NC State safety Tristan Teasdell met with the media to discuss his development this season, the upcoming game against Miami, and more.
NOTE: Click on the video above to watch the interview.
On his first career start…
First career start, I feel like I was ready for it. I had a bunch of older guys help me, like early on. I was playing a lot, like in the beginning, but they just told me to stay in the playbook, to stay ready when I got an opportunity. I was ready for it.
How did you handle not playing a lot? Obviously, coming from, being able to play a lot to now, kind of sitting and waiting to turn. How did you kind of work through that?
We just took it like the grain of salt. Just keep staying in the playbook. Like I said earlier, the older guys just kept telling me, like, stay ready, just stay ready. Long season, a lot of games. Still got three games left, so, yeah, just stay ready. And I was ready for it.
Talking about a lot of games, you played a lot of snaps in that game, 70 plus, I mean, how do you stay fresh after not playing as many throughout the season so far?
Yeah, I mean, like you said, just staying fresh. If you didn't play a lot earlier, you could take a totaling of body. But, you know, just cold tub. Me and JJ, cold tub every day. We're about to go to the cold tub right now. So, yeah, just stay in the training room, stuff like that.
Between practice or games, what was your welcome to college football moment?
Spring ball, a little perimeter drill, like a screen drill. When Cody Hardy came across, I had to take him on. That was probably welcome to college.
What went through your mind?
I just had to take it. I couldn't really do anything. I was trying.
What went through your mind at Pitt, you got a pick and then there's a penalty on the field, but you were able to get another one later in the game?
Yeah, Jackson Vick apologized to me. I didn't think too much about it. My coach would say, keep your head up, keep your head up. Then I booked another opportunity later on the game and I made a boast of it.
With the offense playing as well as it is for NC State, do you feel like if the defense gets rolling here a little bit, that you guys can really do some things in the last three games?
Yes, sir. I think we can walk three games. The defense can step up a little more, like we did last week, but just keep doing better each and every week. I feel like that's what we're coming to do this week.
What's been the biggest thing you've learned about yourself now that you've been able to get game snaps?
The biggest thing? Really, like pre-snap recognition, like play recognition. That's a lot. And Coach Warren helped me with that a lot. I meet with him a lot in a week. And like I said, JJ, JJ Johnson, he's like a big part of my development. I would say he helped me a lot. I really love that guy.
How's your wrist doing?
My wrist is doing well. It's my thumb. This is my thumb. It's doing good though.
How can you intercept the ball dealing with that?
I'm going to try.
What is the key to catching the ball?
I caught one yesterday. I just kind of tried to catch it with my body. I guess I can't really use my hands.
But that's not how you guys catch the ball.
No. It's totally different. Way different, yeah. Way harder.
Your thoughts on Miami? You scouted them?
Number 10. We definitely got to stop number 10. That's probably one of our main focuses. In the run game, they have two big backs, they can run downhill, but they run real hard. So that's probably one of our big keys. Stop number 10 and the run game.
What does it say about the safety room where there's obviously a lot of guys in and out, but each guy that comes in can still play up to their potential?
I feel like we got a lot of good guys that can play. Like if some person goes down, I feel like a lot of guys can step up, like Asaad Brown could step up. Ronnie. Ronnie can step up. Jivan Baly can step up. I can step up. I believe our guys can step up.
