Dave Doeren: "I Think The Team Learned A Lot"

Coming off a big comeback win over Pitt last week, NC State will look to improve to 3-1 with a trip to Virginia Saturday. 

NC State head coach Dave Doeren spoke to the media following Thursday’s practice, here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say: 

How do you simulate the size and length of Virginia’s big receivers in practice? 

Cary Angeline is 6’7”, so that’s the closest we’ve got. Chris Toudle, C.J. Riley, when we get one-on-ones against our offense everyday, those matchups become very critical. Obviously when the game starts, 6’7” is 6’7”. You’ve got to do your best and time your ability to jump and be physical with guys like that at the line of scrimmage. That’s the one thing when you’re playing a longer guy, there is a lot of surface area for you to get your hands on them early. We’ve got to do a good job at that. 

How much does having tall corners like Malik Dunlap and Shyheim Battle help against that size? 

I think on the perimeter we are pretty good when it comes to height matchups. It’s more when the safeties are covering a big tight end, which is pretty much how it is every week for a safety. Most of the tight ends in this league are 6’5”, so it is kind of what you deal with. You have to be physical and try to get them off their routes and make quarterbacks make really accurate throws, not just letting people run free. 

How was the focus in practice this week?

I think the team learned a lot. We’ve spoken about that already, coming out of the Virginia Tech week. They put an action plan in place last week that was successful for them, so they’ve tried to take that same plan and that same approach. We had a good week of practice. Is it good enough to win? I guess we will find out this weekend, but there definitely wasn’t a day where I didn’t feel like we weren’t competing the way that we need to. There’s things we’ve got to get better at, there’s fundamentals, there’s technique, there’s execution, but the effort and intensity and understanding of what we are trying to get done out there has been excellent. 

Did having three straight road games last year help with doing it this year? 

I don’t really like being gone three straight weeks regardless of what is going on, pandemic or not. I don’t know. I guess we’ll pay the benefit of this at the end of the year because we’ve got a bunch of home games to finish the season. For the kids to have to miss school three straight Fridays, I don’t think that is good for guys academically. I wish we can space that out a little better as a league, but it’s what we have. 

Does having two weeks of experience with COVID travel help? 

I think you guys are making more out of that stuff than there really is. I think the flight is different because we’re not getting on an airplane until we know the results of our tests. So, that’s different, but the bus trip really is not that different other than that guys have more leg room because we’re taking more busses. They probably actually like that better than having 45 guys jammed into a bus. I don’t look at this as a very difficult task when it comes to bussing somewhere. 

How much confidence does it give you guys knowing you can throw the football if the opponent stops the run? 

I’ve said this before, but you’re not going to beat Pitt running the football. There’s a reason they were ranked number 1 in the nation in rushing defense going into our game. They’ve got their whole team up there. You have to throw to win. You run the ball to be physical against them. You run the ball to get short-yardage first downs. You run the ball to balance, but to score points and beat Pitt you have to throw the football. We were able to do that obviously. It does give us confidence knowing that we have that ability. 

We know our receivers have been waiting for that opportunity because in the first game we were able to run the ball basically whenever we wanted. I think the balance that we want to have, the ability to use their numbers against them defensively is important for us as this year continues. You don’t want to be a team where they’re just going to pack the box and then you can’t throw it. It’s not going to be a successful team if that’s what we are. 

We talked to Shyheim Battle a little bit ago, big-time recruit. I think people, when you’re a big-time recruit, they expect you to come in right away, but it’s more of a process, isn’t it?

I think for all these guys, recruiting has created almost a false reality for them. All the edits, social media and the public fanfare puts you on a pedestal and makes you feel like you’re already ready for the NFL. It’s unfair to these kids, because that’s not reality. Reality is they get on a college campus and they’re now the youngest guy on the team. Everybody there was just like them in high school. Some of them are mature enough to handle it, some of them are just super gifted and the game’s not fast. But that’s a very small percentage. 

Most of them come in and they need time to develop. They need the game to slow down in their head a little bit. That’s OK. That’s why most freshmen don’t play. In Shyheim’s case, he’s on the field as a redshirt freshman and he’s starting. I would say that’s way ahead of the curve for most people. If you’re a three-year starter in the ACC or the SEC you’re an elite football player. So he’s in a great position.

He said he chose NC State over Clemson, to win a big-time local kid in a battle like that, that’s obviously good for your program. 

It is. We obviously make a big deal out of keeping these young men home for their families. I do think as they transition from high school to college, that first year is very challenging. Being close to your family, letting them be around you, being able to go to church with them, there’s value in that. Once they see that we can help them develop, not only as a football player, a lot of the players we’ve had have had NFL opportunities, but they see what the Wolfpack has for them academically and post graduate, all the things that are out there internship wise and job wise for our graduates, it’s a big deal. 

And it’s taken a while to get it that way. When we first got here, there was a lot of players like Todd Gurley and that bunch that were going out of the state and playing other places. I think the efforts that our staff has made, the efforts that some of our competitors in the state have made to keep players home is paying off for both schools. 

Tanner Ingle had a pretty gutsy performance this week dealing with some cramps, came back and made some plays. To have a team captain have a performance like that, how much of an impact does that have on some of the younger guys?

I think he has to play like that. That’s why he’s voted captain, because he’s tough. He talks a lot about how much this game matters to him. You can’t talk like that and be out. You’ve got to be able to play if you’re capable of playing, medically. That’s what we expect from Tanner. It’s very hard to get him out, to be honest. The doctors could tell you he’s not playing and he’ll fight one of those guys. He’s going to try to play. He does not want to miss. It was great to see him come back and make the last play of the game, because he gave up the first touchdown. So it was great to see him come back and finish the way he did. 

Where do you stand personnel-wise in the secondary?

We’re the same. And it won’t change until Tyler Baker-Williams is let out of his contact tracing, which should be this Sunday or Monday, so we’ll have him back for the next game. 

What about Rakeim Ashford?

He’s done. He’s out [for the season].

Looking at Saturday, as you progress through the week, looking at their QB, Brennan Armstrong, obviously he’s a dual threat and can run the ball a lot, but he does have his targets that he likes, what’s been the most challenging thing about game planning to keep him in the box?

He’s tough, first of all. One of the reporters out there compared him to a linebacker if he was a defensive player and I think that’s accurate. I think he’s a very competitive, physical, hard-running guy. There’s a lot of run game designed for him that way. He’s not a guy that slides. He’s physical. We respect that about him. So we’ve got to do a good containing him. We’ve got to tackle him. We’ve got to force him to beat us throwing the football, too. We’ve got to make that run game be something that’s not keeping him on the field, and our guys are going to have to make some plays in one-on-one coverage to do that. It’s like every quarterback you play, you want to try to get him into third and long and see if he’s good enough. I know he’ll compete hard. You can see that on film.