Finley: "We Have A Job To Do"
NC State senior quarterback Ryan Finley sat down with the media at ACC Football Kickoff. Here is a lot of what he had to say on a variety of topics.
“I was just thankful for the opportunity to come to N.C. State. Obviously, my path at Boise State wasn’t easy while being hurt right when I got there and getting hurt a second time after getting named the starter. I just never really got into a rhythm there, so I was just hoping for an opportunity at N.C. State. Coach Drinkwitz and Coach Doeren gave me the opportunity. I’m forever grateful, and I feel like I’ve gotten a second chance at college football, and I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
“I just had, really, two goals: I wanted to play, and I wanted to make friends. I wanted to gain respect. For the second time, I had time playing taken away from me due to injury, so I just wanted to play. I had a lot to prove to myself at that point in time. And I wanted to gain the respect of the team, make friends, and have fun.”
“There was a little bit of the east coast and southern shock, I guess. There are some things that I’d done for the first time in Raleigh. The first time I had sushi was in Raleigh. There are some things like that that have just been fun.”
“I don’t think we really look at it like that. As an offense, we’re just trying to be the best offense we can be. Obviously, we have a lot of weapons that we’re really excited about. Our starting wide receiver corps is, I think, the best in the country with Kelvin, Jakobi, and Steph. And obviously, there’s the “Band of Brothers” offensive line with Garrett, Tyler, “Big T,” Fedd, and Witt. It’s exciting thinking about the chemistry we’ve been able to build together, and we’re just trying to get better than we were last year and get better every single day in our craft.”
“Just to stay focused. We have talked about the whole spotlight-changing thing, and it’s nonsense. We have a job to do, and we need to score more points and be better just because we need to score more points and be better. That’s how we feel. We’re trying to strive to be the best offense we can be. We’re just focused on what we can do on our side of the ball. We feel really good about some of the upcoming players and the stars on the defensive side of the ball, so it’s going to be fun to get into fall camp and really get going.”
“Our goal is to win the ACC Championship. Anyone who doesn’t have that as their goal needs to leave. That’s how we see it. We’re excited to get into fall camp. It’s been a really good summer, but we need to get in some football and find out who’s going to step up and play. We lost a lot a players, and we have players who’ve come back with a lot of experience.”
“That’s just the culture of the team. We say the standard is the standard, and if you’re not upholding the standard, then you need to learn how to or get out of the way and have somebody else move in and take your position.”
“I think it does give us an upper hand. As far as football intelligence and situational football, I think there are some things that, over the course of getting experience and playing, I can help rub off on guys. I’m always trying to learn. The communication and trust with an experienced quarterback is something that’s always nice. The wide receivers, running backs, and offensive line can count on a quarterback to know their position, know the whys, and the ins and outs of the game of football in those situations.”
“Kelvin likes it high. He likes to put on a bit. Steph’s more of a guy that likes it over the top. He likes to catch it in stride. Jakobi just says to throw it in his area code, whatever that means. Basically, it means I can throw it wherever, and he’ll catch it. He jokes, but it’s true. All three of those guys will snatch it. It’s pretty impressive. Those guys are pretty special, and it’s fun to play with them. I don’t have to be great for those guys to look good, and they make me look good all the time.”
“It was huge that we won our bowl game. That’s a lot of momentum, and we won it in a pretty exciting fashion, especially on the offensive side of the ball. I think the thing is not getting complacent, and I think that’s attributed to our coaching staff to really not let that happen. I think it starts top-down. I don’t get that feeling with anybody in the program that we’ve arrived. I think we’re proud of what we accomplished last year because of where this program has been in the past, but everyone would agree we’re not where we want to be because we haven’t won the ACC Championship yet."