Dave Doeren: “We look forward to competing against Virginia Tech”
NC State football will look to move to 2-0 this week when it travels to take on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Head coach Dave Doeren spoke to the media via Zoom Monday; here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say:
Opening statement
I’m excited for the team. It was a great football game, first of all, back and forth game. I thought both teams showed a lot of grit in that game. There was a lot of ups and downs on both sides. I was really proud of how well our team handled that. We constantly kept responding in tough situations.
Just recapping the game, offensively, obviously we scored 45 points. We started fast in both openers, the first quarter and third quarter, which was a goal of ours. It was an area we were not good at a year ago and really worked hard on that area. It was great to see them get off to such a good start in both halves. I thought overall as an offense we were very physical. All the position groups played a part in our rushing game.
The offensive line, seven players played and played well. The tight end group, the running backs, how they blocked and they ran the receivers downfield. Anytime you average 5.5 yards per rush as an offense it says a lot.
I thought [Bailey Hockman] handled the situation well in completing 70% of his passes, getting off to a good start, throwing a lot of catchable balls. He took some shots in the pocket, showed toughness and rushed the football well for us. Ricky Person obviously had a standout game. All three backs played well. But to rush for 100 yards, score twice with the ball and throw a touchdown is a great day for him.
We only gave up one sack. Bailey did a good job managing a couple pressures. I think the first game for the five starters on the O-Line, that chemistry will continue to get better. It’s the first time [Ikem Ekwonu]’s played a full game at guard. To have [Joe Sculthorpe] on the right next to [Justin Witt] and Ikem on the left next to [Tyrone Riley], and then I thought Tim McKay and Bryson Speas came in and those seven guys will continue to get better next to each other as they get game reps.
We just need to continue to get the ball to our playmakers. I’m happy we only had one penalty offensively, it was a pretty clean game that way. Obviously you’d love to take the one interception back. Those are things we’ve got to get better at, and obviously you’d love to close the game out on offense, not giving the ball back to them.
On defense, I think it was really two different halves for our defense. In the first half, we could not get off the field on third down. We had several third down situations we could have won and didn’t, we just didn’t play the right coverage technique. There were no breakdowns, it was more of the technique thing that we’ve got to clean up and did. I thought the DBs did a nice job on the outside. I thought our corners held up well on deep balls that were thrown at them. All four of those guys played and were tested.
Like you’d expect in the first game, there were some missed tackles. Some of that is playing 90 snaps. There was some fatigue. We do need to rotate more in games like that. I think at safety, nickel, we could have rotated and got a few more guys in.
Linebacking corps, we played several guys. I thought Drake Thomas, who was our defensive player of the game, was very consistent, very productive. Payton Wilson made a bunch of plays and has some things to clean up as well but played with tremendous effort. It was great to see Levi Jones have success. He rotated on our first-down, second-down package and then made an impact as a pass rusher on third down.
Daniel Joseph and Alim McNeill both had standout games on our front. It was good to see Jaylon Scott and Calvin Hart get in and make some plays defensively as well.
I guess the best thing defensively, in the second half we shored up our third-down defense. We had two fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter to finish the game. And we did force three opportunities for takeaways and got one of them. But they were aggressive. To get six sacks and have 18 plays in the backfield is good.
We’ve got to clean up the edges. There were times with the slow-ride mesh that their offense has that our guys tried to play too many responsibilities. They were in their gap, then they jump into someone else’s and the ball would initially cut back to it. There’s just some discipline things we’ve got to do that we’ll clean up.
Special teams, I’m really happy for Chris Dunn to break the school record for consecutive PATs, and he made his only field goal attempt. Every point matters. When you win by three, every single point matters. I thought our field position, I think we were +12 overall when you look at field position on special teams. That was great to see. We need to improve our tackling on our punt coverage. We had several guys down there that just didn’t get the guy down.
There are areas that we’ve got to work on and now prepare for Virginia Tech, who is a very experienced team. They have nine starters back on offense, eight on defense and all three specialists return for them. So they’re a very experienced team. A team that’s been to 27 straight bowl games.
Obviously with two of their former coaches here, we know their personnel, just don’t know who’s going to play with what they’ve been dealing with. So we’ll have to feel that out once we get into the game. They’re a very physical team, they’re a blue-collar team, very proud football team. We look forward to competing against them and playing a game in a great stadium and great environment.
They have a new defensive coordinator, so we’ll see what goes on if there’s changes to their scheme. Obviously they ran a system under [Bud Foster] that was very successful for a long time and the new DC did play for him. But we do expect to see some things different. Just not sure what they’ll be until we get into the game. But they’ve always been who they are. They load the box, they force you to throw the football because they’ve got numbers. They’re aggressive. They play with good technique. They’re very sound.
On offense, they’re a balanced offense, lots of tempo, lots of formations, lots of motion, jet schemes and read schemes on your edges with counters and powers and quarterbacks that can run the football and throw. It’s going to be a different challenge than we had last week, and one that we’re looking forward to.
Today is our off day, so we get a chance to heal up. We didn’t get home, playing an 8 o’clock game until pretty late. The guys came in on both sides of the ball and both sides of the ball played a lot of snaps. But the kids bounced back pretty good yesterday. We had good meetings with them. Now we’re just kind of getting our stuff together here as we get ready for our practice tomorrow.
ACC football is four-quarter football. We know we’re going to be playing a team that we went through the same thing they’re coming out of and how that can affect your conditioning. We had that in our games. We expect to see a lot of their players rotating. But I know they’re not going to change who they are. They’re a tough group and they’re well-coached.
The Virginia Tech coach came out and said he’s not sure how he’s going to have available, how does that make prepping for them more challenging?
It’s kind of like playing an opening game. They don’t have film you can watch on anything they’re doing differently. Even when you don’t have staff changes, you’re going to have things you change in the offseason and personnel that makes you different. They have a transfer running back that we’ve heard a lot of great things about in Raheem Blackshear that is eligible for them. They’ve got a transfer quarterback from Oregon. There’s going to be players on the field that we don’t know how they’re going to use them yet.
So you just have to adjust. You’ve got to use the rules of your systems on both sides of the ball and there’s going to be things that we don’t prepare for and things they don’t prepare for because we haven’t shown everything either. You just have to adjust.
You guys had the six-game losing streak within the conference, how satisfying is it to come off a win to start off your season?
I was really happy for the players and the staff. A lot when into this offseason and a lot when into everything, you guys know about dealing with the crazy spring, summer and fall we’ve had so far. So for all that to work to come out and the game we had, how well we played at times, you want them to savor that. It’s not enough to walk in, ‘Oh, you guys played hard.’ But they want to win.
And so for them to have that feeling, obviously I love to have that feeling as well. I said this to the team before the game, it was their night. I wanted them to have that satisfaction and that enjoyment in the locker room afterwards. So I was very happy for them.
It looks Bailey is the starter on Saturday, and if Devin is ready to start practicing, how do you manage reps this week?
We’re going to need both of them. We’re one injury/COVID test away from having a different player at every position. So we need our quarterbacks to be elite, whether it’s Devin or whether or it’s Bailey. I’m proud of Bailey and what he did. Devin did practice last week and he’ll practice this week and continue to get better. When that happens, I don’t know, but right now Bailey did some really good things in the game.
He’ll continue to be our starter until we see that Devin’s in a position to play. It’s his team right now, and we’re going to continue to support them both and get them both ready to help us win.
You talked about an award for pancake blocks on ACC Network. Who’s idea was it and how many bottles of syrup did you give out?
We started doing that maybe two years ago. So I guess we kept a good secret here for two years. But it’s something the O-Line takes a lot of pride in. They sign the bottles and put them up on a shelf. So it’s just kind of a way to reward what we talk about here. We talk about being tough. We talk about winning the line of scrimmage, playing physical. So it’s a way to reward that. Not a lot do linemen get love. So it’s a way for us in our Sunday meetings after a win to give those guys that love and the whole team goes nuts about it. We’re incorporating tight ends, backs, wideouts, whoever’s involved in those blocks gets that love from the staff and their teammates. It’s just something we take pride in here is finishing blocks that way.
How did Charley Wiles come to be in your employ, what has he added to the staff and have you talked to him about his emotions this week of facing his former team?
Charley’s reputation is well-known. I didn’t know Charley very well. I’d only met him a couple times. Obviously we’ve recruited against Charley my whole time here. He’s recruited the Carolinas and done a really good job in the state. So when the move was made to bring in a new defensive-line coach, we wanted someone that not only was a fit here for our players, but fit what coach Gibson wanted, fit what I wanted in recruiting, fit the type of person that I wanted in the room. Charley was one of several people that we interviewed. He was just the right fit for the job.
And timing was in our favor. Charley would still be there, probably, if he hadn’t been asked to leave. We just got fortunate. Sometimes timing is everything when you’re talking about hiring coaches. Sometimes you can’t get a coach even though he may want to go because of his contract. We were just fortunate to find a guy like that. He’s doing great things with our young men. He’s a cultivator of chemistry in the room. Those guys play hard for him and I know he does everything he can to help him.
As far as his emotions, he said this game’s about the kids. Obviously for a coach, it’s going to be something that you want. For him to go back into that stadium’s probably going to be emotional for him, but I think he’ll tell you that the game’s all about our guys and that’s where his focus will be.
How has he fit in personality-wise?
He’s a lot of fun. He’s a guy that keeps the room alive. He’s got a one liner or joke and he knows how to make people laugh and keep things where they need to be. He’s been a great addition for our staff, for sure.
How would you evaluate the offensive line’s performance?
It was a good first game for them. They played fast. I thought they communicated well. Grant Gibson IDs a lot of things for us in the pass and run game, and he was spot-on most of the game. I thought Joe [Sculthorpe] played like you would expect Joe to play. He’s very consistent. He’s physical. He plays with his hands. He’s square. It was good to see Justin Witt and Tyrone [Riley] out there together. It was something we were hoping to have last year and didn’t because of Tyrone’s injury.
It’s a good group. I think [Ikem Ekwonu] brings a lot of fire to that group. He’s very physical. It starts and doesn’t finish the whole game. He’s trying to knock people on the ground and that’s what he does. He brings a lot of juice to that room.
How many bottles of syrup did Ikem Ewkonu earn?
He got five for the game.
How would you evaluate Drake Thomas’ performance, and do you think teams overlooked him because of his height?
First of all, he’s tough. He’s got great vision. I think linebackers have to be able to see things, their peripheral vision has to be really, really good. You might be staring at one thing and different colors are going to go across. Linebacker vision is different. You’ve got to be able to see three things at once and the flow keys that happen. Drake just has that instinct and vision. He’s a good tackler. He plays hard. He does not get tired. He’s got great stamina. He’s trained himself well.
As far as his height goes, I think there’s a lot of measurables in football and sometimes you’re right on the money, and sometimes you’re not. There’s exceptions, and he’s one of those guys that may not be as tall or long as other players but he outplays them because he’s fast, he’s physical, he’s strong and he’s tough. He can play all three spots in our defense, so he’s very versatile for us at Sam, Mike and Will.
What were your conversations with Hockman like after last season?
There’s a lot of private conversations you have with players. I knew coming out of the year that he was disappointed. We sat down and talked about the things that he’s thinking and what he wants to do. He made it very clear from the get that he wants to get better, and he wants to be here. He was going to do everything he can to show us that he can play. I just said to him ‘do everything you can. Continue to get better, and when your opportunity comes, cash it in.’ You’ve got to give the kid credit. He’s been through transferring already, and I don’t think he wants to live that life again, unless he has to.
He’s bought into what we do here. He’s been a valuable asset to all the quarterbacks. Even when he wasn’t the guy, I thought he was a great teammate to all those guys in the room. That’s the thing that coach Beck and coach Proctor teach up there; it’s a team game, and you may not be the guy today, but you will be if you handle all your situations right. To his credit, he’s done that. I think Devin’s now doing that the same way. That’s what you want. Every kid wants to be the guy, and some of them understand the value of continuing to grow and learn and get better.
Did you think Hockman looked more comfortable against Wake?
Yeah, I think for all of those guys that transfer, their first semester is hard. You don’t know your teammates yet, everything is new to you. You don’t have that familiarity with the coaching staff. You weren’t recruited with anyone on the team, so you don’t have a recruiting class that is kind of “your boys.”
It was hard for [Ryan Finley] when he first got here too. His year two was much different socially for him. Bailey now has his circle of friends, the guys that he hangs out with, and he’s a lot more comfortable. I think that’s a natural thing when a kid transfers in. As a coaching staff, you have to do a lot to try and help them through that.
What are you expecting from this first road trip?
Well, it’s our first COVID road trip, so we’re taking eight busses instead of flying. We’re spread out as a team. You’re wearing a mask on a bus for four hours. You get to your hotel, and really each hotel is different based on how big the rooms are and how many players you’re allowed to have in a room at one time. But, we’ll continue to do the same thing we did here; use the social distancing rules we have to have to keep our guys where they need to be testing wise.
Is it in the back of your mind that any game may not be played?
No, I think that’s just how life is right now with this. We’re going to plan like we are playing a game every week. As you’ve already seen from us, we had to move our original game with them back because of our situation. We all know what the realities are of it, but you just go with what you have. Right now, we have a game that is on the schedule. Nobody has said that we are not playing it. We’re preparing to practice like we are. If things change, then we’ll change what we are doing.
How happy were you for Ricky Person with his performance after what he went through?
That’s how he practiced. I think that’s the biggest thing that players learn, is when they practice well over an extended period of time they usually play well. Ricky got that feeling of getting to go through an entire fall camp and staying healthy, and going into a game with all the prep that he had, all the reps, all the timing. It paid off for him. He played really well. He was physical. He was vocal. He had great energy. He executed within the scheme.
I was very happy for him. Success will continue for him. All these guys that go through that and learn, I mean, he was playing his first two years here with very limited practice time. Very limited. Every week there was something he was dealing with. Those were things out of his control. I’m happy for him that he is having the success that he is, and he’s definitely worked hard to deserve it.
How much will you lean on Charley Wiles to help prepare for his former team?
We have Charley and Brian Mitchell, our corners coach, here from there. Mostly it’s just things that you know about their players. Again, you can’t predict what they’re going to do. The things that you can get information wise on personnel and things like that, we will. The tough part of it is that we don’t know what personnel is going to be out there. It’s helpful to write up a really good scouting report, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who we are going to be playing against.
It’s going to be a big game of adjusting. Who are they playing with? What are they doing with those guys? How do we need to adjust on both sides of the ball? What are the things that are the same and what are the things that have changed? Our players and coaches are going to have to be really locked into being able to adjust on the fly.
How well did the team do bringing its own energy and will that be a bigger challenge on the road?
Yeah, I think they did well. We talk about four phases of the game: offense, defense, special teams and then our team sideline. They’re all a part of what we do. The guys on the sideline, some of them were there for the first time, so was it the best it could be? Probably not. Was it bad? No. There was a lot of positive energy there.
To answer your question, yeah, you have to bring your own energy on the road no matter what. I can tell you as weird as it is playing a game with no fans, once you start playing you don’t even know. You are so locked in on what you are doing. We’re going to rely heavily on the 80 guys that make the trip to support each other throughout the game and continue to give each other the positive feedback and energy that they need.
What’s the status of Tanner Ingle and other injured players?
We’re hopeful. We came out of the game with most of our team feeling really good that way. I’ll meet with [head athletic trainer] Justin [Smith] later today, he’s doing treatment with the team right now, to see where we’re at. But, so far, so good. Hopefully we’ll get a few more guys back, too. I know we had a couple of receivers that couldn’t come because they were still in quarantine that are back now. Hopefully we’ll be able to get those guys going this week.
Can you take the performance of the defense in perspective with them giving up five touchdowns but also making some big plays?
They did. They made a bunch of plays. The things that weren’t good are things that are correctable. I think that’s the stuff that you look at. It wasn’t like people were just running by our DBs, like you saw last year. Our guys competed for the ball. They made plays on the ball. We weren’t panicking and PI-ing guys in the moment of truth on deep balls. I thought the guys showed good body control.
When we were tired, this was a 90-play up-tempo offense, they made plays. I thought we got better as the game went on third down, and that says a lot about their mental toughness and the conditioning aspect. There’s going to be things that happen to them as first- or second-year players that you have to correct. It’s their job to not let the same thing happen again to them.
Will Bailey Hockman definitely be the starter against Virginia Tech?
We’re going to get into the week and see how things go. Right now, that’s our thought. But again, we finish the week. And like I said, Devin is taking reps and getting better. If we were playing tomorrow, that’s what we would do. But, I think Devin deserves that opportunity to keep getting better in practice, and I think he will. We’ve got two good quarterbacks, and we’ve just got to keep getting them better. Both of them. They both need to be ready to be our guy. I’m just super happy with what Bailey did with his opportunity, and I’m looking forward to helping them both this week preparing.