Amen bro
Photo by Steve Murphy/Inside Pack Sports
NC State Baseball
Jacob Cozart: "We're in the Best State Possible for Baseball"
No. 13 NC State catcher Jacob Cozart met with the media Friday afternoon to discuss the Wolfpack's upcoming 2024 season.
The 2023 Second Team All-ACC honoree returns for his junior season after batting .301, hitting 10 home runs, driving in 42 runs, and slugging .546 a season ago. Cozart enters the 2024 campaign as a Preseason All-American, according to Perfect Game.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Cozart’s interview.
“Everyone’s really excited. We’ve got a good group of guys this year. People love each other and love playing with each other. We’re going to take it one day at a time getting it going, knowing what’s coming this season. We’re really excited.”
“This team knows what our goal is as one team. We’re going to play for each other. We’re going to play for Coach [Elliott] Avent and play for our coaches. We’re going to respect one another and do everything we can to get better every single day.”
“My focus this year is playing for the team, doing what I can to be a leader for the team, helping us get better every single day, taking it one day at a time, and enjoying every moment of it.”
“It’s huge. We’re talented as a young staff, and we’ve got the same old guys who are very, very talented. They’re even better this year. With that mix right there, that’s all we can ask for.”
“It’s been everything and more, playing for Coach Avent. I don’t know a coach who cares for his players more than Coach Avent. I know he’s been there for me through all the ups and downs. He pushes me more than I can ask which is what I want. As a coach, he pushes me to be the best player, and off the field, he pushes me to be the best person I can be.”
“Everyone had the same mindset when they came in. They knew this is a winning program. We had 20 new guys come in, but it was right away where we started clicking as a team. We started doing stuff as a team. We love one another. We have the same ambitions together.”
“NIL is a great thing because it’s not just pay-to-play like some people think. It’s helping kids be able to go to college and play baseball instead of having to pay thousands and thousands of dollars. With that here, this program is built on character. We’re built on our work ethic. This team will be able to compete with anyone because of how hard we play for one another and how much we love each other.”
“I’m aware of it, but at the same time, my dad and Coach Avent have preached to me, ‘Just live in the moment.’ That means to me just doing what I can to help this team win. It’s not in my hands; what happens is in God’s hands. I”m a man of faith. Going forward, I’m going to do what I can to help this team win.”
“Out of the bullpen, Shane Van Dam is going to be really good. He’s a new guy that transferred in. Cam Wimbish is going to be a freshman [as is] Jacob Dudan. Honestly, everybody that’s going to be coming out of the pen has a chance to be really, really good.”
“I’m really excited. I’ve never been anywhere further than Texas. [Hawaii] is a whole new area for me to go to. I’m going to go enjoy it with my teammates. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
“Obviously, my freshman year came after the Omaha year which we know how hard it was for people to swallow, and we had that publicity. This team, we’re doing a really good job on focusing on what we can control, not focusing on what the outside media says or all the buzz surrounding our team. That stuff is oblivious to us; we just focus on what we can do to get better every single day.”
“It’s what we want to face. We want to face the best of the best. There’s no other way to do it. When we decided to come to school, we knew we would play in a Power Five conference, playing against nationally-ranked teams basically every single week. It’s exciting. It’s fun.”
“You mention those schools. There’s actually 18 D-I baseball programs in North Carolina. We’re in the best state possible for baseball. Everyone is really good. They all have talent. That’s the fun of college baseball now. Everyone has talent. That’s the way the game is now. There’s no game we’re going to look past. We’re going to take it one game at a time going through the season and just do what we can to control what we can do.”
“Garrett [Pennington] has been awesome. He came in and solidified himself as one of the team leaders, not just by how he acts but the way he is as a teammate, as a character, as a person. The way he handles himself, he’s selfless. He just wants to do anything he can to help this team get better. He’s honestly been beyond what I thought he’d be.”
“He had the team over to watch a football game one time, and that was the best brisket I've ever had. I’ve been to a bunch of barbecue places in North Carolina, but you couldn’t beat that.”
“Of course there is, but it was one step up from what we did the year before. Freshman year, we got robbed. Everyone knows it. Going into last year, we had the same aspirations. We got to the Regional, had a heartbreaking loss against South Carolina, and then the season ended. It left a sour taste in my mouth. That’s why I want to redeem myself and get to our end goal this year."
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I can't believe that team didn't get to host over unc and having to go to Greenville was awful. What am I not remembering about that?