get nice Wisconsin beer. I do miss that.
Do you give out bourbon to the parents?
I don’t. Maybe one day I’ll do that, but right now it’d probably be considered inappropriate.
How’s this week going in prep for Stanford?
It’s been a good week, yeah.
I mean, beautiful weather, as you know. The guys definitely benefited from the week, not just in the rest that we could give them, but the chance to really narrow in on things fundamentally and schematically that we want to do better. And so it’s been a good week.
We’ve been able to take some hitting off of them, but still get some quality work in, get some young guys some work. We did a lot of that during the bye week with the developmental guys, so it was good to see their progression since fall camp as well.
Any of those developmental guys that particularly stand out to you?
You know, it’s fun to see the body changes and the confidence.
Elijah Groves, the guy that’s put on 20 good pounds, just seeing him and where he’s at compared to when he got here when we didn’t know anything in our defense. It was fun to see that.
Chase Bond, another young guy that’s gained. He’s almost 280 pounds now, you know. So to see him, a lot of alignment.
We were able to give Kamen Smith.
Guys that travel but aren’t getting game reps, able to give guys significant work. So it’s fun to see that.
Give Lex Thomas a lot of work at quarterback.
Jonathan Taylor, seeing his progression because, as you know, in high school, he kind of everything and how he’s progressed as a true receiver.
But it’s good. On Tuesday, we scrimmaged them.
So they’re able to go out and hit.
Ronnie Royal, Brody (Barnhardt), seeing guys hit and cover and make plays. So it’s fun for those guys to be able to do that.
On Tuesday, when we talked to the players, they mentioned getting that win at Cal and having that open date was kind of like a monkey coming off their back a little bit. They got a chance to breathe. Have you seen any kind of renewed sense of energy in practice?
Definitely.
The reward is winning, right? And in the prior two games, we were right there and didn’t get it done. And, you know, going through what we did emotionally as a team, through Grayson’s injury and then CJ becoming the guy. And then now it’s his team.
And he got that win, the comeback win. And we played as a team together on the road. Eight straight weeks. All the things that went into that eighth game, to see them overcome that against a team that’s really good on defense.
It was a great win. And then to have that momentum going into a bye week and, ‘all right, here’s what’s left, here’s the four teams.’
Here’s how it lays out. Another bye coming after Duke. There’s definitely that confidence that you get from a win and excitement, about what you can do still the rest of the season.
I know Grayson has been on the sideline all season, even when he’s been out. But since officially announcing his retirement, what’s it been like to see him in practice with the guys?
He’s coaching. He’s really good at that, just talking to CJ (Bailey) through a player’s lens.
It’s fun to see him get disappointed at other guys. And when you become a coach, you get mad because you see a guy do something. You’re like, ‘why isn’t he doing that right?’.
And so to see that side of him and now, they’re like, now I know why you get frustrated. Those are the first comments you get from players that become coaches is they can see now why their coach gets mad sometimes. I mean, when it seems so simple, and then you get out there and it doesn’t work.
But he’s got energy. He’s very insightful. He cares a lot about CJ’s development, Lex’s development.
And he’s smiling and having fun with it. And so that’s important, too, in this transition, that he gets back to letting the game give back to him.
You mentioned the developmental guys being out of work. How do you balance these last four games, being able to get them in and get them game reps while maintaining the redshirt?
Well, we use the four games when we can based on our needs and how they can help us. We’re not going to take a guy off the field on a special team and just insert a guy. He has to show us that he’s capable of helping us.
And if he does show us that, then we put him out there, and try to use, if we can, three to four games, knowing that you can have a fifth in postseason when you qualify. Sometimes early in the year they’re not ready. And so it’s not even a consideration.
And then you start seeing them get better and better and better. And now you have an injury and, ‘hey, this guy’s ready to help us.’ And Coach Goebbel does a good job evaluating them on the scout team with special teams as well.
So, when our kickoff return’s blocking a scout kickoff guy and he consistently makes plays, ‘hey, this guy’s someone I need to look at on the other side of the ball.’ And so it’s just, it’s an evolution. It’s a fast season, but a million things happen and guys do develop and grow up during the season.
Last year, Brandon Cleveland didn’t play really until the sixth game. And then all of a sudden by the bowl game, he was starting. So, guys can get a lot better over the course of the year if they handle that developmental piece the right way.
Is Zane Williams kind of that example?
Zane’s been effective on special teams for us. He’s doing good things. Ronnie Royal, same thing. Been effective.
Assad Brown, he’s getting some reps in there now doing that as well.
You see Isaiah Crowell is a guy that made plays on special teams throughout the year. And then we needed him on defense and he had confidence, because he was out there making those plays.
We talked to Dante Daniels a few weeks ago. You know, from your perspective, where has he grown as a person and as a player since being here?
That’s a long answer, because he’s been through a lot. His story is, I don’t know if you guys told his story or not.
I haven’t read the news. But his story is, a lot different than most people’s stories. And he’s been through a lot.
He’s at peace. He’s forgiven people in his life. I think he’s very grounded.
He’s engaged. So his life is different than a lot of college people’s lives. He’s learning still, being from Canada and playing American football, how different things are and getting better as he does that.
But, yeah, it’s been fun to see him transition. And I love recruiting junior college players because they come in so grateful because there’s nothing at those places. I mean, in some cases, no one’s there to tape their ankles.
They got obviously no training table. They eat at the cafeteria. And then all of a sudden someone hands you a shake.
And you’re like, ‘what’s this?’ And so the appreciation and gratitude, especially his story, going through what he did as a youngster. So I’m really hopeful for his growth because he’s got a huge upside still.
He’s just now starting to make plays for us and get better and better as a blocker.
Payton’s (Wilson) going into the Ring of Honor this weekend. You must have liked to see him do it so fast after playing last year.
One of the best college football players I’ve watched in my career on defense. And his story, again, another great story. When you look at the adversity and struggle through his career with injuries and turning into one of the best leaders I’ve been around who wasn’t that.
That wasn’t natural for him. What was natural was playing harder than everybody else and competing harder than everybody else. But holding people accountable and setting a standard and being able to talk in front of the room.
He was petrified of public speaking. And now he can do that like it’s nothing. Coming full circle, seeing him graduate from college.
And then, what he’s doing in the NFL is fantastic. And he deserves and has earned everything that he’s got. And being up there, is it fast? You could have put him up there the day he was drafted and it would have been probably right on time.
Have you had much of a chance to really follow along with his season so far?
I don’t get to watch games, but any time there’s highlights on our guys in the league, we talk about them. The coaches sit and, ‘hey, did you see Payton last night?’ You’re like, ‘no, let me see it.’
And the guys will pull up plays. My sons do a good job of telling me about the NFL games and what’s going on. It’s pretty cool.
The two Wilsons are, playing good in Pittsburgh, man. It’s awesome for Russell as well. I’m happy for both of them.
Will you have Peyton speak to the team at all before or after the game? Will he be involved in anything?
It just depends. He’s got a lot to do here this weekend. Obviously, if that presents itself, we will.
But timing that up with a Noon game makes it a little tougher because of how fast things go on Saturday for us. If it was a night game, we’d have a bigger window.
You had two quarterbacks, grad transfers the last two years. They don’t spend a lot of time in Raleigh, but they seem to have built strong bonds with the program. What is it about them and your program that makes that the case?
I think you start with them, and you try to find people that fit our culture, our DNA. Both Brennan (Armstrong), who you’re referring to from last year, is actually in Raleigh now pitching over there with the baseball team trying to get his arm right to be a pitcher.
So, he’s jumped in with Coach Avent.
And Grayson, they’re our kind of people. They’re blue collar.
They’re grounded. They’re tough, gritty, talented. And so they fit.
And when you end up in an environment where you’re comfortable and it fits you, it makes you want to stay. And I think it’s just natural for those guys to feel that way because they’re in a place that fits them and they fit us. And they’re definitely revered by their teammates, but also, the respect and love that our fans have poured into these guys over the last two years has been great.
You mentioned that this is CJ’s team now. What does his influence on a team look like? How have you seen that rub off on a guy?
He’s got a childish enthusiasm about just being out on the field with a ball. And at the same time, he’s got a professional competitive spirit.
He plays hard, and he wants his guys around him to play hard. And he’s not afraid to call a guy out out there.
Like, ‘you’ve got to go full speed right here, man. I need a better picture of that play.’ And he gives that.
And so, it’s natural. He’s not a nervous guy. He just goes out and plays.
He loves playing. He’s been competing in this sport against good people a long time. As a guy that played on offense in college, I would have loved to have played football with him.
I mean, just being in the huddle with a guy like that, that’s what you want, as a teammate.
