Shyheim Battle Eager For Upcoming Matchup Against La. Tech

NC State cornerback Shyheim Battle believes the secondary will get tested this week against Louisiana Tech.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

ACC players of the week came out [with] three offensive guys for NC State but no defensive guys. Was there a level of, “Hey, what about us” after your performance against Clemson?
I feel like a couple of guys out on defense should've been recommended, but it's okay. We've been an underdog for a long time now, so words are not going to hurt us. Nothing's personal at the end of the day, so we’re just going to keep grinding.

I was looking at the Louisiana Tech roster and I believe their running back is from the Rocky Mount area. I think he went to Southwest Edgecombe... Williams. Do you know him? Did you guys have a relationship before he went out there? Do you know him pretty well?
So he's from around my way. I didn't know him too much personally, but we knew each other through football. He's a couple years older than me, like three or four classes before me. So I never got a chance to play against him, but I've heard about him.

Before my time came, back home, I knew who he was. It was that type of thing back then, but I always kept up with him. We reach out to each other back and forth now and I haven't talked to him yet before the game, but I'm going to wish him good luck.

The Nash/Edgecombe area when it comes to recruiting in the state... everybody talks about Charlotte and Raleigh. You think Nash/Edgecombe area gets overlooked when people talk about football hotspots in North Carolina?
Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, we definitely don't get overlooked. I think it's just more so because of it's a small area.

Not many people really just come through there just because. It's a lot of hard nose football that goes down that nobody really knows about unless you actually just take the time and go check it out. So, I was blessed to get noticed and I'm happy to be where I am, but I can't say it was easy.

Watching the game back against Clemson, it seemed like you guys really wanted to take it to them physically defensively. Was that something that the coaches challenged you guys with going into that game that week? Just trying to match their intensity and physicality outside?
Yes. 100%. Going into the game with the top two defenses in the ACC. So we already knew that we had a point to prove cause everybody talks about how good Clemson's defense was. And we looked at the stats and our stats was just as good as theirs were.

So we had a point to prove. We came in the underdog again. No talk about us, no one expected us to win the game.

So we just went in there and just played our hearts out. We went out there and just made stops when we needed to make all the right reads. And we just kept playing ball. We came out the better team and we played out the better defense. So I feel like we proved our point that we are the better defense in this conference.

You have some guys on that side of the ball who seem to play with a lot of intensity. Drake, Tanner... even Corey plays with a lot of energy. Is that contagious?
Yes it is. We feed off each other energy. Like Corey made a big play. Seeing guys ran up on him, I ran up on him just because the energy. It felt like I needed to go to enjoy this moment with him so you can celebrate with your brother.  So, it's definitely contagious.

Louisiana tech has a running back. A guy name Smoke Harris. Probably about 5'6", 5'7". Leads them in their reception yards, a little smaller guy. What do you see for him on field? I imagine with a name like Smoke, he is probably a fast guy. So what do you look forward to about defending a guy with that size and that agility and ability?
Just staying locked down on his hip. He's one of those guys that's going to want to try to catch you in space and make a move on you, make you miss. He's one of their screen guys. So they want to just have him in a space where he can get the ball and move around.

So, key thing for us is just knowing where he's at and not letting him get the ball. And if he gets the ball on the screen route, just tackle him as soon as we can.

Can you kind of just talk us through how you guys have to, not completely erase the game plan, but adjust your game plan from week to week because you're seeing so many different kinds of offenses so far.
Yeah, it's definitely a lot of adjusting going on. We try to disguise our defense so that we'll take away what they want to do most of the time.

Like for Clemson it was taking away the quick game and tripouts. For instance, it'd be just try to take away their deep shots [we know] they want to do. They got receivers that can run. So we're just going to put ourselves in the best position we can to make a play and to get the ball if they want to throw it or try to get them not to throw it.

Is it like we're going to force our hand and try to make the offense do what we want them to do, or are you guys more so kind of adjusting to offense in game – or a little bit of both from week to week?
It's a little bit of both where we feel like we can have the edge on. So just it's all depends on who we're playing.

What has Derrek Pitts added to your position group?
He's added a lot of leadership, a lot of vocal leadership, a lot of energy to the room of course. He's a great dude. I'm glad he came in. He filled up some big shoes and he's been nothing but good to us so far.

So I love him. I love the energy he brings and it's just fun learning that way, knowing I can trust this guy. Like I know he got my back and I got his. He talks to me. If I feel like I'm getting internal, he'll come talk to me. If I feel like he's going internal, I'll go talk to him.

It's just that brotherhood relationship that we built from an off season program training and just playing alongside each other. I'm glad to have him.

I see you got the shout out to 252 on your bio. How big is it for you guys? You, Bam... one is already there to kind of represent that area on the stage.
For me personally, it's real big. They come from a more of the outskirts area, but it's still the same thing. But for me, personally, it's real big because Rocky Mount is an easy place to come out.

There's a lot of guys that lose focus along the way, get sidetracked with any and everything. So to me I kept my head on the street, stay focused and I found a way to get out. And that was the main goal. And a lot of my friends, they were unfortunate not to make it to where I am. So I feel like I play for them as well.

I had one friend that is not even able to be here with me today and I also play for him every game. So, I mean, just being able to just look back like, wow, I was really the one that made it out.
A lot of guys look up to me, they call me a hero. They say I'm the example.

A lot of guys just want to be where I am, even the youth. I try to give back whenever I can and go talk to them, just let them know, it's bigger things outside of Rocky Mount that you can put yourself in position to get to if you just stay focused and not get distracted by all these things going on here.

Because Rocky Mount is so small, you can get bored easily and find yourself in trouble fast, and there's no way of getting out of it once you're in it. So, just me being strong enough to actually put myself in a position to get out of that stuff was really, really big to me. Because I know it's not even... I've seen it over and over again where people have actually gotten here and then it didn't turn out well.

I just try to stay focused, keep myself out of trouble, and surround myself with good people.