Senior Day Will Be "Very Emotional" For NC State LB Drake Thomas
NC State star linebacker Drake Thomas discusses Senior Day, Boston College, and much more with the media.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview. A collection of quotes from Thomas are below.
What are your emotions going to be like on Saturday? Obviously you do have a chance to come back, but you'll be running out there on the field potentially for the last time.
Yeah, just having that potential, that'll be a little bit emotional I'd say. Not a hundred percent decided on what I'm doing yet. Obviously some decisions to make in the future that I'm really not even trying to think about right now. Trying to finish the season strong, but just having that, like I said, that potential of it possibly being my last game in Carter-Finley, very emotional.
Some of those guys don't have an option. Guys like Isaiah Moore, obviously Grant Gibson is behind us over here. What have those guys meant to you and helping you get to where you are?
They really became my brothers, like some of my best friends. Just all the shared experiences, day in, day out, everything that we've been through together. Just having that bond, it's just been so much fun. Just the journey from 2019 to now and how far we've come, it's just something that you can look back on and really be thankful for and appreciative of.
And one of those teammates is Thayer Thomas. What is it like knowing that maybe you guys get reunited down the road somewhere, but this could be the last time in a home game.
Yeah, like I said, emotional. We've played together since I was three years old, on and off, whatever, but we've just been on this journey together for so long and it is it for him here. So just knowing that, it's going to be a little bit extra emotional between me and him, I'd say.
Of all the years of this program, the fact that y'all have a chance to make history with a consecutive home win, how big of a goal is that? What would that mean to make a history like that?
It's a huge goal and it's a huge milestone for this team. We want to leave a legacy and that's part of it. And just having this big group of senior class be able to accomplish that in the last home game of the season, I feel like that's just the perfect opportunity and the perfect closing for a lot of the guys.
Who is your guess for most likely to cry?
Most likely to cry?
Who's going to see their mom or dad and just melt?
Yeah, Grant Gibson maybe? Yeah, maybe Grant Gibson.
What does it do for you guys defensively when the offense goes out like they did in the third quarter and drive the ball for 15 plays and seven and a half minutes?
It just allows us to play freely. We don't have to play tense anymore. We know we have support on the other side of the ball when they're scoring points. So we don't play uptight, we play freely, we play like ourselves. We go out there and we play fast, physical, and honestly just have fun.
In retrospect, how big was that goalline stand and what Moore did, kind of push them back and then they missed the field goal?
Yeah, it was huge. All week or the past couple weeks, we've been trying to preach how important redzone defense is and kind of set the tone right there. They got down on our one-yard line, two-yard line, whatever it was, and we stuffed them, and then they missed the field goal. It just set the tone for the rest of the game that nothing that we were going to give up was going to be easy.
You guys had eight sacks, the first seven games. Eight over the last two. What's kind of changed?
A lot of times early on in the season, a lot of those teams, we're not necessarily not getting there. They're getting rid of the ball quick, whatever it is. They know we're going to bring pressure, so they're trying to get the ball out fast and some of our blitzers are just hitting home right now. We're getting after at the quarterback, we have good pass rushers, and it's just working for us right now, so we're kind of getting into a groove and things are just working out.