Garrison: "We Have Everything Here To Be Successful"
NC State offensive line coach John Garrison has settled in nicely with the Wolfpack. He spoke with Inside Pack Sports about his position group and the transition.
How versatile is Joe Sculthorpe?
He’s extremely versatile. He’s a coach on the field. If there’s new ways of us doing things, he can communicate that. When there’s a change, he’s been great to have around. He gets it. He understands it might be different this year. He’s very intelligent and has done a great job leading this offseason.
How excited are you to see the early enrollees on the field?
Extremely. They have bright eyes right now, but they’ve attacked it and done a nice job adjusting to college. It’s exciting because of their urgency and how they’ve gone about it.
Since you didn’t recruit these guys, is it like opening presents on Christmas?
With the freshmen, you get them this early, it’s unheard of how many early enrollees we have. Their foundation is being laid a semester earlier than the other two who are coming. I’m excited for an extra semester with these guys.
I’m excited to see where they’re at. There’s going to be a lot of learning and some trial and error. I love their urgency and being coachable after a mistake.
Who are your leaders going to be?
It was apparent when I walked in. Sculthorpe and Witt, a guy who’s played some games. When you first walk in, you have to figure out who’s leading. It’s been a process.
A lot of the process will unfold during the spring just by going through the fire. I’ve liked what I’ve seen in the weight room, conditioning wise. We have guys who are tough and going to work. It’s my job to get them developed and dialed in scheme wise.
How did you end up at NC State?
I had known Coach Doeren, both of us being Kansas City guys. We were in contact years ago; that was the start of it. I’ve had a tremendous amount of respect for him and what he’s done and who he is, his character. When the job came open, it was a no-brainer to come here.
What’s your impression of the program so far?
We have everything here to be successful. The program is trending up, but we have to take the next step to what’s next. We need to continue to recruit hard and coach hard. One of the coolest things that I’ve seen is in the locker room, the kids have the names on their lockers and behind it is the state they’re from.
There’s a lot of kids from this state. You hear a lot of coaches say they’re going to recruit their state and they don’t, but that’s not the case here. Coach has made a commitment to recruit this state to keep guys here to fight for the home team.
That’s something he’s done and had success. It’s exciting to me to recruit local guys.