NC State special teams analyst Zac Roper met with the media to discuss the kickers, special teams, and much more!
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full press conference!
On Drew Lovelace...
It's the first time, right? And there's always a first time for everything.
And obviously, he hit the ground running. We had two weeks, got over here, and got to work.
And a testament to Drew's hard work over those two weeks to go perform for himself, the Wolfpack, and Wolfpack Nation. And it was a lot of fun to see.
What's the process for teaching him how to do a kickoff and make it effective and consistent?
Well, I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing, but we tried to make it as natural as possible for him. Obviously, growing up playing high-level soccer, he's kicked his whole life. And he always had to kick a ball.
We just changed it from a round ball to an oblong-shaped ball. So we tried to keep it as simple and as natural for him as we could, and he did a great job of it.
I know you said you had two weeks, but did you expect him to do as well as he did in that short period of time?
Certainly, you always have high expectations of all your players. And I think Drew would tell you he's got high expectations of himself. And to say that you didn't necessarily know exactly what you were going to get, you could certainly say that.
But the first kick of his career to have a touchback was really, really fun to see and watch his teammates react to it. It was a really, really awesome experience.
Looking at the special teams as a whole through the first two games, how would you assess them at this point?
We've played really well up to this point. Obviously, the goal of any special teams unit is to create field position for your team and score points where they are needed. But we've had some explosive opportunities and taken advantage of those in the return game.
But obviously, every time we go out there, it's about creating field position for the team, trying to tilt the field in our favor to make it as easy as possible for both offense and defense.
What's it like getting a chance to coach with your brother?
We've got a lot of experience together. Anytime you get a chance to coach with family, that's a really, really cool experience.
But coaching with familiar people, people that you want to be around, staff that you want to be on, that's a big part of this business. But definitely to do it with your brother is a really neat experience, cool experience. And like I say, we've got a lot of years doing it, but we certainly don't take it for granted either.
It seems like all the kickoffs were touchbacks the other night. Is that accurate? And how much of a weapon is that?
Well, field position was at the 25-yard line for the game. A little bit of that was what Richmond decided to do from a philosophical standpoint. They fair-caught some balls that were not necessarily in the end zone.
But the kickoff team managed to create some field position, which is always beneficial for the defense.
And is he using his own soccer shoes?
He would have to tell you that. I think they're seam-issued, NC State soccer-issued, but he probably knows that better than I do.
Who else on the special teams is maybe impressing you through the first two games?
Well, we've had a lot of guys be really impressive. But our coverage units, our punt coverage units, have been really, really good. And that starts with those outside players that we call missiles.
But that's Ondre Evans and Tyran Warren. They've been really impressive outside. Obviously, Jackson Waller has given them hang time to get down there, get down the field, and cover. But we like how our coverage units have played up to this point.
And we've got to continue to do it.
What type of special teams are you going up against in Vanderbilt? Do they have explosive guys in the return game and things like that?
They do. Anytime you play against a Power 5 team, there will be talented players. So they're going to have talented return men.
They're going to have an opportunity to be explosive on their side. We've got to do the things that we know we're capable of doing. And they're going to have really good players covering their kicks, really good players blocking for their kicks.
So it's going to be a good test. But we're excited to go over to Nashville and show everybody what we've got.
