NC State QB Coach Kurt Roper: "Experience Is The Best Teacher"

NC State quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper recently met with the media to discuss Grayson McCall's play, the QB room, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Fall camp is, you know, you're in the Western Carolina prep. What have you seen from the program?
It's quite a bit different when you go into game prep than it is spring ball or fall camp. When you go against your defense, you get to spend a lot of time, you know, teaching what their scheme is. And then when you get into game prep, you have a lot fewer days and you have to tell these guys they got to learn fast, right? You got to speed read tape, you got to speed read all the notes that we give you and process a lot of information. That's why experience is the best teacher. You know, when you talk to a guy like Grayson that's been around and you say something, he can see it in his mind's eye. I don't have to spend as much time maybe showing it on tape or things like that. But it's obviously a challenge when you've got, you know, just a set amount of days to get ready for an opponent. So we're into that and we're getting ready for a good football team. So it's a challenge.

How has Grayson grasped the offense? It's new to him, but yet he's such a veteran guy.
He's in his... he's with Coach Chadwell and he's with Coach Beck. And so when he went from one offense to the next offense, you just get better at learning the next. It all just, it's easier to correlate. We're all doing largely the same things when you watch football. It doesn't matter what level. We just speak it differently, right? Like maybe a few changes here or there. And when you're getting into your third offense, it's just, it's an easier progression.

Has there been a decision on who Grayson’s backup is gonna be?
Yeah, yeah. And I would assume Coach, when he wants to have that conversation is probably the one that needs to have that conversation. 

How do you like the depth? I'm sorry, how do you like the depth in the group?
I think we're a talented group. You know, Grayson's got a lot of experience. Lex has been around here a long time. Ethan has been around here, you know, a long time. And been in the offense. And then now we got a new, really talented young football player. So, I really enjoy my room. I enjoy coaching those guys. I think they're a talented group. But you're always nervous about staying healthy. You know, staying healthy would be obviously the best of everything.

What's been your impression of CJ being out there on the field and just kind of learning?
He came from such a good program. And they threw the ball so much. That his understanding and his spatial awareness is at a higher level than a lot of guys when they first come in. You know, he's played a lot of football for a lot of years. With good players, against good players. And he was asked to do a lot of things within that offense. So he's been impressive with a lot of things he's done.

Coach, what's the balancing act like for CJ? Because maybe you might want to redshirt him possibly, but you want to play in those four games. But if you play in those four games and he gets hurt, then those four games are gone. What does that balancing act like for the coaching staff?
That's a great question. And that's an ongoing discussion that we have all the time. And obviously, you know, we dealt with that last year.

So it's been something that we've obviously had discussions about and will continue to have discussions about. 

What have you seen from Lex over the past year?
You know what? He's healthy. And I think that was a tough thing that he had to battle his senior year. And I don't know that anybody works harder than Lex. Like, he's here all the time. And I think his arm is stronger than where it was when he was getting recruited. He has a really strong arm. He's a fast twitch guy. I mean, he loves this game. He's a Thomas, is the best way to say it.

And he keeps getting better every day.

What’s it been like working with in-helmet communications? Kind of getting used to that over the past six months or so. 
I think it's still a learning process. It's obviously easier to give quick notes within a game. I think you don't want to talk a whole lot. Maybe you saw it online, but Matt Stafford is getting talked to by a coach in his ear, and he's in the huddle, and he's like, he's still talking. Oh, my God. You should look it up. It's an interesting thing. But for me, it was a learning lesson. You can give too much, right? You got to let these guys go play. So, obviously, it's an advantage to, hey, it's third down now. Hey, whatever the situation is, I can give him a quick reminder.

But he's got to go play, and we got to let him go play.

You've been here for a little bit now. I mean, how comfortable have you gotten here with the Wolfpack?
Six years at one place is fortunate in this profession. And, man, every day I'm grateful to be able to drive to the same house. I've lived in a lot of places, and it's been – I've been fortunate to be able to raise my kids in one place for such a long time. 

How much better a coach are you now than when you were when you got here?
I think you better grow every year as a football coach. I think maybe maturity is the best way to say it. You know, maybe dealing with people and how I communicate with people, hopefully we keep getting better on that. Like, I've been coaching football 30 years now. There's not much I haven't seen schematically, right? It's probably more relationship-based than anything else. And maybe being a dad has helped me grow in that area.

Do you think one of the strengths is there's a lot of flexibility in the sense of in some schools all the quarterbacks all look the same and they all play the same. That really hasn't been the case at NC State where, you know, one guy might be 6'6", one guy might be 6'0", one guy runs, one guy passes. Like, what kind of flexibility does that give?
Well, I think it's good flexibility. Just so you understand, in this game, I believe you have to be able to throw the football. I think that's the first thing that I'm looking for in a quarterback is can he functionally throw the football? Because at some point it's going to come down to that. And we want the best athlete that we can find. If that comes in a guy that's 6'6", or 6'0", then so be it. Every year that's happened. But those are the things that we're looking for. Then we're looking for a competitor that we all can trust, right? And sometimes that comes in different packages every year.