NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss spring practice, his transfer portal class, and much more!
NOTE: Click the video player above to watch the full press conference!
Dave, first question for you, just wanted to ask, as far as the spring game is concerned, do you guys have a plan for that at this point, or is that something that's...
No, there's no plan. Of course, we have a plan. Yeah, I mean, it'll depend on the health of the team when we get to that point. We haven't made any solid decisions. I mean, we'll be in full pads. I don't know if we'll tackle or not yet.
Tomorrow will be our first day doing that. And, you know, the way it's set up now with 40-some new players every practice is what do we need to show, what do we need to see from these guys, how do we want to get better, and that one won't be any different. It won't be a true spring game, I guess. When you say you're just going to go play four quarters of football, we're definitely going to use situational things throughout to try to make sure we hit everything.
Lou Holtz, just your thoughts on him, if you don't mind, sir.
Coach Holtz?
Yes, sir.
Oh, I mean, everything that he did for the sport, I was watching something on TV yesterday about him. It was to the point where they were talking about him when he was announcing games, in the studio, and how funny he was. And I never got to work for him. Obviously, being at a school where he worked, you hear some of the stories. But, became really good friends with Skip, and Skip would tell me stories about his dad.
He just left a legacy, and I think that's, as a coach, the number of people he influenced, not just people that became coaches, but players that played for him and fulfilled their dreams and goals, the impact he had at the multiple places he went, and the type of family that he had, how successful his family was. So, I mean, you can't say enough.
And that's what you hope for. You hope that when you're no longer on this planet, everything you did is something that was respected and people have good things to say about your time. And he left an impression, and he definitely did that.
You knew you had to reshape the tight end room and the portal, but you also reshaped the wide receiver room. What was it like to be able to add as many guys as you did between those two positions?
Yeah, the staff did a really good job. I mean, that was an area of high need. A year ago, it was on the D-line, trying to get more edge players, and this year, with what we lost in those two rooms, there was a magnified approach because of how many good players left the program. And it's fun to see those guys now. I mean, there are different places these guys are.
You talk about Hunter, a tight end who's played a lot of football, played on a national championship team at Montana State, and has a ton of snaps under his belt. Then you have Vander, who played at a playoff team in Oregon, but redshirted, and didn't get as many reps with the ones or twos, so we're getting to see that in that position. In the receiver room, we have guys at all stages who have come in.
There are several freshmen. There are a couple of guys who are just a couple of years out of high school. There are a couple of guys who are seniors, and it's fun to see the competition. It really is. And for CJ, he needs all the reps he can get with these guys right now, and will just build that chemistry because those two positions, as you know, in the past game, are paramount.
Speaking of CJ, you all brought in several guys that he's either played with or against. What has that dynamic been like to see them together?
Well, they're having a lot of fun, you know. I mean, it started... We were at a dinner, and one of the last guys came in on an official visit, and they were all at the table together. My wife and I were having dinner with them, and they were just reminiscing about Pop Warner and about things that used to happen when they were growing up, and it's cool.
It builds chemistry when you have guys that have chemistry already. And at the same time, man, those guys are competitive. Like, they're friends and all that, and when they get on the field watching King guard those guys defense to offense and then trying to beat him, and seeing how competitive they are, it's fun.
And I think that's the hard part when you're adding 40-plus new players a year. When you add your high school, junior college, and portal guys together, when some of them already have chemistry coming in the door, it does shorten that curve a little bit for the team.
In an era where guys can leave and go wherever they want every year, how important is it to have CJ back for his third year in the program?
Yeah. I don't know how many teams. I know in our league, SMU, how many teams can say they have a third-year starter at that position in their programs. There aren't many that do. And so, your offseason, I've said this to you guys before, is way different when you have a returning starter, especially a quarterback, because you're not trying to build everything around that competition.
And his ability to lead and get guys together and watch film, go out and walk through plays, run the route tree where he can throw the ball, the team in general, like, he's going to be the alpha of the football team, the starting quarterback. And so when they already know him, they trust him, they respect him, and he's got relationships that aren't just on offense, but on defense, it helps a lot.
It helps to throw him in the offseason. And then for him, he's not learning a new offense. Like, he's literally learning how to take what he knows to another level right now. And so it's been fun. I'm really proud of CJ for the way he's attacking these practices, not attacking them like a guy that's a returning starter. He's, every day, trying to get better and better and improve himself, improve himself, improve himself, to the guys on the field that he hasn't played with.
On the defensive side of the football, a lot of new transfers that came in this offseason. What have you seen from them, and who's maybe stood out to you thus far?
Harvey Dyson's a guy who was a nine-sack guy last year and played against really good competition, played against SEC competition at times, and performed well in those games. And you can see his ability. It's, he's a very natural fast rusher, and that's what we were hoping we'd get from him.
Popo, a really experienced linebacker, has a really good command presence when he talks on the field, and understands the game. DaKaari Nelson, same thing, linebacker from Penn State. He's played a lot of football. Just mature, you see that.
King Mack played a lot of football, very mature. And so having those guys on defense, it helps because we lost Caden Fordham. It was like the alpha of the defense, right? And so you don't want to just have a young guy in there. You want to have some guys who have had to be on that platform before.
And then you have guys coming back that have gotten better, and it's fun to see that. Brian Nelson's really playing well at the corner. And so last year, he was a new guy, and now he's a returner. And you see his confidence growing, and he's getting better. Jackson Vick, coming off the finish of his season, is really playing well. He's got a lot of confidence. He's using his voice.
Teague Anderson's doing that on offense. And so it's a little bit of both. You want your returners to be better than they were and up their game from a leadership standpoint. And then you want the new guys that you're counting on to be able to do that for you.
Have you noticed any uptick with guys in the class of 2025, just two and a half months later, since the season ended?
Yeah, I mean, like LaCorian Hodge, you can see his improvement. I mean, he was the guy that we got late last year in the second signing class and didn't get here until summer. And he's changed his body in a good way. Caden Gordon, same thing. You see him getting better from where he was a year ago to now. And Preston Douglas, another guy, had a really good catch today in our two-minute drill that has gotten better for us from last year to this year.
When you had a one-transfer quarter window, how did that change your guys' approach last year? You guys used the spring really well. How do you kind of go into it knowing that this is what you got to work with?
Yeah, I think, and I told the team this, like, there isn't any, this guy's not getting up, or this guy gets injured, get another one. Like, you have to take what you have, and you've got to get it better, and you've got to keep it as healthy as you can. And that's really the magic of your practice.
You can't, it's like NASCAR driving. Like, you drive as fast as you can. You're going around these turns at 200 miles an hour, right? And you don't want to crash the car. Practice is the same. You want to play really fast, really physical, but you want to keep guys healthy. And with one window, it's even more important, because you just don't have a lot of time to get them back.
What has it been like to have Phillip Rivers around the program a little bit more, obviously, here yesterday, and then been able to visit with him, too?
Well, I can't speak to it as a recruiting piece, right? But just having him with his status, I mean, talk about a crazy two months for him. Like, finishes, plays in a state championship game as a head coach, becomes the starting quarterback of the Colts, right? And then a week later, when that season ends, he's interviewing for a professional football job. And within two months, I mean. And then he's bouncing around, you know, trying to figure out the next steps for his son.
And then, obviously, he's sitting alone. So coming back and being a part of his university. Anytime he comes back or anyone like him who had a prolific career and is going to Indoor right now, you'll see guys who are actively playing in the NFL. They're training right now. It's awesome. It's awesome for our players to see the alumni come back. I know our fans always love that.
And then for me, as the head coach, it's just you know that when those guys are here, that the experience they got is what you hoped it was. It's a place that they can call home away from home.
Some of the new additions there are pre-existing relationships, or you've played against them. How much of an advantage is it when you either know the player on the field or know the player personally?
Yeah, I mean, the evaluation curve is different because Bullitt's a good example. We've coached against him for two years. And so it wasn't a question of do we think he's a good player? Can he do this? Can he do that? It's how fast can he learn our offense? How's he going to integrate into the things that we're doing? And so the learning curve is cut way shorter for us on the evaluation side.
How much easier is it this spring not having to install two brand-new schemes on both sides of the bowl?
Yeah, especially defensively, like with all the guys we had out last spring. I mean, we had like a walk-on tryout in February, and there were three or four of those guys that were getting repped in spring ball, like three weeks later, because we just didn't have depth then. I felt bad for Coach Eliot.
So it's way different. And the recall that you have because of how we do our off-season, where we can install things in walkers now, really helps. And then those installs are coming fresh off the season. So they're really teaching the newer players, and the older guys are coaching them on what we do.
And so you can work on practice five today, and we're in a two-minute drill already. And so you're way ahead. We've had red zone twice already. And so our install is just really expedited now because of the recall we have.
How does the energy change when you have assistant coaches under the age of 30?
It can. Some of those guys, Shaw and Gavin, are good examples. They're high-energy guys. But I've coached with some older guys who are that way, too. I mean, I think that's more of a personality than an age group, to be honest. But there's definitely the ability to relate.
And I think that's the difference, more is they're closer to them when they got out of college and all the things that, as you guys know, are magnified now with social media and technology and how you do your daily life, not too far off from what they went through. So it's a little bit easier for them in recruiting and in coaching from a relatability standpoint.
What's it been like with the offensive line, with a mix of the guys that came back and then the guys you added from the portal?
Good, yeah. I mean, I think there are guys like Spike that are out there that are really helping guys. You can see improvement in the guys who are back. It's been a seamless transition. McCrimmon, the left tackle who came in, is doing a really good job. He's a really smart football player. And learning fast, Daniel Cruz, the center that came in from Texas, same thing.
Like, they're just plug-and-play guys. They're really, really easy to coach. They want to get better. So, it's sometimes you get a guy who thinks he knows everything, and that's not the case. These guys really want to learn. They’re really fun to be around.
