NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media Tuesday afternoon as the Wolfpack prepares for its season opener at Connecticut Thursday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s interview.
On what he saw in Davin Vann that merited the No. 1 jersey…
His daily strain and the way he plays the game. He plays really, really hard. [It’s] the impact he has on the line of scrimmage, the disruption that he corrects, and the way he led in the weight room. He got the summer program award for being the hardest worker and the strongest player. It’s off the field and the way he’s grown as a leader. It's similar to when Bradley [Chubb] was here. He’s a high-spirited guy that plays with an edge, and sometimes that’s a double-edged sword for guys. He’s learned how to use that the right way. I’m really proud of his growth on and off the field. To wear that, you have to be dominant in many ways. He’s the right pick.
On Chris Toudle bouncing back…
Chris has had a really good camp. He’s very consistent. You can see he trusts his body now. He’s using his arms and his shoulders. He’s doing some good things in the run game which is progress for him. He’s always been a ball-catcher for us at that position, but he’s really improved himself as a blocker. Trent [Pennix] has been in and out of camp with some minor things. He’s been great this week, so it’s good to have him back in there, but he hasn’t been able to go through the entire thing like Chris Toudle has. We should have both of them going into the first game and built on it as we go.
On his mindset going into the season opener…
There’s a lot of unknowns. You think you know what you have going into the first game, but under the lights, those gamers sometimes emerge, and sometimes guys shrink. I’m anxious to see the guys on game day. I’m excited to see them play. They’ve worked hard. It’s a really close-knit team. For me, it’s more anxious. I just want to see it. I want to get out there with them on the grass. Once we know how they are and get the jitters out of the younger guys that are playing, we’ll know that it’ll get better as it goes.
On the correlation between this year’s UConn team and last year’s…
Last year’s games don’t mean anything. Last year’s teams don’t win this year’s games. We know UConn’s a better football team even though they’re a different football team. We’re also a different football team. Whatever the score is, we’ve got to earn that. We know they’re probably talking about it. They want to play better than they did. I know they will. Watching their film, they were a much better football team as the year went on.
On the challenges to opening the season on the road…
There’s always home field advantage. They were 5-1 at home last year. We’ve been a really good home team. When you go to someone else’s environment, you have to get used to it. It’s a foreign locker room. The stadium’s different. The sideline’s tighter or looser as far as the space down there. You’re in a hotel instead of your own bed. There are some different things about playing on the road, but once you start the game, it’s the same. It’s all the things that lead up to it. Sometimes, guys can lose focus. It’ll be a good test to get on the road and see how mature we are.
On watching Maine’s film to scout Joe Fagnano…
We have everybody’s games. Everyone in college football, it doesn’t matter what level. Each week, you get everybody’s film. We get every NFL game, too. You don’t have to struggle to find film like we used to. We had to get it sent to us in the mail on a VHS. Now, it’s all online. We watched all that film. Obviously, we had to see him compete against a lot of people. He’s a good quarterback. He knows their offense. He’s got good size. He’s poised in the pocket. He’s a guy that can move around; he’s not necessarily a guy who’s going to run all day on you, but he runs well enough to hurt you. He and the offensive coordinator [Nick Charlton] have a history together, so there’s a similarity there to what we have with Brennan [Armstrong] and Robert [Anae]. They’ll be able to look back on games they’ve coached and played in together and have some recall for game-planning.
On what made UConn more dangerous toward the end of last year and how that translate to this year…
They’re a really good running football team. They’re a physical team on offense that doesn’t turn the ball over. They rush the ball well. They have two talented tailbacks that could play in our league for anybody. Defensively, they got better and better as the year went on, and they’re returning 10 of 11 starters. They just got used to what Coach [Jim] Mora wants in a team, and they’re a physical football team. Just like any coach that takes over, it’s hard at the beginning to get everybody on the same page. Over the course of the year, you could see that those kids started to believe, and they were sick of losing up there. They started listening and doing the right things. They’ve got a good team. There’s a reason they won five of their last seven games, beat Boston College, and beat Liberty. It’s a good football team.
