Isaiah Shirley at the ACC Kickoff: “We Want to Be the Backbone of This Team”

NC State defensive end Isaiah Shirley met with the media Wednesday at the 2026 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, where he discussed his decision to stay with the Wolfpack, the confidence surrounding the defense, his expanded leadership role, and what it takes to prepare for an ACC season.

One theme surfaced throughout the interview.

Shirley believes NC State’s defense is ready to return to its identity.

Transcript

Q. Isaiah, you’re a four-year player at NC State. It’s kind of rare. Talk about your NC State journey, and coming back.

ISAIAH SHIRLEY: Yeah, so being here for four years, going into my fourth year has meant a lot to me. It’s really come down to three basic things: I wanted to come somewhere where I could grow my faith, play football at a high level, be around good people.

That’s what I’ve gotten and continue to get at NC State. To answer your question, that’s why I’ve stayed. I believe in what we came here for. Guys back here are trying to do something special here. We have all the resources and all the great people to do so.

Q. There was a lot of doubt about the defense, what it would look like coming into this season based on last season. There seems to be a lot of confidence inside the locker room. What does it mean to you to hear the members of the team and locker room so openly talking about the pass-rush is coming along, defense is improved?

ISAIAH SHIRLEY: It’s extremely encouraging, right? You want your teammates to believe in you. When they believe in us, CJ, Duke and those boys were talking about, hey, the defense, we know you’re going to step it up this year. We want to be the backbone. We want to get back of playing our brand of hard, tough, together defense together. We want to be the backbone of the team. Whenever things go wrong, we can punt the ball if something happens, we can punt the ball, we know we’re getting the ball right back.

That’s the mentality we want to take. That’s the mentality we’re trying to get back to. I think we have the right guys on the defensive side of the ball from the D-line, to the linebackers, to the DBs that have that mentality of wanting to be the reason that we stop guys and win games.

I’m excited to see what we’re going to do. I know we’re going to go out there and play our brand. I can’t wait for it.

Q. This year pretty big opportunity for you after playing in more of a rotational player role the last few years. How big of an opportunity was this for you? How much have you felt like you need to step up into this leadership role?

ISAIAH SHIRLEY: No, exactly. Appreciate your question.

Getting to come here and representing NC State, that means a whole lot to me, probably more than Coach Doeren knows. I appreciate being able to do that.

Like you said, being a rotational player, getting some experience to play, now it’s time to step up and lead the team.

Like I said, me and Duke are similar in personalities, believe it or not. I’m a little bit quieter in terms of the set of like talking to people. But it’s been good. I’ve been able to speak up and really feel like what I have to say matters.

Like you guys have said, four years I’ve been around this program, seen what’s been good and what’s been bad. That’s why I’m super excited to be able to go out me, play some good football with my teammates, also be able to serve these young guys, hold me accountable, this I can hold them accountable. That’s what I’m excited to do.

Q. Obviously football takes a lot of energy. How do you stay prepared and fueled? How do you plan on doing for the days to come?

ISAIAH SHIRLEY: I appreciate that question. Yeah, I think it’s a full-time job, right? You got to worry about your hydration all the time. People that go the whole day without drinking water, I just can’t do it. It’s from sunup to sundown, I’m preparing my body for the next workout.

When we have a workout, as soon as I’m done, I’m hydrating, eating, stretching, getting in the cold tub. If I want a little bit extra work, I got to get that in, too, recover even harder.

It’s a full-time job. What I do is just stay focused, set reminders on my phone to eat snacks, drink more water. Ultimately you’re trying to build edges. In football, the margin of error is like this. Every edge you can get…

Q. You were one of four male athletes in the finalist for the 2026 Arthur Ashe Junior Sports Scholar Award. The only football player amongst the finalists. That’s pretty special.

ISAIAH SHIRLEY: Thank you. Is there a question or do you want me to speak on it? Q. Just discuss. ISAIAH SHIRLEY: You want me to speak on it?

Q. Yes.

ISAIAH SHIRLEY: Okay, cool (laughter). Yeah, it’s a huge honor. I want to shoutout Ally, she’s one of the people that works for us in case, student academics. She nominated me for that award. I appreciate her for doing that.

I’m grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to come here and be able to serve others and do well in school, be able to have something like that. Also get to play some good football, be able to get nominated for something like that. I couldn’t be more thankful to the people that decided to do that and vote me for that. I’m just grateful.