Doeren: "It's A Great Class Of Young Men"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the Wolfpack's stellar 2019 football recruiting class.

Opening Comments...
I’m very excited for these young men who signed with us today, and their families... it was an incredible year with a special group of guys who signed with us today and really bonded.  It's unique... that's one thing I do like with social media is these guys have an ability to get to know each other from cities outside of cities where they can connect.  These guys have done that.

It’s a great class of young men.  The 19 players who signed, we had nine Shrine Bowl selections, and 16 of these 19 will enroll early, which for me is a high. 

Four of these young men were ranked as four-star players.  Whether that matters or not, we’ll see as time goes.  It's ta top 25 class for the first time since 2003 at NC State.

15 of them are from our state.  To talk about how important the state is and to prove it... to have a recruiting board full of incredible talent like we do, to see how we got our first choice at many cases and positions, says a lot.

Our ability to produce NFL players and graduate players... it’s kind of unique that today was signing day for me with us having 14 players up here this morning graduating... it’s really unique to be on both sides of that.

It’s about getting them be one and helping them grow on and off the field in every facet.  People ask me a lot in recruiting what’s the best thing we do, and I tell them the best thing we do here is develop players, and I can prove it.

The passion that our fanbase has is unique, and it goes well past their playing days... you feel that passion from the fanbase and when you go to games you see it.

NC State is not a school that just has one sport.  It has 23 sports who are supported well and play well.

This is your best class and you put a bunch in the NFL in the spring. Do you see a correlation between this class and the success you had with the defensive line?
When you have four players drafted on the d-line, it's happened three time in the history of the NFL, and you see us get the four best defensive linemen in the state, there is a correlation there.

When kids can see it, it’s different then when you can just talk about it.

We are the only school in ACC history to have two first-team All-ACC wide receivers with 1,000 yards.  Why wouldn't you want to come here? 

Those things sell themselves now because it’s happening.

All of that success changes the conversation in recruiting because you are no longer selling anything, you’re telling them here is what we do, here is the blueprint, and here is the proof.

16 early enrollees... is that coincidence or strategic?
More are doing it so it’s becoming more normal.  It is strategic. It’s important when you’re losing good players to get them in early and teach them the systems.

It just happened where a lot of the guys we were getting were early and we had open spots with guys graduating early and leaving the program.

More on impact of the coaching changes...
One thing we do and a lot of this is how I do things, I get to know every kid and all their families. I'm an integral part in recruiting.  I spend a lot of time.

It’s going to happen when you win.  You're going to lose coaches.  I thought we were fortunate to hang on to a staff last year like we did... to win nine games and not lose anybody, that was unique. 

I anticipated maybe losing a coach or two here, but they know we have a program and not a position coach.  

For the most part our class stayed firm.  We lost one young man and that's fine. At the end of the day, I want players who want to be a part of our program.  

I’m the head of that. I hired everyone here... everyone that works in this building has come through me.  If they love them, they know I brought them here. If they leave, I’m not going to bring someone to make us worse.

I hired coach Uremovich who went to be an offensive coordinator. I hired Clayton White who went to be a defensive coordinator. I hired Dwayne Ledford who left to be an offensive coordinator. I hired Eli Drinkwitz who left to be a head coach.  Those are good things for those guys, and I’ve replaced them with coaches who have done well.

How important was it to get an older quarterback and then a younger quarterback? 
We recruited Jakobi Meyers to play quarterback and now he's a receiver. Thank God he is because he's really good at it. There’s now a hole in that class... we had some voids when you look at that.

You don’t want to stack talent in the same year if you can help. To be able to get an older guy like Bailey and then a younger guy like Ty was great.

You have a new quarterbacks coach...
We're really excited that coach Roper is joining us. Some of you know from his time at Duke.  His family has a lot of ties to this area... and his time in the southeast whether at Ole Miss, Duke, Tennessee, or Florida, he has incredible ties from a recruiting standpoint.

Will the volume of early enrollees suggest you’ll have more ready to play next year?
It’s hard to say.

I thought Taiyon Palmer was going to be ready to play and he had an injury... you can’t predict those things. 

There are some talented guys in this class and there are some needs on our football team. They’ll be in the competition and getting reps in spring ball if they are healthy.

That’s what I tell every recruit that I'm not going to promise you a job, but I'll promise you an opportunity to win a job and I'll coach you the best that I can every  chance I get.  It’s up to them to win the job.

It doesn’t matter how many stars they had.  It’s about what you do now... every day is an opportunity to get better. 

What kind of opportunity awaits someone like Zonovan Knight‍?
There are some lines shorter than others and running back is one of them. I told that to Bam, "Hey bud, you better be ready because you're going to get a lot of reps this spring." He's excited about that. He has an awesome opportunity.

He’ll have an easier path to play because of the depth chart... we’er excited to see what he can do.

Do you have any more scholarships available?
We have a few spots left, probably two or three.

Can you speak to Drake Thomas and how he helped with this class?
I actually thanked him for that last night.

His leadership as a player is so strong and people want to play with him. He has a magnetic personality and doesn’t push guys into things. People like the way he plays and they like his confidence.

He wants to win a championship here and he wants guys around that he felt could help. He was awesome talking to guys.  He did a great job and a lot of these guys did.  All those guys, it’s kind of what recruiting has become. 

Thoughts on defensive back signees...
Shyheim and Jalen are corners, that’s how we see them. They’ve played multiple spots but they are good man-to-man players. You watch Jalen and he’ll be in the slot, out wide, or in safety.

Khalid Martin is a safety for us. Jakeen can play nickel or safety. He has very good man skills... he plays nickel in their offense but has the ability to go play in the strong safety role if that’s what we need him to do.

Thoughts on the culture of the program...
I want our players to see us as more than coaches and that’s how you build a family environment.

Everyone I hire, I always look at if my son was going to go play for him, how would he feel about that. I’ve always had our players thoughts and hearts in mind with every hire.  That’s helped us.

 When people come in, the common comment I hear is, "Coach, you have an unbelievable group of people here."  We just have great people here, we really do.  

 Recruits are comfortable when they come here. We don't lie to kids. We tell them the truth. We tell them how it's going to be.  If they don't like being pushed, then they should go somewhere else.  There are certain kids who want to be a part of that.

Coach Brown at UNC and coach Houston at ECU have talked about hitting North Carolina hard on the recruiting trail...
That’s what makes this a unique job.  Not only do you have four ACC schools but you have ECU, App, and Charlotte and the outside schools who want to come in and pretend this is their state.

What we’ve done is build a place where they can go to the NFL, build a place they can graduate with an incredible degree, build a place they are surrounded by wonderful people, and we happen to be living in one of the best places in the world to live.

It’s competition, and I love it. We’ll get out on the road and compete with anybody. I’m not afraid of any of those guys. I look forward to competing with them. They have their job to do, and we have our job to do.  May the best man win.