NC State football head coach Dave Doeren addressed the media Monday at Carter-Finley Stadium for his weekly news conference ahead of the Wolfpack’s season opener against James Madison Saturday. Here are some of the highlights.
Opening statement: “Excited to be in game week finally. The players have worked hard; the coaches have worked hard. I’m excited to see our fans. Several of the students came out to our mock game Saturday. I’m looking forward to having them in the stands again. And just being a part of our Carter-Finley gameday experience. You start your 2018 season really in January, so a lot of time and effort goes into it. A lot of meetings, a lot of lifts, a lot of runs. A lot mental time, a lot of practice. A lot of injury reports. A lot of talking, a lot of everything. It’s finally time to play.”
On James Madison: “Talking specifically about James Madison, waiting to see who their starting quarterback is. Haven’t heard yet, so we’re preparing for both. Very impressed with their tailbacks. We know a lot about Marcus Marshall. Obviously Trai Sharp, both of their North Carolina natives. Cardon Johnson did not play last year due to injury but he’s back and a really good player. I think their tailbacks are excellent players. Big receiver outside in Riley Stapleton, #10, he’s a really strong form, six-five. All five of their offensive linemen have started in games, so they have good experience there.
Defensively, similar to us, they lost quite a few players there on their defense, their front. Defensive end, 47, Darrious Carter is back, 14 TFLs and 8.5 sacks, was a disruptive player. I was very impressed with [Ron’Dell] Carter, defensive tackle for them last year. I was impressed with him on film. I think their two corners are exceptional players. They’ve both played a ton of football; they’ve made a lot of plays. They’re confident players. So that matchup, for us, our receiving corps, we think is really good. So that’s going to be a big matchup in the game.”
On if the new redshirt rule makes an extended training camp for young players: “I think there’s various ways you can look at it. We’re not looking at it as an experimental deal where it’s a scrimmage, where we’re going to see what they can do. They’re either ready or they’re not ready. Some of them are ready to play and some of them are backups to positions and if there’s injuries, they will play. There’s others that are not ready to play. The beauty of this is, in four to six weeks, they may be. This first month of school where they’re on the scout team, getting into a routine and settling in, all of a sudden they may be less nervous or things may click, and they’re more ready to play midseason.
“That’s kind of how we’re approaching it. I’m not going to use the opportunity to throw a guy in just to see what he can do. Gameday is not an experiment. That’s what we do for a living. We’re going to make sure the guys that are out there have proven in practice that they’re ready to play.”
On junior Kishawn Miller starting at corner and redshirt freshman Isaiah Moore at linebacker: “Starting with the corner position, Kishawan’s been very steady. He’s very competitive; he plays the ball well. He’s stayed healthy. Went through the entire training camp, didn’t miss a snap. That’s more of it than anything. Chris Ingram was doing really well and then missed a little bit of time. We think both those guys are going to play and play well. You’re talking about two guys being close in a competition and one guy practiced a lot more than the other, that’s kind of how it goes.
“At Mike linebacker, Isaiah has been playing really fast, and so has Louis [Acceus]. We feel really good about both those guys playing. Isaiah’s just been more consistent, more than anything, than Louis. Just fewer mistakes during training camp. We feel like both those guys are guys that can help us play and play well.”
On the running backs: “[The young guys] do have a chance to play. Reggie’s our starting tailback. We feel great about him right now. I’m excited for Reggie. He’s in good shape. He’s in a great place, personally. He’s just one of those seniors that you just kind of see, he’s ready for his senior year and has put the time and the work in. Behind Reggie, we’ve got a bunch of young guys. Until we got out there and play, Nakia [Robinson] is a guy that’s redshirted but not played a game yet. We feel like Trent Pennix was going to be a really, really good player but then he missed about 20 practices. So he’s been back with us now for about a week and he’s looked good. But we’re not going to rush the process with them. We’ll see. It’s Monday. By the end of the week, he may be the No. 2 tailback.”
On Gallaspy missing a couple practices recently: “He’s had some different issues in his legs. So whenever they get fatigue, we’re just careful with it. We don’t want it to be a deal where he’s out a long period of time. It’s really just managing swelling. When you have guys that have anything with a knee or an ankle and all of a sudden they have a hard day on it. They’re sore; you don’t want to push it to the point of injury. For him, that was just kind of giving him time to recover.”
On enjoying momentum with program on the upswing: “I’m not a negative person; I don’t sit there and worry about things that haven’t happened. I think my job is to build on where we are and try to make it better. And try to make sure that the people around me that are helping me do it are staying on task and that our vision doesn’t change, that we don’t get a big head. It wasn’t long ago people weren’t talking about us like that.
“Quickly, as everybody knows, things can change. It’s just trying to win the day. My job is making sure the players’ minds are in the right place and hearts. If I can just handle it one day at a time like I’m asking my players to, then things continue to stay the way they are; that’s how it works. I’m excited about the trajectory of our program, for sure. I love being with the guys and I think our staff’s doing a great job. Recruiting’s going well. If we just keep doing the things that we’ve been doing, and keep it that way.”
On his confidence in graduate QB Ryan Finley going into week one: “On a one to ten? Eleven. I think the guy’s in a great place mentally. He works hard. He’s got great teammates that he trusts. Coaches in the system. Physically, he’s doing everything he needs to do. He’s just got to go out and play. I couldn’t ask for a guy that has put himself into a better position going into his last year.”
On James Madison having the team’s attention: “I think when you say in the past two years, this team’s 14-1, 14-1, been to back-to-back national championships. It doesn’t take long. Our guys, everyone’s singing our praises and this and that, but it’s a new year. We’ve got to go earn it. No matter what you want to be, game one is game one. You want be 1-0 at the end of it.”
On redshirt junior nickel Stephen Griffin’s health: “Stephen started practicing again last week. So we’re just slowly getting him back to where he needs to be. He looked really good in the mock game. So we’ll have him for more of practice tomorrow than we had him for the last day. And we’ll keep going that direction until we feel like he’s got the stamina and everything else. If he continues, Saturday we’ll have to see where we’re at, but I feel really good about the progress he’s made so far since he got back.”
