VIDEO + QUOTES: Dave Doeren's Weekly Quotebook
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media via Zoom Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference to discuss the Wolfpack's loss to Wake Forest and its upcoming matchup versus Syracuse.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
Recapping the game, like I said after, I was really proud of how we responded after a really tough moment with [Grayson McCall’s] injury. In reflection, in 30 years of being on a college field, it’s the scariest moment I've had. I felt so bad for him and his parents. Our trainer, Justin Smith, our head of athletic trainer, did an amazing job on that field with his team and the docs, managing the chaos at the moment, keeping everybody calm. He did a tremendous job. After the game, when information was coming back on how everything was going, communication was great. I got to spend time with Grayson and his family at the hospital after the game. All the scans and things they did came back clean. He was in good spirits. Saturday night, he was released with his girlfriend and his parents recovering. He's in the concussion protocol. We'll give him time to go through all the steps that he wants to go through before we talk anymore about what the next steps are. It's only fair to him and his family to allow them that opportunity and be supportive of him as he goes through this tough time. I’m thankful that he is, for the most part, okay. It was a concussion. When you see a guy get hit in college football or in pro football in the head, it's one thing, but when the helmet comes off and then he gets hit, that's another. That was a really weird thing. I don't think there was any malicious intent. It was a clean hit from the side when this helmet came off and the other player coming in. It's a tough play.
A lot of people have asked me about the play. Was it targeting? Wasn't it? I'm not here to criticize our officials at all. I do think that the rule probably needs to be studied. By the letter of the law of that rule, he was not a defenseless player as a runner. If you hit somebody with the crown of your head or you launch yourself into somebody's head with the crown of your head, that's targeting. In that particular case, it was the front of the guy's helmet that actually hit Grayson. When you see a play like that, you think, “Why does it matter what part of the head hits him at all?” It was a scary moment.
I talked to him on the phone a little bit ago. He's in good spirits. He's excited to be back around the team. We'll go through all the proper steps with him and be there right behind him. I was talking to him at the hospital. We were talking about the play itself. He hadn't seen it. His dad and mom were in the room. He said, “Coach, I thought about sliding, and then I said, ‘No, I'm not doing that.’” He has given the game so much. He's such a competitor. He's such a warrior. I know I and everybody around here were pulling hard for him. It's not what you expected in the game.
Turning from that event to our sideline, seeing our guys and how emotional they were, in the moment, I wasn't even thinking about the rest of the rest of the guys. I was thinking about him. “Dang, how are we going to get these guys back on track here? This is tough.” It was. There were a lot of tears on our sideline. I was proud that we got back in the game. C.J. Bailey came in and did a really nice job. He didn't get a lot of reps last week as a backup. You never get as many as the starter.
The disappointment is that we didn't finish, and I’m really disappointed in that. It's something we take a lot of pride in as a program. We had plenty of opportunities in the fourth quarter. With 10 minutes left in the game and 10-point lead, multiple, multiple times plays presented themselves to us that we could have gotten off the field defensively or made a play defensively or a third-and-three on offense where we don't protect the way that we're capable of. We know we didn't finish. That was disappointing, really disappointing as a coach. I own that, as always. I've got to get our team to finish better. Our players will own that as well. They've got to finish. I'm proud of C.J. This team will battle for him. Kendrick Raphael really battled in that game, ran hard, protected well.
Our outside receivers continue to improve. Noah Rogers, Wesley Grimes, Terrell Anderson, and Keenan Jackson all caught the ball well and did some things with their legs after the catch. Justin Joly did the same. He made a really nice play on third down and strained for a first. We ended up scoring on that drive. Then, he had the touchdown later in the game.
Negatives, we had two turnovers that we forced on defense that we got zero points out of offensively in the third quarter. We opened the third quarter. We scored right before the half knowing we'd get the ball back to open the third quarter. I thought, “All right, we can get some momentum here,” and we went three and out. That was a disappointing drive.
We got beaten protection in some critical spots. We had some guys wide open on a couple plays and C.J. got rushed and couldn't get the ball to him. We had K.C. [Concepcion] on a screen and go. On that third-and-three, we had a high-low route. He couldn't throw the ball to him. We've got to be better. It wasn't just on the old line. There were two on the running backs and then on the other line. We've got to be better in those moments.
On defense, we got two takeaways. We had a couple of strips we didn't capitalize on. One of them was one of the plays I'm mentioning. [Tamarcus] Cooley does a great job stripping the quarterback. The ball's right there. Three of our players are there, one of theirs, and they get the ball back. That would have ended the game.
Our DBs played man-to-man coverage very well in the game. We didn't make enough plays when we were in zone defense. They out-jumped us for one in the corner of the end zone on a third-and-10, which is a play we need to make. We had poor eyes at linebacker a couple times on play action. The roughing penalty was a critical error. We were really good on third down defensively, 8-of-11 successfully. We were 0-for-3 on fourth down. Those were all in the fourth quarter.
Our special teams was a wash in the game. We were 3-for-4 on field goals. Our punter is better than he showed. He had one extremely good punt — they called us for being in the backfield, which I don't see on film — which hurt his average. He did have a shanked point earlier in the game. Their punter did as well. The special teams were not a factor for either team in that game. In the past, they have been.
Now, we move on. We're at the halfway point of the season. 3-3 is obviously not where we want to be, but we have a lot to play for. We’re excited about the next opportunity with Syracuse. They're a 4-1 team coming off an overtime win on the road at UNLV. They have a really good quarterback in Kyle McCord, obviously a nationally known guy from Ohio State. He has a really good arm. He’s poised and experienced. He's won a lot of games. The receivers have a lot of experience. [Trebor] Peña is a guy we've seen for a long time. He's a good returner as well. [Oronde] Gadsden was out last year, but the year before we played him, and he made a lot of plays on us [as did] their receiver [Jackson] Meeks. The running back, [LeQuint] Allen, is an experienced back. They get the ball to him a lot of ways. They're putting up really good numbers on offense, particularly in the air. Will be a great challenge and opportunity for us.
Defensively, they play a lot of different things. They've been four-down. They've been three-down some the entire game. Sometimes, they do both in the game. There's a lot. Really two systems that they're merging. Number 10, [Fadil] Diggs, is a disruptive player. He plays defensive end and linebacker. He has eight TFLs and four sacks. They're big up front. They've got a really big D-line. A lot of experience, nine guys in their defensive depth chart that have been starters at one time. Pena, like I mentioned, is a really dynamic returner.
We’re excited to have our night game at home. We've had three straight noon games. From a crowd standpoint, we've always had great energy in our night games. We'll be in our all black uniform and hope that we have an incredible crowd. With our fans, I know all of us wanted better than 3-3. Trust me; no one's more disappointed than me and our players, but I also know NC State's about fighting and not giving up, and that's where we're at. We've been in worse situations and rallied and had really good finishes. That's what we're going to try to do. We got six games, six opportunities. We'll take them all one at a time. We'll work our butts off. A lot to play for and a lot to fight for.
I know it's frustrating. I feel your pain, but I know one thing about this school: we don't quit. We dig in and fight, and we stick together. That's what I'm asking for with our fans. We need your help in this game. Crowd noise matters at home. You're playing a team that throws the ball on the road. Having you behind us would mean a lot with that.
On injury updates for other players...
I don't have to discuss injuries, so I'm not going to. I'm giving you the date on Grayson because of how public the injury was, but there are no rules around that, and I'd rather not talk about their health.
On what he's seen from McCord...
You can see that he's experienced, knows where he's going with the football, has touch, has strength of his arm, and can scramble to throw. He's not really a runner, although he did have a really good run for a touchdown where he jumped over a guy on the goal line in their last win. He's more of a scrambler to throw the football. He's got weapons around him. He does. They’ve got a lot of different types of pass game. They use the screens well. They throw it down the field, vertical, horizontal, both. He's a good quarterback. You can tell that he knows what he's doing. He's playing at a high level.
On Bailey's performance in tough spots...
He's handled adversity very well. He's got great energy, enthusiasm, and belief in himself. He gets better with each game. You can see him improving. He loves football. He really enjoys the process of going through the game plan and practice. He's not an excuse guy either. When he makes the mistake, he's the first one to own it. He's a guy people want to play for. He's also a great teammate. He hurts for Grayson. Grayson's a good mentor to him. With Lex Thomas, it’s the same way. Those guys are really tight, that group of guys. C.J. is going to play well. He's going to come in and play really well. I'm excited for him.
On assessing the team’s run game...
Early on, it was pretty bad. It got better. It got quite a bit better against Clemson. Then against NIU, it was not great. We had some good runs in that game. We didn't turn the ball over. That was a physical front. We had some good runs in this game. If you watch the game, how our game plan was, there were a lot of plays that were runs where we threw the football. We took the numbers, took the leverage, I guess you'd say. Had he handed off some of those, there could have been some pretty explosive runs, if you look at how the box was on some of those plays. There are improvements in some ways. Am I happy with it? No. I'll tell you what I am happy with: I'm happy with how hard the receivers are blocking. Kendrick Raphael is running really hard, physical, and making plays with his feet. I am happy with that part of it, but we can get better there.
On Raphael's growth from last season...
He's gained weight. He worked really hard in the offseason to help himself, one for his health, but two for protection, to be able to take on linebackers. He learned a lot last year being a little undersized. His work ethic has helped his durability and strength. The game's a little bit slower for him. He's just got reps. You get better and better. He's really competitive. I'm not surprised. The high school he played at, Naples High, had a split back veer offense. He's both tailbacks in that offense: fullbacks half the time and tailbacks half the time. They blocked as much as they ran the ball. He's brought up as a tough running back, not some guy that's just a skill back back there. He likes the contact of the game.
On the increased passing attempts against Wake Forest...
We wanted to get the ball to our outside guys, but a lot of the run game in college football, not for us, people are going to play a certain way in the secondary. You're going to take what they give you at times with bubbles, smokes, slants, hitches, or outs. Make people put bodies on bodies to lighten the box. When we were getting those lighter boxes, softer secondary pictures, we were throwing the ball out there more because of what they were presenting. That's why the numbers were up. If you actually look at the play itself, you're going to see a lot of run blocking going on on those quick throws because they were run plays with tagged RPOs.
On Wake Forest’s fourth-and-nine conversion...
We had a line stunt. We were playing coverage on the play. He wasn't a quarterback that ran around a lot. We had a four-man pass rush called. We did a poor job executing the line stunt. We got no penetration and no disruption. The game we had called is actually a really good game for quarterback draws and things like that. We didn't execute it very well. We had worked hard on that. I know it was something Coach [Charley] Wiles spoke a lot about yesterday in our meeting. He was disappointed in that play. We felt like we'd be able to capture the quarterback with that game. Obviously, they did a better job than we did on that play. That was a tough one. When you get somebody in fourth-and-nine, you've got to get off the field.
If he discussed the play where McCall got injured with the league...
I've talked to the league. I can't discuss that conversation. That's private. I have a lot of respect for Al Riveron, the head of officials. One thing we don't do is publicly talk about those conversations. He and I were on the same page with the fact that the targeting rule itself needs to be studied. The language in it puts the refs in a tough spot, particularly on a play like that one. You guys have watched a lot of football. There are not a lot of plays where the helmet comes off and, at the same time, someone else is coming in to hit him like that. It really highlights the rule and the verbiage of the rule. I do think, in talking to him, there's going to be a lot of conversation from an officiating side about the language of targeting. Is this the right way to officiate the rule? He felt terrible about what happened. I have a lot of respect for him and how he does his job.
If the play wasn't ruled dead for McCall's helmet coming off because the football was out...
Yeah, it was a fumble.
If the play should have been blown dead because helmet was off...
It's a good question. The ball came out simultaneously so they didn't rule it dead. I could see where that could happen. You're asking me to officiate, and I'm not an official. Some of those calls are on the field in the moment. If a guy continues to play with his helmet off, you usually see that, but as you know, that play, he went directly to the ground. I don't know. It's a tough one.
If he's ever kept player off field due to injury concerns
I'm always going to first start with the doctors, the family, and the young man. If I felt that way, I have no problem making that call, but I'm going to start with them. That's the right way to do it. I have three sons. I would want them to be treated the same way that I'm going to treat these guys. If that's where we're at, that's where we'll be. I have no problem making that decision if that's where we end up. The steps are not head coach first. It's medical team first, family, and then bring the head coach in and say, “Here's where we're at.”
If McCall is at that point...
I'm going to let them go through the steps. Once we do that, then we'll have a conversation publicly. He deserves that opportunity. I'm not going to supersede what he's asking for.
On preparing for Syracuse's varied defense with a freshman quarterback...
We've got to get into our game plan here and see where we think their weaknesses are, what their tendencies are, why they're getting into these fronts, and how random it is. Is it more down and distance? Is it more formation related? Was it just this team they did that and it never showed up again? When you watch five games, it's all over the place. When you start to really get into it, you can find out how challenging it's really going to be. At this point, I couldn't tell you that. We're in the middle of game planning right now. For a freshman quarterback, he's seen a lot. Clemson presented everything. NIU did a lot of stuff on defense. C.J. has already seen a lot. He's got a veteran center with him. We'll have to make the plan, obviously, one that he feels good about. That's our job as coaches, to help him with that.
On McCall potentially helping from sideline against Syracuse...
Grayson's going to be a coach one day. I have a feeling. He's pretty damn good with those guys. If that's where he's at, helping him, he's great with those guys on the sideline no matter what it is. Whether they're playing us in odd the whole game, four-two the whole game, or both, he's going to be really good with those guys on the sideline.
On Syracuse's impact transfers...
Getting the right guys, guys that fit a need and guys that are good players can really help you. You see it both ways in some cases. The portal can be a transitional thing, particularly for a new coach coming in where they may have had some glaring spots. Getting the quarterback that they have right now has completely changed his opportunity as a head coach in year one. You go back to when I got here. I got Jacoby Brissett, but he had to sit out for my first year. We went from three wins in year one to eight wins in year two because of that position change. That position is the most important in football. You can look at every NFL team, every college team, every high school team: if there's a really good player at quarterback, they usually have a pretty good record. They usually do. They’ve got a good quarterback. Kyle McCord is a good player.
On evaluating Cooley's growth...
I'm really impressed with his improvement. His last two games, he's been very good in coverage, zone, blitzing, and fitting the run. He's getting better and better each week. He’s a really talented athlete. We knew that when he got here. He had a lot to learn. To his credit, he really worked hard at improving. Coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay does a great job with our nickels. Tamarcus has been a positive spark for our defense, for sure.
On bringing in several defensive backs through transfer portal...
Some of it is because of injuries and losses that we had, guys leaving our team to go play more somewhere else. When you add guys, and then Devan Boykin got hurt in the bowl game, that was a position group that we felt like needed some older players and competition in the room while we developed some of the younger guys. Daemon Fagan's injured as well. Our returning guys weren't healthy, and we had some good freshmen coming in who I really am excited about. Ronnie Royal is going to be a really good player here. Asaad [Brown] is going to be a really good player. Jivan Baly's getting better, but you don't want to go from senior to true freshman at every spot. You want to have that differential. We knew we needed to add some guys. Did we take too many? I don't think so. They've all played and competed. Some of them have been banged up along the way, but the reason we did is pretty obvious.
On what tests McCall went through at the hospital...
He went through every test you can go through. I'm not going to get into it. He's at the trauma center; that's number one trauma center in Wake County. They put every single resource into what they do. He had really glowing results coming out of there, other than he has a concussion. You feel good about it because, as you all know, head injuries can have a lot of other things. Swelling, blood, there was none of that. We feel fortunate that all we're dealing with is a concussion, but for him, there's been multiple in his career, as you know. The hospitals here in Wake County, we're fortunate in the Research Triangle to have the medical care that we do.
On Joly’s start to the season...
He's a really good ball catcher. He's good with yards after catch. He's hard to tackle. He's quick feet. He’s good in space. He elevates for the ball and can track the ball. He's competitive. He's getting better without the ball. That's the biggest area we've been working hard with him: how to block in space, how to be good on different types of blocks, and, when the pictures change and defenses aren't always how they line up, how to adjust. He's continuing to improve in that. He's been a great asset to our offense. He's getting better each week. He works really hard. He's a fun kid to coach.
On having a tight end like Joly for Bailey...
It helps a lot. Quarterbacks love big targets. Having a guy that can sit in space and make plays, it doesn't have to be a perfect ball for him to bring it in with his catch radius. That helps the quarterback tremendously.