Doeren: Hines Doing Well, Pack Healthier This Week
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media after Thursday's practice.
Have you ever seen a team transform like BC has the last three weeks, especially on offense?
They've done a nice job.
When you play young players, which they've had to do on offense, it takes time. They are good players. Dillon is a really talented running back and you see his confidence and talent each week. The quarterback has got better and better.
They are a veteran defense so you knew they would be what they are, but they are playing with a lot of confidence. With the quarterback playing the way he is now, earlier in the year they were throwing interceptions and it hurt them, they've got into a better rhythm of taking care of the ball and doing what they do.
Any adjustments after Ray Ray? Michael Walker is a really good punt returner and kick returner.
No, we had eight guys miss a tackle on that play. The bottomline is the players you have on the field have to get them on the ground. AJ outkicked his coverage a little on that play which hurts you, but you want hang time and you want to create fair catches.
He's really good. He gets north-south and he's hard to get down.
It's a challenge every week in the ACC, you have a good returner back there.
Do you have to expect trick plays?
They always have one or two. Last year they got us on a halfback pass at the end of the game. We worked on them all week. You have to be sound with your eye discipline against teams that run the ball the way they do.
How is Nyheim Hines progressing?
He's doing really well. He's way ahead of where he was a week ago, and we're looking to get him out there more.
The same with Justin Jones?
Yes. Everybody has practiced everyday this week so I'm looking forward to being healthier than we were seven days ago, that's for sure.
BC has only allowed seven sacks...
Yes, that's impressive.
Part of that is what they do. It's not a drop-back offense. You won't get a lot of one-on-one protection schemes. A lot of their passes are play-actions, max pro, or bootlegs. They do a good job with sprint-outs and screens.
They help him systematically and the key is making them a drop-back team. It's not easy to do, but it's the recipe for success... trying to get a lead on a team like that and get them out of what they want to do which is running the football and play-action.
Dwayne Ledford is up for the Broyles Award. What makes him a special offensive line coach?
Well, I think you see the progress we've made up front. Taking us from 38 to 17 sacks last year and this year being second in the league. The way that those guys compete, the brotherhood he's created with them.
We have a lot of coaches deserving of it, but the back-to-back success with the offensive line speaks volumes.
His NFL background seems to pay off on the college level.
Players want to know what that's like and having insight into it is a resource you don't always have.
He can go to them and say, "This won't cut it. You think you're going to be a NFL player, this doesn't get you in the NFL or keep you in the NFL."
Just his wisdom... it's definitely a nice thing to have on your staff and for your players to have that resource where they can ask him those kind of questions.
The continuity... to have coach Ledford come in and pick up where Coach U left off...
He did and he's taken it further. He's built a chemistry in that room that's special, and that's a credit to Dwayne.
He was the perfect fit. Being a native of the state, he lived in Raleigh during his NFL career. This was home base, he knew the town, he recruited the state of North Carolina.
He takes a lot of pride in us being a good recruiting staff in this state and developing players the way he was developed. He was a tough dude. He was a d-lineman converted to an o-lineman and he understands that mentality.
He was the perfect fit for the job.