WATCH: Hollywood Smothers After NC State’s 1st 2025 Fall Football Practice

Redshirt Sophomore Running Back Hollywood Smothers met with the media after NC State’s first Fall practice yesterday. You can watch the video above, and read the transcript below.

Y’all were really disappointed with how last season ended. Not just with the ECU game, but also with the Carolina game, and how everything went down. Do you personally feel like the season opener is a chance to kind of rewrite how things went? 

100%, not only the season opener, but all season, of course.

A lot of things went wrong, not the way we wanted them to go. So I feel like the first game definitely shows how we’re attacking this season with a different plan. We’re doing way better. We’re way ahead of where we were last year.

In the first game, we can show how we’re attacking this season, with a different plan. 

Where do you see you guys are ahead from where you were at this point last year? 

Just the team overall. The chemistry between the team and guys actually knowing what they want. Last year, everybody knows the ups and downs we had, but I feel like we had to go through those losses and learn from them.

We had six games of 1 possession, so learn what we did wrong and how we’ve got to finish next time. So I feel like we learned a lot based off last year. 

Do you see the difference, where this is the first year since your Junior year of high school, where you’ve been in the same place two years in a row? 

Kind of towards the end of the season, I would say last year, I probably came up with a routine of what I need to do every day, to keep me going every day, but not too much of a difference.

How much different is this fall camp? Having a chance to have shown what you can do last year and now heading into it as the lead back for this team? 

Really just me being a leader. I had Jordan Waters with me last year. It’s really bringing the right energy, teaching us things coming in and how things work. So now I’m that guy that has to be first in the building, make sure my guys are held accountable and make sure everybody knows what they’re doing.

So I’m just stepping more into the leadership role. 

What have you seen from Duke Scott behind you? 

Everything, Duke’s got it all. I can’t wait to see what Duke becomes.

Combo of speed and power. He comes to work every day and genuinely wants to learn the game, like a student of the game. So Duke’s got it all. It’s going to be an exciting season for Duke. 

You think he can compete for your spot? 

100%. I tell him every day, he should be trying to take my spot. Every day, man.

That’s for everybody in the room. Everybody behind him should try to take his spot. That’s just the standard in our room. I tell him that every day, man. The more confident he gets, the more he knows how great he can be, it’s better for us. 

The leap from being a 6-6 team, to maybe being 10, 11, 12-win team, is it close? Are you guys close?

We’re close. 

Do you feel like those one possession games, maybe a lot of people are kind of looking at y’all maybe less than what they should be? 

For sure, 100%, man.

I feel like if you’re going to make a mistake, don’t make the same mistake twice.Figure out the rights and wrongs that we did, and how we didn’t finish the games when it came down to one possession, but I feel like we’re definitely close, like we take it serious.

I feel like the approach to it is different now, but I feel like we’ve got everything we need to be successful to get 10 or more wins. 

Talk about continuity and guys coming back. How much does it help to have a guy like Justin (Joly) at tight end be there, and kind of open up the field for the rest of you guys? 

Great, everybody knows Justin’s a great ball player.

He makes the plays we need him to make, and he brings the right energy to his team. And he’s experienced. It takes a lot.

People don’t really know how much experience helps the team. Somebody that knows what they’re doing and knows the speed of the game, really helps throughout the offense. So having Joly right there is perfect.

We trust Joly.