OC Tim Beck On Devin Leary's Development, Players Shining In Camp

NC State offensive coordinator Tim Beck discussed the development of Devin Leary, players who have stood out in fall camp, and much more!

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Obviously you have Devin back at quarterback this year. What are your thoughts on him through fall camp?
Yeah, I've been really pleased with him. He seems very confident, very calm in the pocket right now. He's seeing the defense as well, and he's making really good decisions.

So I see a lot of growth in him, even though he missed well over half the season. I still see a lot of growth in him, not only as a player, but also off the field as a leader... personality, much more vocal, so really pleased at his development.

I'm interested to hear how you handle getting guys quality reps during fall camp, but also protecting some of your upperclassmen from injuries and getting nicked up, things like that.
It's a puzzle. Obviously you got to make sure they get what they need. You have to try to script that way in practice to get the plays that the certain individuals need.

But it's also football. They got to get ready. They're going to get hit. Until they take pads off and put flags around us, we're going to get tackled, so we have to get used to playing the game and the way the game is played.

You do everything you can as a coach to teach your players how to play and practice smart, to take care of each other, but it is football. It is a contact sport, and there's going to be contact, and you try to just be really mindful of that and [be] careful and try to eliminate as much as you possibly can the excess of it.

Coach Beck, coach Gibson just said that because he has so much experience with defense his guys are able to play faster and not think as much. Going up against that experienced defense every single day, how much is it helping your offense and making your guys better?
Yeah, I would agree with Coach Gibson... very fast defensively. Again, being in the system probably for one year also has helped. It's helped the coaches learn the players, knowing their strengths and weaknesses, but it's also helped the players know the system better. So they are playing faster and it's tough. It's a tough go.

They do a great job against us. We have to continue to remember as coaches and as players, it's about the process, it's not about the results, that every day we go out there and we're just trying to get a little bit better every day. We're trying to find one thing in our room or one thing in the O-line room. Let's get better at this today, hand placement, let's get better at pass pro, let's get better.

So the small little details are going to add up to a lot bigger, better things. When you start to gameplan and you start to attack people, you start to see results, but you have to lay that foundation first.

Coach, you had a lot of guys who played a lot last year on offense back, but have there been any newcomers or maybe guys who didn't play as much last year that have really stepped forward and caught your eye so far in camp?
Yeah. I think I can go position by position.

I think upfront on the offensive line, Anthony Belton's had a really good fall camp so far. I've been really pleased with his development, his progress, the things he's doing. Derrick Eason has had a good camp... Bryson Speas. There's a lot of competition going on with those guys, and you have the consistency of Icky, and he's playing well, really worked on some of the smaller detail of things that he needs to get better at. Dylan McMahon and Gibby at center. It's a good group.They love it here, they're lunch pail guys; they come in, they punch a clock, and they go to work and they love it.

At the tight end position, Dylan Parham fits that offensive line mentality, but I like what Trent Pennix has done. Chris Toudle has really had a really good fall camp at that position. Andrew Jayne... I think those guys have had opportunities to get in there and make some plays and they've made them. I've been really impressed with them.

Julian Gray at wide receiver has really done some really nice things for us, brings a different element to us on the perimeter as a young player, still learning everything, but there's a different gear with him, and I really like what he's doing.

Our running backs, we've got a crew back there that have all gotten better, and our young guy, Demie Sumo, he's impressive. He's a really good young prospect that has a bright future here.

I think those are just some guys that jumped out in the first week, but there are others. There's other guys that have done really good, and there's very consistent play with some of the older players that sometimes you take for granted. But those were just a few names that jumped out.

Tim, you kind of touched on him there a second ago, but I just want to ask about Trent Pennix and how he's adjusted to that new position and how he's been going through camp with that.
He's doing well. Trent's a very, very talented young man, very athletic, very fast. But he's big and so we felt like we can utilize him, with the depth that we have at the running back position with Bam and Ricky and Jordan Houston and Delbert has had a good fall camp, and now Demie, and we thought how do we get this guy on the field? How do we help him?

Putting him at a different spot learning and letting them go out there, and he makes some mistakes. That's not his natural position, so he's still learning some of it, but I tell you what, he's an electrifying player. That's for sure. He makes a lot of things happen and creates a lot of mismatch nightmares out there.

Coach, because you did have a full spring this year, unlike the spring of 2020, and you know your personnel a lot better, are you guys at the graduate level right now of them knowing your offense -- or a PhD level? You guys still in the undergrad, or kind of progressing through the whole fall camp?
I guess it depends on who you ask, right? Or what position and what player. There's some graduate students; the guys that played a lot of football, they get it, they're picking things up really fast. We're able to add some things and create some things offensively.

Then you ask those younger guys that are still learning, and then incoming freshmen, they're like grade school or they're way... they're still learning.

So again, it's all about the process we're just trying to get better every day. If we can get better every day, by the time when it matters, we're going to be a good football team.

A couple of times this offseason coach Doeren has said that Devin has gotten to the point where he's finishing your sentences, kind of know what you want, what you're going to say next. How much easier does that make the offense flow when the quarterback and you are in sync like that?
Yeah, a lot. I mean, it helps having some consistency. Obviously, we had the COVID bug hit us at one point last year, we had injuries. Our depth was musical chairs and quarterback was musical chairs. So having consistency helps, being in the system again.

But it is, and Ben's the same way, Ben has picked up enough now, he's still learning, he's still a young player, we forget that. But those guys now, they get it. They are speaking my language in terms of how I want them to talk, how I want them to answer questions. Really short, clear, and concise so we can move on and not drag things out.

And Aaron's a smart study, McLaughlin, he's picked things up really well. I love his pocket presence. He's a big strong dude in there. He just still has a lot to learn.

One more quick follow up. Did it help Devin, sitting down had to watch, learn your system a little bit last year, as opposed to trying to learn on the fly?
I don't know that. I think most players learn by doing. They don't learn by hearing or seeing as much. They familiarize themselves with the play perhaps, but actually going out there and seeing cover two, or seeing cover three, or the blitz and having to react to it. You can't replace experience.

So I think that's why I'm very impressed with Devin. I'm very pleased with where he's at, because his ability, that he's missed so much football, to be able to transition to where he's at, the calmness and the decision-making that he's doing right now is really good.