LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Players
No. 23 NC State running back Ricky Person and linebacker Isaiah Moore met with the media following the Wolfpack's 34-27 win over Louisiana Tech Saturday evening.
Person rushed for 90 yards on 15 carries, including a 24-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Moore led State’s defense with 10 tackles, seven solo, and recorded one of the Pack’s three sacks against the Bulldogs.
NOTE: Click each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each interview.
Ricky Person
The television broadcast showed you and Dave Doeren having a conversation on the sideline. Shortly thereafter, the running game seemed to open up. What was that conversation between the two of you like at that time?
Basically, the conversation was Coach Doeren telling me, “We’ve got to get the guys up on the sideline.” We were relaxed coming into the game. He was like, “You’ve got to pull the team behind you and get the team going.” I went to the sideline and got my boys up on the sideline. Honestly, the crowd played a big factor in our play, so we’ve got to have the crowd with us and behind us.
How thrilled are you with the team’s three-game winning streak heading into the bye week?
We’re very excited. It’s been a long time coming for this. Plenty of people are still counting us out, but we’ve got our heads down. We’re going to put our heads down, we’re going to work day in and day out, and we’re going to go to the tape from this game and fix some stuff we’ve got to take off the tape.
How much does it help you and Zonovan Knight when you’re both rotating and keeping each other fresh? Do you both play off each other and give each other energy?
Honestly, yes. That’s one thing about me and Bam: we talk a lot to each other, asking what one another is seeing. Basically, we want everyone to win, so we give each other that talk. It’s good having Bam alongside me. With the amount of work he’s put in, he’s a great, great back. I love that man.
Doeren preached all week about not letting this be a “trap game.” Do you feel the team came into the game with the right state of mind?
Honestly, we came out of the gate relaxed. We couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first half. In the second half, we couldn’t get anything going on the defensive side of the ball. We were able to complement each other on that side between halves. Honestly, you could tell our energy wasn’t there at the beginning of the game, but as the game went on, we started to come together as a whole, as a unit, and push forward.
Was it mainly effort, not X’s and O’s, in the first half that led to the lack of production versus in the second half?
It’s always X’s and O’s, but the execution played a part. Like Coach Doeren said, we missed some of our layups that we should have made as well as on the defensive side. We’re going to go back to the tape, and we’re going to figure out what we need to fix so that doesn’t happen again.
Isaiah Moore
For the second straight week, the game’s outcome was on the defense’s back. Moving forward, how can that side of the ball learn from these last two weeks and those experiences?
We rep moments like that in practice. We run two-minute drills at least once or twice a week to prepare us for moments like that. Honestly, we probably shouldn’t have been in that moment. We didn’t play well on the defensive side of the ball in the second half, so we’ve got to get that fixed. Doing those reps in practice and getting prepared for the moment is the biggest thing.
Is this a good time for a bye week? How much are you looking forward to the bye week?
Yeah, it’s a good time. It’s good to go into the bye on a winning streak. We played five really hard games so far, so we’ve got to get guys healed up and get some rest. We’ve got conference play coming up, so it’s definitely a good time for it.
How much did Austin Kendall’s elusiveness and mobility challenge the defense tonight?
We saw on tape all week he was getting the ball off fast. We took away his first read, and he was just taking off. We’ve got to get that fixed and be more sound in our rush lanes putting forward. We put that on tape, so in the next couple of weeks, we’ve got to take that off the tape.
What was that last Louisiana Tech drive like as a defensive player?
We rep moments like that in practice all the time, so we refer back to our training in moments like that. It’s a stressful situation, but it only stresses you if you put stress on yourself. We revert back to our training, trust in that, and hope you come out with the rest.
As one of the captains, how would you assess the first half of the season?
I think consistency is the biggest thing we need to continue to improve on.