Tanner Ingle: "We Completely Trust In Our Coaches"

NC State safety Tanner Ingle returns to his home state this weekend to face Florida State. He discusses the matchup and much more with the media.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Looking at the film from this past week, it seemed you had a heightened role in terms of trying to limit Malik Cunningham and trying to stop him in terms of the run game. You were at the line of scrimmage a lot more than normal. How much did your role change this past week? Is that kind of the game plan going forward, especially against mobile quarterbacks?
I wouldn't really say so much my role changed more, it's just the looks that Louisville would give us would be the position where I'd have to be. I had on third downs, maybe I'd spy him a little bit sometimes, but apart from that coming into this weekend, I just feel like we'll probably have a similar gameplan. We got to do our best to contain Travis. Of course, he's a good quarterback. He can run the ball, but apart from that, I really don't feel my role changed so much. I just need to make sure I do my job.

You obviously lose the guy in Isaiah Moore that affects the entire defense. How much have players like you and Drake and some others stepped up a little bit more, maybe even so in terms of being a vocal leader?
Big time... practice is completely different without Isaiah. It actually... losing Zay has made everyone else be able to learn how to communicate better, just because as a defense, we really did rely on Zay being out there, communicating, telling us what to do, having us setup and stuff.

Transitioning from him being off the field, I had to do a bigger part in communicating. Drake has to do a bigger part in communicating, making sure everyone's set up. So, from that standpoint, losing Zay has helped us as a defense... everybody, honestly, just be able to communicate better.

You were just talking about communication having to get better, obviously with Isaiah getting hurt. When you lose that number of guys, everyone talks about next man up, but do you have in the back of your mind a worry of, man, these are getting bigger and bigger losses and multiple guys. Do you have to fight that thought at all to play like you guys did last weekend?
I wouldn't really say we'd have to fight it.

Since I've been here, it's happened every year. We lose four or five guys. So as a team, we're pretty used to it. We never really worry about situations just because we know when we go out to practice, our coaches... we completely trust in our coaches one hundred percent.  We know whatever they give us, whatever their plan is, we believe in it. So we go out there, and we do what we can.

Tanner, being from Florida, does this game carry any extra meaning for you?
Maybe a little bit just because it's a home crowd. I have a few friends, a few teammates from high school out there watching me. But apart from that, it's just another game.

When you look at Florida State, you mentioned a little bit earlier how they are relatively similar. When you watched Jordan Travis, and you had just played Malik Cunningham. Was that a good prep game for FSU? How are those two guys similar and/or different?
You know, it was definitely... playing against Malik was definitely a good prep for Jordan Travis. Just as far as similarities and differences, I felt Malik could throw the deep ball a little bit better than Jordan, but apart from that, just running capabilities, they're both quite similar.

Jordan Travis, he's a little bit bigger. He'll probably break more tackles. But other than that, they're pretty similar quarterbacks.

I wanted to ask you about Drake Thomas. You were asked earlier how you guys have to step up. What's it like playing behind him the way he's been playing the last couple of weeks? Obviously, in the game, I know you're locked in, but when you go back and watch film, do you look at the film and watch him like, oh my God, I can't believe how he's all over the place?
Drake is a dog. That's the only way you could put it. Honestly, playing behind Drake, you're going to get the same person every single day. Drake is as consistent as it gets. So playing with him gives you that confidence that he's going to do what he has to do regardless of the situation. So it just allows me... it frees me up. It allows me to not worry or have to worry about that side of the ball because I know he has that stuff handled.

In those film sessions, do you ever take time to become a fan of his? Just kind of watch some of his plays.
I do that all the time.

I always find myself watching him like last game against Louisville. There was a play; he blew up the center into the running back to make the tackle. And I was just like, “Damn, I wish I could do that.”

You say you get the same thing out of Drake every day. When he came in as a young guy, was he like that? Just locked in, focused, and consistent?
Yeah. From day one, Drake came in here, and Drake knows what he wants to do. Drake has a goal. Drake has his plan set out, and he goes out there and attacks it every day. Ever since he's stepped on campus, he's been extremely consistent, and I don't know if he gets it from Thayer or if Thayer gets it from him, but those two are one and the same.