Terrell Anderson: "They're A Good Team"
NC State wide receiver Terrell Anderson met with the media to discuss his play against Clemson, NIU, and much more.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
What do you think, being able to go from playing at Grimsley a year ago to scoring at Clemson for your touchdown?
I feel good. I feel good scoring, you know, even though it was late in the game. But, you know, Coach Doeren preached playing hard all four quarters. You know, like, the score don't dictate the game, but just, I just went out there to just show what I can do and just help the team in any way I can.
It's nice to get back to the practice field after a tough loss, and it kind of gives you guys a chance to blow off some steam. What's it been like in practice so far this week?
Today was our first practice, and we all came out with a different mindset. We all needed to start fast, offense and defense. We're doing more 11-on-11. Offense versus defense, we're getting each other better, and we look forward to changing the narrative on Saturday.
What was the message, I guess, in your room on Sunday, you know, when y'all watched film?
Yeah, I mean, all of us, all our guys, we are, I mean, we did what we can. When the ball came our way, we all made plays, and we drew pass interferences, and we fought well. So, I mean, we're just trying to do whatever we can do to help the team and come out on top of the game.
It seems like you and Keenan have been doing particularly well in blocking for the run. Is that something you've been focusing on and taking pride in?
Yeah, we got a thing called one more here, and my one more, like for the last, for the past three weeks, has just been body-on-body and matching the receivers, matching the whole receiver room, energy when it comes to blocking. So, I've been working on that myself, and I have so the past couple of days, the past couple of games.
What do you think is the biggest adjustment so far to college football?
Everybody else here, the game speed, it's faster. Y'all think faster, but, like, to me, it really, it feels like high school to me. I just gotta, once I get my signal, get my play, I'm ready to go. Other than that, it's just your preparation, like how you prepare yourself outside of, like, before the game, after practice, and take care of your body and stuff like that. So, I just gotta learn to take care of my body more.
Have you seen some of the older guys maybe step up this week in practice and get you guys, you know, everything's going to be okay, we're going to move forward, when you see that, some leadership?
Yeah, we got a lot of leadership on the team. In my room, Dacari Collins, very vocal dude, keeps everybody motivated, and Jakolbe Baldwin. They both, like, are leaders. For me and the younger guys, we got a younger group, so they're just leading the way for us, and we're just following them and trying to make plays.
Do you like the fact that things are more competitive this week in practice? A little, you know, do you feel like that's the way to do things? Is that a good thing for you guys? Just in general, it seems like there's more competition this week, you know, a lot more, maybe possibly more hitting this week.
Yeah, I mean, I don't really know about the competition and stuff. I just know I'm just here to make plays and do what I can do.
Does it kind of go the same in work very fast? Like, CJ Bailey just step right in and lead the team the way you did?
Yeah, I was glad to see CJ, his first start, but I've known CJ for a minute now, and I trust him. He's a good guy. He's my roommate. After the game, I told him he had a good game. I think he did good. I mean, well, not really good, but, you know, the plays that he made, but I mean, yeah, I'm proud of CJ.
What's something about CJ that you would really want to understand if you were his roommate?
I don't know. Probably he's sitting in the room and looking at the playbook all day. He’s focused. We see CJ, Christian and Zachary, Jimmar Boston, we sit in the living room every day, go through the playbooks and just get an understanding of the offense, come out and, you know, perform as we're supposed to.
You visited NC State countless times before actually coming here. Has there been anything about the NC State experience that has surprised you at all?
Yeah, I mean, it's really the same thing from me being recruited. All the coaches, you know, feel like a family here. They're trying to get us better, and, you know, we're trying to fix things that's like the bad things that's going on right now. We're just trying to turn things around and finish the season strong.
Northern Illinois, I don't know how much game prep y'all have done on them yet. What are your thoughts on them?
I think they're a good team. They beat Notre Dame, so, I mean, yeah, we just watching film getting better. But, no, we just focus on, you know, what they're doing, the thing that they're doing. The defense that they run, a lot of quarters coverage is taking away the deep shots. So we just got to take what they give us.