LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Players
No. 24 NC State's Grayson McCall, Davin Vann, Jayland Parker, and Kevin 'K.C.' Concepcion met with the media following the Wolfpack's 38-21 win over Western Carolina Thursday evening.
McCall completed 26 of his 40 pass attempts for 318 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception against the Catamounts. Vann recorded three tackles, including 1.5 tackles for a loss and one-half of a sack. Parker added seven total tackles, tied for the team lead. Concepcion caught nine passes for 121 yards and three scores to power the Pack’s offense.
NOTE: Click on each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each interview in the player above. Select quotes are provided below.
Grayson McCall
“It’s a good feeling. A lot of people talk about us having the best fans in the country, and I got to see that tonight. It was a great atmosphere, a really good environment. It’s fun to play in Carter-Finley for sure. I don’t think I showed them my best tonight. There’s a lot to improve on and a lot to work on, but I’m happy to come away with the win.”
“K.C. is a really good player. He finds a way to get open, and when you get him the ball, good things happen. I think we just started slowly. They were doing things defensively that we weren’t exactly prepared for, so we had to make some adjustments at halftime. I don’t think I played my best ball. It was the first time being out there in a while with me not playing the back half of the season last year. It was good to just get out there again. Like I said, I don’t think we played our best, but I’m happy to come away with the win.”
“I had a little bit of nerves going into it. It didn’t have anything to do with my injury last year. I felt confident that I was going to go out there, play fast, and protect myself. There were really no worries there, just week one nerves and getting out there for the first time in a while. I didn’t play my best ball, but I’m happy to be out there, play four quarters of football, and get the win. I’m able to go in tomorrow and watch the tape, and there’s a lot to get better from. It’s an opportunity for me to grow and get ready for next week.”
Davin Vann
“[Parker] did a good job stepping in the way he did. Losing Caden [Fordham] hurt us a little bit, of course. Having our No. 1 Mike go down hurts, but I think J.P. did a really good job of stepping in, knowing what he needed to do, and playing the way he did.”
“I think we just started off slow with first-game nerves. There were a few things that we came out prepared for them to run, and they didn’t really do quite what we prepared for. I think it was really just first-game nerves and starting off slow. Moving forward, we’ve got to attack every quarter with a fourth-quarter mentality the way we did today.”
“It’s nice to be 1-0. They were a really good football team. They came out and played physical. Being 1-0, we’re happy with that, and we’re just moving forward.”
Jayland Parker
“I’m just glad to have the opportunity to be out there with the guys, guys like Aydan [White], [Devon] Betty, Sean [Brown], and Davin. Just to share a moment like this with them means a lot to me. I appreciate them for trusting me to be out there with them.”
“In our room, Betty’s been saying all summer: ‘No matter what happens, we can’t have a drop-off.’ It’s always a next-man mentality. I just used that tonight, tried to play my best ball, play fast, play physically, and play inside our game plan.”
“Betty and Sean had to calm me down. My coaches pulled me to the side and just told me to breathe and relax. I was timid at first, but as the game progressed, I could say my nerves calmed down for sure.”
K.C. Concepcion
“I felt like last year, at the end of the season, we went on a run, and I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any drop-off. I just wanted to do better than I did last year.”
“My mindset was, ‘If nobody else is going to do it, then it might as well be me.’ That’s what helped me, and my teammates helped give me confidence throughout the game, and I helped give them confidence.”
“Jordan [Waters] had a slow start, but I’m always trying to give confidence to our guys and keep our guys’ heads up. Throughout the game, I was telling them to play like themselves and that it was going to come. We’ve seen Jordan do amazing things, and once those nerves got out of his system, he was ready to go."