NC State TE/OL Matt McCabe: "I'm Still With My Boys"

NC State utility player Matt McCabe discusses his role at tight end, on the offensive line, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full interview.

On moving to tight end…
Just playing in space more, so interior linemen, you're not playing too much in space, you're more in the interior with the big guys. But, yeah, it's just playing in space. It's been good, yeah.

How do you see yourself playing in space? How do you see that happening? How well does it happen?
Yeah, so now that I'm on the edge, it's a little bit different, but I played tackle a few years ago, so it wasn't too hard to be on the edge. And, yeah, to play more in space with outside zone and inside zone has been good.

Where is the growth potential for you? 
It's going to be – I'm still getting used to it, but these past two weeks it's been a pretty easy transition because at tackle, the things I'm doing right now are not too different from what I've been doing at tackle in the past.

When they come and ask you something like that, what's your response? Do you kind of sit on it and let it -
No, I mean, I'm still competing at the time, but when they asked me, I knew I had to help somewhere else. It was pretty much a no-brainer, to help out the offense, because I'm still basically on the line, so I'm still with my boys, but it's been good.

And how do you feel about them coming to you and trusting you to make that type of move?
It's definitely an honor. It's been good. Can you ask it again?

Just the trust level they'd have. I mean, obviously, you could have asked a lot of people to do that, but they decided it was you.
Yeah, it's definitely an honor for them to do that. Yeah, I feel like since I was competing for that left guard spot, I was ready to make that move to be the tight end. 

You're from the area. What does it mean to get to play, you know, at Carter-Finley in front of friends and family?
Oh, it's awesome. It's an awesome feeling to play because my family's about 15 minutes away, so they don't have to travel far, but, yeah, my friends are still here. It's been good to play in front of them and get family members to come, yeah it’s an honor.

Have you talked to new guys just kind of about the game day environment?
Yeah. When we went through the mock game the other day, we went through all the little tidbits of game day, but it's pretty much similar to most schools about pre-game, pre-routine.

That 47 number feel weird?
Yeah, it definitely feels weird. It looks a little weird, but I'm fine with it.

Have you ever envisioned yourself scoring a touchdown yet?
Cross that bridge when you get there? Yeah, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.