Teammates Speak Highly of NC State QB Ryan Finley
Ryan Finley is a succinct person.
Not prone to hyperbole or self-aggrandizing, Finley is short and to the point. His play on the field mirrors his demeanor.
Finley is content to take the swiftest path to success with his tactical approach often contingent on what the defense decides it will allow.
Always direct yet confident, the redshirt-junior leads No. 14 NC State into battle versus No. 9 Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday with an idea of what he wants to do even though he is careful not be be overly specific about it.
“I think the whole offense is doing a great job,” Finley said. “We are in a really good rhythm right now. We had a really good bye week. We are confident and we are definitely going to take some shots this week.”
While Finley is not likely to publicly declare his confidence in himself his teammates are not afraid to do so. With an big game in a hostile environment looming, NC State has confidence that he will remain unflustered.
“We trust him,” Garrett Bradbury said. “He is a smart quarterback. We know he will execute. At the end of the day, it is not our job to worry about. We trust him.”
“Finley is a great player,” Jaylen Samuels added. “Whenever things get rowdy -- I am sure there is going to be some adversity throughout the [Notre Dame] game -- we can always rely on Finley to calm our offense down and get things going so we will come out and execute.”
For his part, Finley has confidence in his receivers when plays are needed to be made.
“We talk about 50/50 balls and we have got complete confidence in Steph [Louis], Kelvin [Harmon] and those guys,” Finley said. “They will go up and get those 50/50 balls even when they are covered. They still get a chance at the ball.”
As the game takes shape, Finley is not looking to force things or reinvent the wheel.
The graduate student has studied the Irish, even benefiting from previous experience taking on Notre Dame defensive coordinator Mike Elko when he was at Wake Forest, and he will enter South Bend with a plan.
“It is the Wake Forest guy, so we watched a little bit of the Wake Forest stuff,” Finley said of Elko. “We will be ready.
“I think they have really good players. They kind of entice you to make mistakes. I think they play, for the most part, pretty base but they have good athletes. They do not think you will just take the easy option all the way down the field, and I think that is what we are good at. I think that is one of our strengths, staying on the field. The emphasis for us is going to be ball security and just executing our plan.”
The Notre Dame football team has tons of luster and the matchup Saturday will be one of the biggest games in the nation.
NC State is on the cusp of the top-10 and the ramifications for the games over the next few weeks are plentiful.
The game against the Irish is, however, the next one on the journey and the Wolfpack is just looking to win the day as preparation for the winning the game. While Finley understands the tradition and actually has some family background involving Notre Dame, those things are not an emphasis this week.
Finley just wants to win.
“It is going to be a really fun environment,” Finley said. “Obviously, it is a place of great tradition but it is the next game.
“They have a great school. I have a cousin that went there and she got her PhD. I have a lot of respect for Notre Dame, but it is just the next game on our schedule and we are not taking it lightly. It is going to be a great matchup.”