Kamal Bonner: "I Feel Like We Have A Good Plan"

NC State linebacker Kamal Bonner recently met with the media to discuss potentially earning a bigger role, Northern Illinois, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

So first of all for you, you got a chance to step up down the stretch this past week. What was that like for you? 
It felt pretty good when I heard my name was called. I was ready, I was ready for the moment, but you know, it was great to be able to capitalize.

Going into this week, obviously we've heard there's been some shifts. I mean, do you feel like this is your opportunity to kind of step up and take on one of those bigger roles?
Yeah, I just got to stay consistent and focus on the main thing and just be great every day. 

What has the competition been like in practice, and the defensive side just overall, over the past few days? 
The last few days, man, we've been getting after it. We feel like we haven't been playing to our standards. So we've just been going hard every day. 

What do you think the biggest priority has been in the last couple days? 
I think the biggest priority is just being hard, tough, together, just being us, you know. Yeah, I'm sorry.  Just knowing our standards, you know, hard, tough, together, that's us. We just gotta bring that back out.

When you see a team like NIU that loves to run the football as much as they do, I feel like that's the biggest thing. 
That's our game right there. I feel like that's our game. We can shut that run game down early and make them pass the ball.  

I think your journey in high school started off at safety, correct? 
Yes, sir. 

How much have you and Thunder kind of had to put together a plan in the last couple years to get you where you want to be? 
We've been putting together a pretty good plan. I mean, I was in the developmental program last year. I mean, this year I had a big role, so I had to be in the progressive, so I'd be with older guys every day working hard. So I feel like we have a good plan. We just got to stick to it. 

You mentioned that's what you guys want to do is stop the run, but that's been a little bit of a struggle the first few games. I mean, how much pride do you guys take in that and fixing that now at this point? 
We take a lot of pride in it, man. Like I said, that's our defense, you know, top five in the country for the last three years. 

What's the key to getting back to that standard? 
The key to getting back to that is just playing together. Good communication is just playing together for real, for real. 

What's the reason behind the struggles, do you think? Is it like just meshing together as a defense or just mentality on an individual level? 
I think it's just communication. Everybody gets better at communication.