NC State LB Bailey Benson met with the media to discuss his journey, playing next to Popo Aguirre, and much more!
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full press conference!
You obviously had a unique path: you went to Wake Forest for a semester and then transferred here. How's the adjustment been, and did you kind of circle that Wake Forest game on the calendar already?
Oh yeah, of course, of course. But yeah, when I first got here at NC State, they welcomed me. It's a real brotherhood here.
Wake Forest is a good school, good team, but I think I like it here a little bit more.
On playing next to Popo Aguirre...
Yeah, playing with Popo, man. I mean, Popo makes sure you're doing your job. Popo makes sure he's doing his. But playing with Popo, he's a great leader.
Plays fast. If you mess up, you don't feel like you survived. I messed up one time; he was on me. I was like, "I got you, Popo. I got you, Popo."
Yeah, playing with Popo, man, I think it helped me get better because he's older, experienced, he's been through the mud, right? So, he can still teach you a lot.
So, I'm thankful to learn from him and the other older guys.
How competitive has that position group been, not only throughout the whole camp, but now with A.J. going down and knowing that somebody needs to step up?
It's been really competitive. We got guys like LaCorian Hodge, Ziggy Moore, Jordan Moreta, Da'Karri Nelson. I mean, y'all are working a lot, but we're working. I'm not really worried about the next thing. I'm just trying to get better at football, focus on my craft, and help my guys on the team.
What's the difference between thinking you might play and knowing you're going to play?
Shoot, you get nervous, man. When I knew I was playing, shoot, I was nervous. At the hotel, I was nervous the whole time. But once we got to that last walkthrough, that's when all the nerves went out, and shoot, I knew what I was doing.
So, I don't know, I had a nervous feeling at first, but then I got through that last walkthrough, and I made all the calls and stuff like that.
All the nerves went out. I knew what I was doing.
Between practice and games, did you have a welcome-to-college-football moment?
I can say last year, I was on scout. I think it was inside drill. I met Big Yousef.
He put one of his hands in my chest right there. I felt it.
What does it mean that the coaches trusted you to step into this role?
It means a lot. It means a lot. I had to gain their trust.
I had to work real hard during the winter, spring, summer, and fall camp. I just trusted the path I was on. I trusted God, man.
It worked out pretty well for me.
What differences do you notice with working with Thunder?
Thunder, yeah, man. There ain't really no difference. Thunder, he's gonna push you to be the best you can be. That's why I like Coach Thunder.
He's gonna push you no matter how good you go or how bad you go.
Vanderbilt runs a lot of two-tight-end sets. I don't know how much you've scouted them yet. Just your thoughts on what they do. I know they send the tight ends a lot inside, the sniffer inside to block. How important is it to fill the gaps in this game?
It's very important. They do a lot of inserting, so you gotta be dialed in on that. Fitting the gap very hard.
Both of their quarterbacks are also mobile. What did you guys learn from Week 0 that you can apply to this upcoming game?
Definitely leveraging the ball. You gotta keep leverage on the ball. Contain the ball and the quarterbacks, and we’ll definitley do that this week.
