NC State offensive coordinator Kurt Roper recently met with the media to discuss fall camp, his quarterbacks, the tight ends, and more!
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full press conference!
On the start of Fall camp...
Oh, it's always good to get started. It's the anticipation of the season you never get used to, right? That's why we do it, to go out there and compete, get back with the guys on the field, and learn who and what is what. It really gets down to what we can do and who needs to do it, and you have to spend this month getting ready for that, making the best decisions that you can.
Yeah, you have a different group of tight ends this year. What is that going to be like?
Well, again, like I kind of just said, we're out there learning what they can do. You have a system, and then you have to make sure your system fits what your guys are capable of doing. But we've got big, strong, long, athletic guys who are going to be able to make plays in the passing game and who are going to help us in the running game. We'll figure out the best positions to put them in, but we're obviously going to rely on tight ends in this system.
To build off of that, I actually wanted to ask about tight ends as well. As Cody Hardy had more of the blocking role and Justin Joly was more of a catcher, do you have those roles, and does it look like it's going to play out to be like that: a couple of different guys to fit the different roles? Or do you feel like you have somebody who can do a little bit of both?
Well, so you're right based on what we did last year in some of the sets, but every tight end has got to be able to do everything. So when we're in an 11 set, they've got to be able to run, catch the football, block at the line of scrimmage, and pass protect. So maybe it won't feel quite as much like it did last year, but Cody Hardy was a guy that we felt like could make plays in the passing game and put him in there.
All right, so saying all that, I think the tight end position in college football is a huge developmental position. I think it takes a longer time to get a young tight end ready to play than it does a quarterback. The game changes that drastically for him. Sometimes you find tight ends on the basketball floor, or sometimes your tight end was a quarterback. We ask those guys to do a lot of things, and it takes a really talented person.
They're in the running game, they're in the protection game, and they're in the passing game. So we've got to find guys that can obviously do all those things, and then we've got to be smart about what we ask them to do. I mean, I think it's a group that's really working hard. Dante's been around a lot longer than the other guys, but we're a talented group, and we expect a bunch of guys to make plays at that position.
I think his understanding of defensive football, that's always the growth. Like when you come in and you start teaching any player, they want to learn. If they're an offensive football player, they want to learn the offense. My first football coach in all of college football was a guy named Mike Heimerdinger, and Mike was a great football coach, God rest his soul. In my first quarterback meeting, I was sitting in there and he started talking to me about linebacker alignment, and I'm like, "What is he talking about? Like, who do you want me to give the ball to, and where do you want me to throw it?" It was such a learning lesson for me at 18 years old that to really play good football, you've got to understand what the other side is doing. So his level of understanding of what the defenses are trying to do, and getting pre-snap plans based on whatever keys that we have on a defense, fronts, or coverages, it's just grown enormously.
So he can throw a football, like I say this all the time, there's a lot of guys that can throw a football. There's very few that can pass a football. Passing incorporates a concept of protection, a coverage, and a decision. Throwing the ball is just a guy going out there on air. Will is outstanding as he has been; it's not like he had to grow as a thrower. His understanding of what we're doing systematically is growing. So his understanding of concepts, reads, coverages, and just experience now being in the system, you just see him ascending in the right way.
You talked pretty significantly about how the game has slowed down this offseason. How has that manifested in what he's showing on the field, and how he's interacting with his teammates and instructing them?
So it's at the line, right? It's like when you really kind of start understanding what's going on and you have a grasp of the system, then helping before the play really goes up. So he's making decisions at the line of scrimmage and helping us to get into some good looks.
I was going to say, I'm sure your job doesn't require you to look at too many other offenses, mostly defenses because of what you're doing. But I wanted to see what your thoughts were of Hollywood Smothers before getting here, and then now what have you seen from him?
Well, we saw that live in color and in two different aspects: when he was in high school, a very physical football player, and then when we saw him in crossover tape and when we were playing here, he's a very physical football player. He is a guy that is powerful, really good in pass protection, has good hands, and will start wearing down defenses. Just the physicality that he brings to the game can wear a defense out as the game goes on. So he's got the ability to be his own blocker in certain situations, and that's what you need.
Coach, a bit of a two-parter. I know guys are in full pads now. How have you seen everyone embrace the physicality? Does that kind of give you a better indicator of what guys can and cannot do when you get full pads?
Yeah, I've worked with a guy named Ron Middleton. He's the tight ends coach for the Dolphins now, and he used to always say the game changed when you got in the plastic, and he was a longtime NFL football player. This game will always be a physical game; it's not played in shorts. The one thing I think that's set here is, Coach Doeren's mentality is this is going to be a tough football team. That's one thing that we're going to do: be physical, compete, and fight to the last second of the clock. So to go practice on this field or play on this team, you've got to be tough.
