QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Weekly Press Conference

NC State head coach Dave Doeren discussed a variety of topics during his weekly press conference ranging from CJ Riley's injury, the depth at linebacker, and much more.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.

Opening Statement...
It was fun to see the guys back on the field. 17 guys played their first snaps for us, which is a lot. 10 were true freshmen, three redshirt freshmen, two transfers, and two guys who have been here a while. 

Quite a few guys took the field, but I thought the product was pretty good... there was a lot of great effort, great contact, physical pursuit, passion, and energy.

We were +2 in turnover margin, and we won the line of scrimmage which is a challenge to our guys in a game like that.  An in-state game, particularly when there was so much said between the hiring of their new coach and how much they wanted to make it different.

For us to have 191 yards rushing to their 41 yards rushing speaks to the demeanor of our football team... that's something important to us, culture-wise... to be a physical team that can win the line of scrimmage.

We had 11 plays in their backfield to their three... we didn't give up any sacks in a game with that many offensive linemen rotating in is a credit to those guys up front.

We averaged eight yards per play on first down. If we can keep doing that, obviously good things are ahead.

Negatives... third-down offensively we were not crisp. Rather a dropped pass or routes being short or a misread at quarterback... that affected our ability to stay on the field in the first three quarters.  That's something we have to be better at, and will.

I thought Trent Gill kicked the ball well on the kickoff unit but we have to do a better job of pinning teams inside the 20.

We came out of the game relatively healthy. CJ Riley is out for the season. He did tear his ACL in the other knee.  Very positive.  There wasn't a lot going through there. He'll have surgery and be back. He's been through this before on the other knee. He was very upbeat, but prayers for him from our fanbase would be awesome.

Everything else was positive as far as the other guys you saw in the game.

Getting into that second game gives your guys more of a visual of being better in week two than we are in week one. Each player has a different role when it comes to that and our coaching staff has to do a good job of focusing on us. 

How can we be better in our second version of this thing and be ready for what's coming the week after that?

Early Comments On Western Carolina Offense...
Another in-state team and a team with six starters on offense and five starters on defense back.  Very athletic quarterback, he was their leading rusher a year ago.

They have a true freshman tailback who we know from Scotland High School, Syheam McQueen, who we think is a good player.

They run a spread option, zone-read option, RPO offense which will be a really good fundamental game for our defense with a lot of formations.

Early Comments on Western Carolina Defense...
They are very multiple. A lot different than last week's defense, these guys run a lot of different looks.  Three-down, four-down, multiple coverages.

I think their nose tackle is a really good player. He plays hard.  Big kid... he plays hard on their field goal block unit as well.

Their two top tacklers return – their nickel and middle linebacker.

How impressive was it to have no turnovers and no hiccups with your snaps?
It was so emphasized. I think we got lucky, we did fumble twice and got both back.

To have perfect snaps between our quarterback and center, and Joe Shimko was our Special Teams player of the week. In his first college start he was outstanding... snaps, he had a solo tackle in punt coverage. He did some good things.

Wide receiver rotation with CJ Riley out for the year...
Devin Carter is a guy who needs to step up and seize this opportunity for us.  He's a big body, he's strong, and he's been in that room.  He needs to seize that moment because he has really good ability and size.

The rest of that group.. they all have to know and do different things. Obviously Emeka is our guy, but we have to do a good job of using what everybody has to make up for what we lost.  That's their opportunity.

I am excited for Devin. This is what we recruited him to be, our next big receiver here, and he has all the tools.

Thoughts on Emanuel McGirt's play...
I'm proud of Emanuel... there's a lot of things he did well.  He played hard and I'm excited he got a chance to be a starter here.   He played left and right tackle... that play he had on Tabari's run in space was a great block. There's a lot of film for him now to get better.

It was great having him out there. I know he worked really hard to get to that place.

More on rushing... 
We need to run the ball better. Whether we have a 1,000-yard rusher or not we need to rush for more per carry with more explosive runs.  If it's four guys for 2,000 yards would be great.  For me it's more about efficiency in the run game, explosive plays in the run game, and yards per carry in the run game.

Payton Wilson's evaluation...
He did a good job. He was aggressive. Hux blitzed him a lot which I think was good, to let him play like that and not have to diagnose a lot.

He had a lot of spirit about him.

Those linebackers, do you think they will play the whole year?
It just depends on how they prepare. They all earned that in training camp by playing well in practice.   They can't have a bad week of practice and expect an equal rotation, that's not going to happen.

Jarius Morehead was saying he was surprised that Hux was willing to change and add schemes. Was it difficult to come to that decision?
No, when the season ended Dave and I sat down at what we did, we looked at what we had coming back with this linebacker group. 

We used to have a defensive front where you wouldn't want to take one of those guys off the field. Going into the season we didn't know Josh Harris would get hurt. We did know CJ Clark would be out. We didn't know when Deonte Holden would be back.   

There were some question marks. 

Hux wants the best 11 on the field. When you have injuries to the front and the linebackers are healthy, it's obvious what you need to do.

I've always felt, and Dave is in line with that, you do what you can with what you have where you are.  You try to recruit your butt off to make sure you don't have those, but we don't control injuries. Some of that is out of our control.

The Buck Linebacker position...
It's unique. They are playing linebacker and the next play they are playing defensive line.  It can be a longer guy who can really run and when Levi Jones is eligible he'll be really good in that position, as well.

That's what you want, the guy over 6'3 who can play linebacker and run. Brock was an edge player in high school and Payton was a wrestler in the high school, so you want that guy who has that length and core strength who can play against a front guy.

Our Mike and Will are in the front, as well, but probably not as much as our Buck.

17 new guys... did you see enough in camp to be confident in what you'd see on Saturday?
I'm not going to say I knew it would happen. I was excited to see them play because enough had made electric plays in practice to where you'd hope it would translate to gameday.

My fear was if gameday would be too big for them? You just don't know that. That's why I said I was really proud of how they handled the moment.  Those guys did a good job.