Ledford: "They Have To Perform"

The game is won in the trenches. When one goes down, the next man steps up.

NC State faces that with the suspension of Will Richardson and was able to patch things up quite nicely despite the loss to South Carolina in its opener.

Joe Sculthorpe made his debut and gave the Wolfpack a solid boost.

Meanwhile, four players -- Tony Adams, Garrett Bradbury, Tyler Jones, and Justin Witt -- appeared in 103 snaps for NC State Saturday. Adams was named ACC Lineman of the Week for his efforts.

The Wolfpack amazingly threw the ball 64 times versus the Gamecocks, but regardless of what they do or who is in the game, NC State offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford wants his team ready.

“The whole thing is with the twos and everything like that, you always prepare everyone like they’re a starter,” Ledford said. “The times in fall camp you put twos on ones are for that, so they get used to it.

“To me, regardless of what is called, they have got to know they have to perform. We know that. We tell ourselves and we pride ourselves on that. If we have to throw to win we are going to go out and do that.

“We want to try to be the best out there and protect because, to me, I think good offensive line groups that can really separate themselves in showing the ability to do both and not get one-dimensional. So that is something we pride ourselves in. and we want to be able to show we can do both.”

There were new guys that perhaps was not expected to contribute this early in their careers. The task was made tougher by playing South Carolina, which is not the typical season opener.

Ledford expects more growth. While the journey has taken a different path than expected, he is focused on the end destination.

“The guys that played their first college football game, that is a really big challenge for these guys -- against a SEC opponent, going against a very good defensive line, good size, good speed -- so it was great to see those guys very first game get to see that,” Ledford said. Obviously, what you want to see the corrections they make from the first game to the second game.

“When you play a good team -- what I really want regardless of who they are playing -- it is more about them and their performance and how they are preparing themselves. Doesn’t matter who we are playing, it is more ‘how good are you getting yourself?.’ When we go out there we want to try to be perfecting our craft when we play on Saturday.”

Heading into the Marshall game Ledford wants what happens to the week to translate into his unit’s performance in on Saturday.

"It is more just wanting to see some of the guys -- some guys did some things out there that we are unaccustomed to seeing at practice," Ledford said. "It might have been because of their first game, the first time they played in a live game in a long time, and so obviously they are not comfortable yet to go out there and do the fundamentals that you are hoping to see -- although it might have been just a few snaps.

"What you hope to see from your first game to the second game, that is stuff that gets all cleaned up now. They know what the game is like now. They get back into the groove of going out and playing a game on Saturday. The communication part of it, knowing what to expect and everything like that."