Payton Wilson: "I'm Playing This Saturday"

After suffering an injury in the Wolfpack’s week one win over Wake Forest, Payton Wilson was forced to miss this week’s game against Virginia Tech. 

He’s planning to be back on the field against Pittsburgh this week, though, and discussed that with the media via Zoom. Here’s a full breakdown of everything the Wolfpack’s hard-hitting linebacker had to say:

Coach talked about how this team was more mature than last year.  Can you see a difference in practice coming off a loss?

Last year, we had a lot of young guys that went through what we went through last year. All the guys that are playing this year went through it, so we know that it’s just back to the lab. We can’t really think about the loss too much because it’s just going to affect how we play. It’s just on to the next game, 1-0 mentality. 

Have you seen the guys more locked in coming off a loss?

I would say guys are just ready to prove ourselves. Everyone saw, we didn’t really play that well last week, so we’ve got a lot to make up for and show people what we really can do. So I would say that we’re very locked in, moreso now than ever.

How tough was it to not be able to be out there, and do you feel like you could have made a difference?

It was tough for me to watch. I didn’t even travel, just because I wasn’t playing. So it was tough for me to watch because I knew that I could have been making plays, and it sucks for me to watch my brothers out there playing without me. I’ve been playing football my whole life. It’s what I love to do, and not playing really sucked. And yeah, I think I could have helped a lot; we could have schemed some things up. But it’s just on to the next week now.

Are you playing Saturday?

I’m playing this Saturday.

How excited are you to play against Pittsburgh, a team you guys haven’t seen in awhile?

I’m very excited. Everyone knows this is a weird schedule. We don’t ever get to play this ACC team, or really any teams from the other division. So we don’t really get to see their type of style a lot. It’s kind of just meat and potatoes, line up and run the ball, let’s see who can hit. It’s a little different than what we’re used to, but we’re excited about it.

Watching the film and watching it on TV, were the mistakes that were being made the same ones that were made against Wake Forest?

Every game’s different. There’s a different game plan each week, different mistakes every week. But I think our problem is we just came out flat. I wasn’t on the sideline to feel the vibe, I couldn’t really [know] the mistakes because I was watching it on TV. But it looked like we came out flat and just weren’t ready to play. Against Wake Forest, we came out hot, which helped us when we were making mistakes. 

How difficult was it watching when Khalid Martin went down?

It was really tough for me because outside of football, me and Khalid have a really great relationship. I look at him as a brother. Anything he needs I’m there for him, anything I need he’s there for me. So not knowing, because I was so far away, was really tough. I just sent up a prayer for him. It’s in God’s hands at that point. But yeah, I was upset for him and I’m just hoping he makes a full recovery.

Did you and Drake Thomas talk about going to school together?

Me and Drake have known each other for quite some time now. We’ve always talked about playing together, but I guess during the recruiting process, we never really bothered each other, just because we both knew we were going to end up where we ended up with what we thought was best for each other. But now that I get to play with him, it’s awesome, he’s a great player. It’s a similar play style. He loves to play football, plays hard, hits hard. It’s just great to be able to play with him.

Both of you guys were heavily recruited in this area. Did you keep up with him in high school?

We were really good friends in high school, so we always kept up with each other, looking at each other’s stats and seeing who was doing better, who was getting recruited.

You guys always stood together on the sidelines on recruiting trips. What were those conversations like?

It’s weird looking back now. What was that, like three years ago? It’s kind of the same deal now, we’re still really good friends, if not best friends. It’s crazy to see both of our dreams turned into reality.

What was it about NC State that sold you on the Wolfpack? 

Well, it’s a different coaching staff now, but I really had a great relationship with the coaches. The fans here, the atmosphere, the ability to make it to the next level, coach Thunder and our strength staff does a great job of developing guys, and that’s something that I needed coming out of high school because I was a skinnier guy. 

What do you mean by meat and potatoes, and how pumped up do you get for a physical game?

I called it meat and potatoes because it’s just big on big. They’re going to use a lot of O-Linemen, we’re going to stack the box and see what they do. They’re going to try to run it. Pitt’s a tough team, everyone knows they’re a tough team. We’ve got a lot of tough guys on our side of the ball that like to play tough and like to hit hard. So I’m really excited about it.