NC State outside linebacker Cian Slone met with the media to discuss his play this year and preview the huge matchup against Notre Dame.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
Schematically, what have you seen on film from Notre Dame?
They're definitely a very well coached team. I'd say that they really like to run the ball, get the ball to the playmakers in the backfield. And we should do a good job being physical in a recent match.
Is this gonna be one of those games where it's a challenge not to try to be a hero and not do another guy's job, just do your job, play your lane?
Yeah, that's every single week for us. I mean, we have trust in each other. I got trust in the other 10 guys in the defense. So if we play our gap, we play our assignment.
Everyone else is gonna do what they gotta do, and we're gonna be successful on defense. So yeah, I mean, that just kind of goes for the whole vibe of this team, is just do your job and perfect your job to help the team.
You play a team like Notre Dame where you go to a place like their stadium. Is there an aura about that, or is it just a game?
I mean, it's just a game. We can't blow it up to anything bigger than it is. I mean, they're a great team. They're well coached. They're very talented, but it's just a game. We gotta go out there and play as hard as we can and do the best things that we can do together as a team.
On having played against Ashton Jeanty and the differences between him and Jeremiyah Love…
I mean, yeah, they're both very good backs, physical, fast, agility. But we just gotta do our part in getting them down, storming to the football and being physical at the point of attack, so yeah.
Does competing against Hollywood at practice really help prepare you for a guy like that?
100%, Hollywood's one of the best backs I've ever seen, definitely one of the best backs in the country. Just his contact balance and just his versatility as a pass catcher and as a runner, the coverage.
He definitely keeps you on your toes when you're dropping and you gotta cover him out of the backfield. So yeah, I mean, every single day, he's the same dude. You can rely on him to be who he is every single day, and that makes us better as a team, and definitely makes me better as a linebacker.
What was it like for you to see the missed tackles get cleaned up this weekend and have a much better, as a whole collective defense, just a better showing on that?
It was great. Yeah, I mean, that's not who we were against V Tech. We're a very good tackling team, and we didn't show that against them, obviously. But just seeing that improvement from one week to the next, just we're routing to the ball, wrapping up, being physical.
I was very proud of the defense, and obviously, on defense, we showed that when we tackle better, better things happen on the scoreboard. So we just gotta keep doing that. I'm sure when you picked NC State, you were looking at their schedule.
How important was it for you to play in big games, to have big stages?
It was very important. Yeah, I mean, this is a great opportunity for us as a program. And I mean, everyone's gonna be playing big games like this. I mean, this is why you play football. You wanna go to these big programs and compete and play the best you can as a team. So yeah, it was definitely a big decision, or pulling factor in my decision to come here.
