NC State OT Teague Andersen met with the media to discuss the loss at Vanderbilt, his first start at center, and much more!
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full press conference!
So you got the start at center. Just describe that. What was that like? When did you learn?
I love center. I don't want to say it's my favorite position, but it is. I love the ability to call out plays and direct our O-linemen where we should be going.
I love it. It's fun inside.
Are the leadership skills it requires natural, or are they something you had to work on?
It's pretty natural for me. When I grew up, my dad was a NFL center, guard, and tackle, so he really harped on getting center right because if you can play center, you can play guard. If you can play tackle and center, you can play all five.
In a game like Saturday, you're out there almost every offensive play at center. The heat was obviously a big factor. What was it like having to be on the field for every offensive play under those conditions?
It was definitely hot. Running off the field, the first thing I had to do was spray my cleats down because they felt like they were melting.
That's what an O-lineman is. Every single other position on the field can get subbed out. Quarterback is one of the others who's almost always on the field, but that's just our mentality. Nobody's coming for us, so we've just got to do our job.
The game ended in a way that you probably haven't experienced before. What message did you guys take away from the game, and how will you use that message and the experience to improve over the final nine games?
For sure, I really feel like just moving on is the best thing. Obviously, learning from our mistakes is huge. After every win or loss, there are many lessons, whether good or bad.
Whatever we learn from that game, we've just got to take that information and move on. I feel like we've done a really good job of that.
What do you take away from your first start at center that you can apply to future weeks?
I'd say just communication. Obviously, at center, we're the ones calling everything. We're, in a sense, the quarterback of the whole line, so we've got to guide everything and make sure that communication is loud, clear, and concise, and everyone knows everything.
Even if we're all on the wrong page, we can still make a play because if we're all on the wrong page, we're on the right page.
CJ mentioned how productive things have been and how good the practices have been lately. What do you feel the team's morale is right now, coming off that loss?
For sure, obviously, it was really tough on us when we lost that game, but we've truly moved past that. I feel like, as a team, we've completely moved past that. We're just focusing on us.
Practices have been amazing, super fun, super energetic, and I feel like the more we focus on us, the better we're going to play.
