RAPID FIRE: Tyler Jones
NC State redshirt senior left tackle Tyler Jones answers six rapid-fire questions from Inside Pack Sports.
What are your expectations for this season?
I just want to be the best I can for my team. Of course I have individual goals I want to reach, but as long as I’m playing my best for my team and we’re winning games then all that individual stuff will come after. You can’t get the individual stuff without the team winning.
Do you guys talk about individual awards and how team success impacts that?
We try not to focus on the individual part. If they come, they come, if not, they don’t. Of course, people use it as motivation when they don’t get put on stuff, I’ve used it as motivation when I haven’t got put on stuff.
It’s not something we preach, but we know as long as we do well and the team does well, then everybody will get rewarded, everybody will get on something at the end of the season. That’s what we focus on.
Left tackles get a lot of attention for pass blocking, do you pride yourself on run blocking too?
Yes. That’s one of my big points of emphasis this year, being more physical in the run game. People know I can pass block, coaches know I can pass block but proving I am can run block too, not just doing cuts and backside stuff, is something I take to heart every day.
What’s your relationship with Terronne Prescod like?
That’s my boy. It’s fun being able to play next to somebody for that long. We know each other’s tendencies.
I can tell in the middle of the game when he’s feeling it, he can tell when I’m feeling it. I can tell what he’s going to do on a certain block and vice versa.
It’s going to be pretty emotional... it could possibly be the last time we played for us.
Which young guys have stood out to you?
Kendall Brown, Justin Witt, Joshua Fedd(-Jackson), guys like that, buying into the process. Kendall gaining weight, Witt and Joshua hitting the weight room hard, really buying into our philosophy of coming off the ball and hitting people in the mouth and being the most physical and dominant people on the field.
What’s your relationship with Coach Ledford like?
Great. I couldn’t ask for a better coach. There's nothing he can tell me that I can dispute with when he turns around and says “I played your position for 10 years in the NFL.”
I’m trying to get there, he’s been there and played. Great guy.
Just look at our numbers from before he got here to now. We gave up 40 sacks the year before he got here, then 17 to seven this past year. The numbers speak for themselves, he’s a great coach. We’ve had two different back-to-back 1,000 yard rushers.
The numbers speak for themselves.