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NC State Football

Dave Doeren On Spring Practice: "You're Seeing Progress"

March 26, 2019
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss his team following Tuesday's spring practice.


How is everyone progressing?
We’re halfway through, so it’s good to get some guys back. We had a few guys banged up. We’re starting to get the progress you want to see in certain players.

It’s been good. You’re seeing progress across the board.

Has anyone from the quarterbacks group started to jump out in front of others?
No.

How do you spread up the reps at quarterback?
We’re really featuring three guys mostly. Whether it’s Matt, Devin, or Bailey, Coach Roper’s rotating those guys through the groups. They’re all getting a lot of reps at the ones or the twos or the threes depending on how we’re doing it that day.

Micah’s still getting some work, but the majority’s going to those three guys right now.

For a guy like Cary Angeline to know he’s able to go through spring camp, what has his role been and how has he looked?
First of all, he’s in a lot more comfortable place. He was trying to learn a new system and meet new people, knowing he can’t play. It’s hard mentally. So there’s none of that uneasiness.

He’s just comfortable. He comes to work. He’s a quiet guy by nature, so you don’t really see a change in him that way. I know he just comes out here and works hard every day, and we appreciate that. He’s very consistent.

He caught balls from different quarterbacks at USC, then Finley last year, and now three different guys, how much does he have to work on his chemistry with those guys?
I think the timing with your wideouts and tight ends is important, and over the course of not only the spring but the summer program that’s going to have to be huge. And we don’t have great timing right now. We don’t, and you can’t really when you’re rotating three guys in like that with different wideouts every time. I won’t say there’s a bunch of balls flying around all over the place, but you do notice, though, when it’s the same guys catching it at a different rhythm.

We’re just not there yet.

You said three, but is my math off? 
The three that are getting the reps I told you. Ty Evans, the freshman, isn’t getting reps with the ones and twos right now.

The 11-on-11 stuff you’re seeing the three older guys get the reps.

Coach McDonald talked about that the one person in charge with play-calling is you.  Does that jive with how you see the operation working?
Him and Des are working together. Des calls the offense for the most part, but George has segments in the field and situations that are responsible to him. Third downs and red zones are kind of those areas. You do get in a flow sometimes. If Des is rolling, he’s going to say, ‘Keep going.’

We talk during the game. Even when Eli was here, he would be asking because George was our third-down guy. There’s some communication taking place. You hear that from the play-caller to the o-line coach at times. What run do you like?

It’s a real group effort, but Des is the one that kind of triggers it, and then he’s using George in those certain areas of expertise that he takes charge of.

Are there any young guys who have been standing out on both sides of the ball?
There’s a lot of them, to be honest. I think probably Zonovan Knight of the true freshman class has put together the best body of work so far. He’s really done a nice job. He’s very calm and a very explosive guy. He doesn’t get rattled. He’s impressive; he really is.

Shyheim Battle has gotten better. You can see him progressing.

I’m really impressed with Drake Thomas and how he learns. Because of the depth there he hasn’t gotten a ton of work, but when he’s in there, he really does a good job of being disruptive.

James Smith-Williams has a job at IBM and Deonte Holden is studying abroad in Paris.  Is that something you noticed with them when recruiting them?
With James, yes. James is incredibly intelligent. High GPA, high test score… He had goals for after football. He was a lot further along than a lot of people are, probably even 30-year-olds are, mentally when he was in high school.

It was hard to say with Deonte. You knew he was a hard-working guy. He came from a very academic school. You have to be impressed with his persistence, with all the injuries he’s had, to be able to maintain it and sustain. He’s going to have an undergrad and master’s degree and an abroad opportunity. He’s going to be an incredibly employable guy pretty soon.

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Dave Doeren On Spring Practice: "You're Seeing Progress"

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