Fewer than three weeks remain until the N.C. State football season begins. The team expressed its anticipation for the season Sunday when it held its annual Media Day at the Wendell H. Murphy Football Center at Carter-Finley.
Head Coach Dave Doeren spoke at a press conference two hours prior to Meet the Pack Day to discuss the team’s improvement and outlook on the coming season.
“It has been a much different camp from last year in a lot of ways,” Doeren said. “We have a lot more depth and more competition at certain position groups, such as the DB’s, D-line, tight ends, running backs. I’m excited about the depth and competition and the quality of competition at some of those positions.”
Doeren also discussed how the team’s freshmen are transitioning to the next level.
“The talent we have in the freshmen class is very evident,” Doeren said. “Several of them are going to have the chance to play. Tony Adams is playing at a high level on the offensive line … I feel good about the depth at receiver and both Stephen Louis and Bo Hines will play as freshmen.”
The major question Doeren and his team will face is if they can bounce back from last year’s disappointing season, when the team failed to win a conference game in its 3-9 drought. Doeren emphasized that his team will use last season’s shortcomings as motivation.
“I think it’s been great for the mental toughness for our players,” Doeren said. “None of them want to relive it. It’s in the back of their minds. The only thing you can do when you have adversity is face it.”
Following the press conference, players met with the media to give their thoughts on the upcoming season and describe how they’ve been preparing.
Redshirt-junior quarterback Jacoby Brissett has been a hot topic within the football program and has the potential to emerge as the Pack’s alpha dog. The Florida transfer has emerged as a team leader in the offseason and is very confident that he has a team behind him that can become a tough competitor in the ACC in 2014.
“I’m not the savior,” Brissett said. “I’m just a quarterback that’s trying to be the best teammate and player that I can. The team’s mental approach toward this season is what’s going to save us from last year. The quarterback gets all the glory, but it’s going to pretty much rely on the team. The competition level is going back and forth, and it’s going to bring a good outcome.”
After transferring from Florida, Brissett was required to sit out during the 2013 season per NCAA regulations. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native said he studied the team during the season and involved himself in whatever way he could, such as attending the team’s away games even when he wasn’t asked.
“Everybody saw the outcome of last year,” Brissett said. “It wasn’t from the lack of leadership at quarterback but the lack of leadership in general. Everybody saw what happens when someone doesn’t step up, and I felt like that was a role I needed to fill. Each day you can see different players stepping up, just leading a group or leading a series. It just makes everything easier.”
Redshirt senior wide receiver Bryan Underwood hopes to comeback from last year’s season-ending collarbone injury and has progressed heavily since, such as reaching the ability to squat 500 lbs. according to Doeren. The 5’9” receiver has been credited in the offseason for his work ethic and leadership.
“Last year was a tough time with me getting hurt,” Underwood said. “It was hard not being able to play with my teammates and not competing in the game that I love to play. I studied my teammates, saw how they handled adversity, and saw what they could pick up. I helped out any way I could, and now I’m all right and ready to go.”
Despite the team’s underperformance last year, Underwood believes his team can turn things around, and he looks forward to coming out and playing hard in the upcoming season.
“We’re coming off a rough season,” Underwood said. “Guys are gonna be anxious to get out and worried how we end up. Coming out strong is going to be one of our biggest things right now to see how successful we can be and what opportunities we can take advantage of when they come up.”
Doeren and players highlighted the improvements that this year’s team will bring to the program, as the team’s main goal is to overshadow 2013’s disappointment. The Pack will kick off at Carter-Finley on Aug. 30 against Georgia Southern.
