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NC State Football

QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Weekly Press Conference

October 28, 2019
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media Monday to update his roster after the bye week and to preview Saturday's game against Wake Forest.

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


Opening Statement...
We're getting ready for five games in one month, and it's a great opportunity for our team to get better.

One percent better each day... that's the biggest thing we're working on, finding a way as a staff to help the guys.

We have a great opportunity against a very good football team... Dave and his staff have done a nice job. They have a lot of experience, a lot of good players.

When you look at them on offense, a very fast tempo and the receiving corps across the board is elite. It's playing at a high level. The way Surratt and Washington play on the perimeter... and what Kendall Hinton has been able to do transitioning from quarterback to slot, he's making plays for them.

Obviously, both quarterbacks have played, and I'm not sure who we'll see – but they are both very good players.

The offensive line has only given up eight sacks and I think their left tackle is one of the best in the conference, so really big challenge for us.

Defensively, they are sound. Their defensive end, Basham, has done a great job. He's a very disruptive player who has taken over as that playmaker on their front.

They do a good job stunting and blitzing... obviously they've had some injuries at linebacker and their strong safety, Greer, is a very good open field tackler. I enjoy watching him play.

We're looking forward to getting back after it... I feel good about who we have as far as being able to play. We won't gain a bunch of players back from the injury list, but at least the guys are able to play from last week to this week and gain a little continuity there.

Devin is the starter at quarterback. Are you comfortable with the process to get to Devin as the starter?
I think for us on our side, it went the way it went. They made it happen that way.

I said it from the start, I like all three of these guys, and they've all had an opportunity. How it played out this way, only the guys in the building and at practice know what happens on a daily basis.

Devin is ready. I don't think we forced him into the position before he's ready, which for any quarterback is a bad thing. He's taken an advantage of not only when he was a three, the things he wasn't doing well, but he's studied, he's improved those things, and when he got his opportunity he was poised.

In the last game he threw three touchdowns and they were all on fourth down which shows a lot of clutch. He's earned this opportunity and I'm excited for him.

I'll continue to support Matt and Bailey because they need to keep getting better and they will if they continue to do what each has had to do now in a supportive role and improve on what they have to improve on.

How did you handle the open date with Leary?
He took all the reps with the ones.

He got a lot of work, so it was a good opportunity for him to get out and run it. The conversations you have with your offensive coordinators and your quarterbacks... what do you see well? What do you think of this play? You rep and coach I see that well or I don't see it.

You want it to fit him so he can play fast, but we got him a lot of work and he's done a nice job. He's excited about the opportunity.

Changes on the offensive line... is that a product of guys playing well?
It's been the same, it just wasn't updated. It's been most of the same this year. Since we've lost Witt it's changed at tackle a couple of weeks back, but Icky and Bryson have started at tackle and McGirt has played a lot at tackle.

We're trying to redshirt Tim McKay if we can. So as you see in one game I lost two corners... you can go from being redshirted to playing really fast.

Malik Dunlap and Graves vs. Wake's receivers...
Whoever is playing against their wideouts have a challenge and are playing against really confident, good football players and a quarterback who is accurate getting them the ball.

Whether we had our starters or whoever, the three they put out there are as good as anybody's three. It's an elite group and those guys will play hard.

The good thing about De'Von and Malik is they are long and strong guys so there are plays with body-to-body catches and push-offs and they'll be able to hold their ground.

You're going to have to make some really good plays. In our game last year they made two circus catches which really swung the momentum of the game. They were well-covered guys so you have to cover and not allow them to catch it with one hand.

Devin Carter's play at Boston College...
The positives of that game, Devin had 160 yards I think it was. The last three weeks his confidence has grown and grown. He's playing fast and having fun.

He's become a dependable target and he's a guy who can run after the catch as you saw on the long run. That's good for him and it's definitely a boost.

Are there enough guys to go around to talk about the disappointment of those two games, or is it more now they are the ranked team?
They are the ranked team. Record-wise them and Clemson have the best records in the league. Our players know what's going on out there and some of our guys were a part of those games, but not many.

To me it's more about regardless of who we play, but how we play. It's not that I don't care who we play, but I care a lot more about how we play. If we get better and make the plays we can make and do the things we can do, we'll be in every game and have a chance to win.

Hopefully at quarterback Devin will continue to get better and better and make those plays he showed us in the fourth quarter last week that will help the offense.

Have you ever been in a situation coaching a guy like Tabari Hines who will be playing against the school he used to go to?
I talked to Tabari about it. His answer was great, he said he couldn't think about it and he has to be the best him he can be for this team.

He was very quick to say it's not about that, it's about playing for the guys here.

You talked about coming out of the open date, do you feel like it was a good reset point?
Regardless of where they put an open date, when you're dealing with what we are, that's a good time to have it.

Whether we won or lost that game... there were a lot of things that happened. There was a point in time there were nine freshmen on the field at once.

It was a great time for us to have that [bye week] opportunity.

Just getting ready for five games in four weeks, we needed that break to get ready for the stretch run.

You talk about finishing... with five football games in November, has that been a big theme?
Yes, we talked about it yesterday.

Let's just get better everyday and when you're dealing with young guys there's always that fear of failure... we've just told them to let it go. The only thing they need to worry about is being perfect and if they do that they'll find the best version of themselves.

If we can get the best version of us and each week we're improving with what we're putting on tape... our guys just have to let it go and play ball, cut it loose.

That's the mindset we have and we're going to make these five weeks as fun as it can be for these young kids. Get out there and play aggressive.

We've had some things we do after practices, bowl weeks... Icky was playing wide receiver on a play with Jeffrey Gunter covering him. We're having some fun. They are working hard, but we're giving them five minutes at the end to really enjoy football.

 
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