21 minutes of NC State HC Dave Doeren at ACC Football Kickoff
NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media in the breakout session at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte. Here is 21 minutes of unfiltered conversations between Doeren and members of the media.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch Doeren’s discussion. Below is a collection of quotes.
“Beating UNC in that game probably, one of the plays that led to that... I didn’t get to watch them miss the kick, I had my head down, I was praying on that one.”
“For me, it’s way overdue [divisions being removed]. It’s not because of the old plan was a bad plan, but I’d seen enough of teams playing each other in the championship game and weren’t the two best teams playing each other.”
“The conference title in my eyes is the two teams who have won the most games playing each other, even if it’s a rematch.”
“That game will probably generate a lot more attention.”
“Last year’s defense won’t win this year’s games. This group wants to show they are as good or better. Now they have to go do that. We have a lot of good pieces back on defense.”
“Our d-line rotation is really good right now. I’m anxious to see the linebackers step up and see what they can do.”
“It’s a good group and they are hungry. They hear the same thing you guys are saying.”
“Two years ago under coach Beck we had a great offense. This past year with all the quarterback injuries I’m not sure it would have mattered what system we ran. We ran into some pretty challenging stuff.”
“I’m super happy for Tim Beck to be a head coach.”
“I thought the players wanted some change over there systematically... you can tell their excitement and eagerness to learn has been awesome.”
“Robert Anae is a really creative guy.”
“I want to win... I don’t think it’s unrealistic for us to have a top ranked defense and a top ranked offense.”
“[Brennan Armstrong] put his head down and went to work... in a lot of ways he proved himself through his work. His knowledge of the offense is helpful.”
“I enjoy playing Notre Dame. It’s great to have a team with their history and tradition coming to Raleigh.”
“We did beat them in the hurricane which was awesome... it’s a great opponent.”
“I don’t know if it matters, to be honest. We don’t always have a FCS game. Being a former FCS player and coach I think it’s awesome we do.”
“When you play them, you get the same thing. You just don’t know how good the competition is going to be.”
“It fits our personality to be the underdog... at this point of the season none of it matters... you have to earn it. None of us know what our roster is going to be for the whole season. How many injuries we’ll have... last year was a unique challenge, but having all that, I enjoyed that challenge.”
“Payton Wilson has grown up a lot. He’s a much different version of himself. He’s mature. His spiritual life is very strong. He has a super steady girlfriend he’s in love with. He’s a college graduate. He went from being petrified of public speaking to being a good public speaker.”
“I just want to win. I’m competitive... we’re going to push these young men to get to where they want to be.”
“I just enjoy the company of these players and our staff.”
“It’s not the portal that’s made it challenging, it’s the combination of NIL and the portal at the same time.”
“When you have more explosive plays you have more touchdowns.”
“Having the speed we now have on offense... Julian Gray is pretty fast, he can make a guy miss and now he’s off to the races. We need some more of those types of plays in our offense.”
“Keyon and Trent Pennix are dynamic players. KC Concepcion and Vereen showed they can contribute early.”
“It’s going to be an interesting camp. I think coach Anae is waiting to see who emerges.”
“The transfers we’ve brought in have been great fits.”
“To have eight wins with four quarterbacks, that only happened because our defense was superior, special teams was really, really good, and we didn’t turn the ball over often.”
“You lose sleep over a lot of things as a coach.”
“Everybody now has a voice, they have a platform with their phone.”
“I think what makes Aydan White stand out is he’s very fluid... his ball skills and ball tracking ability is elite. He has really good hands. Both he and Shy are long, strong, and tough, so we’re fortunate to have two guys like that.”
“It gives him the trust to be more aggressive when he wants to be.”
“There’s a reason we won 16 of the last 17 there. The fans, the student section, the light show... it’s a great place to play. It’s hard to hear in there... when you have that homefield advantage with your fans it makes a difference, it does.”