Dave Doeren: "We're in a good spot right now"
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media Wednesday afternoon following the Wolfpack’s team practice leading up to the season opener versus East Carolina on Sept. 3.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s interview.
“It feels like that was a long time ago now. One, it was great to be in the stadium and see how people get bigger or smaller on that stage. The guys you expect to play well did, so that wasn’t a surprise. I think Julian Gray had a good day, just going back in my mind here on players that showed up. Defensively, we definitely tackled well for our first day, bringing people to the ground. That’s always a concern on how that’s going to be. We stayed healthy which is a huge part of a scrimmage, maybe the most important part. We were able to do a bunch of good special teams work. I feel good about this back-and-forth that’s happening right now in camp, not just in camp but in practice, and getting to see guys that were out play again. Seeing Cyrus [Fagan] on the two-minute drives and having Payton [Wilson], Drake [Thomas], and Isaiah [Moore] out there, all of those things are good.”
“We have a rep count. There are guys on our roster that have 2,000 game reps, so they’re not going to take every rep in practice. They’re limited because we’re doing that, not because of their health. Then there’s other guys who are getting the bulk of the load because we want to get them better and develop them more. It’s kind of a delicate thing. You want to get them enough to be ready to play ECU, but at the same time we don’t need to get them too much because they’ve got a bulk of reps already banked.”
“[Darryl Jones] was out in the spring, so the best thing about Darryl right now is being consistent every day. He’s been the same guy. He’s a big, long guy. You know he’s got great dimensions to him. He’s very consistent. He’s mature. He’s got strong hands. He’s really helped us on special teams, too. It works out at about his progression. He’s a guy that’s earned a lot of trust so far in camp.”
“You give some speeches here and there, but you also lean on your leaders. They’ve got to understand that everyone else has got them, too. There isn’t an, ‘Oh, I’m sore.’ Training camp is that. There’s going to be sore legs. You’re going to have some hot days and some days that aren’t. You’re going to build the chemistry of your team. You’re going to see what your playmakers can do. That’s what training camp is. If you don’t enjoy that, then you’re in the wrong sport.”
“[Davin Vann] has probably been the most consistent playmaker in the front, from a fall camp standpoint. He really worked this offseason. He went to work with [Dantonio Burnette] and in the film room. You can see he’s playing a lot faster, and he looks really good. He’s in great shape. He’s playing inside and outside. For sure, he’s one of the guys we’re excited about.”
“Jordan Poole is doing really well. He and Jayland Parker are probably two of the more improved guys in the linebacker corps because they’ve gotten so many reps. Caden [Fordham] should be back out there. He’s been limited, so he should be back out there with us moving forward. I don’t really have a report on him, but the other two are doing really good.”
“Being able to delegate things and not get somebody that has so many things that they don’t do any of them well is important. We can say, ‘Here’s what you have to do as a graduate assistant. Here’s what the analyst does.’ For [Ruffin McNeill], he and I are looking at practice like head coaches. For me, I’ll go in there and say, ‘Hey, what’d you see there today?’ ‘It looks great.’ It’s not just on the field, but things off the field: “What did you think about this ID?” or “What do you think about this?’ or ‘Hey, we’re traveling this week. Here’s what I’m doing. Look at it, and let me know if you have any thoughts.’ It just gives me somebody that’s been in my seat that I trust and that will tell me the truth. Having more people is good. You’ve got to be careful with how many. I think sometimes you can get too many people. Some of the staffs out there are unlimited, it seems like. I don’t know how they have staff meetings, like ‘Where do we put all these guys?’ We’re in a good spot right now, and to me, it’s about quality. We’ve got some really good, young coaches that I’m excited about.”
“I think recruiting is why it’s that way. There’s so many more ways to communicate that, in the past, it was just calling people. Now, with all different social media means, texting, DMs, having the graphics, and all the different things that go on digital media-wise, that’s where you see staffs turn into NFL staffs where you have a bigger recruiting department.”
“I’m excited that Jack [Chambers] and M.J. [Morris] are progressing the way they are. We’re splitting reps with those guys with the twos. Both of them are improving, both of them are making mistakes, and they’re both getting valuable reps against a really good defense right now. I feel great about where we’re at as far as who’s behind [Devin Leary]. I’m not ready to say who’s No.2 or No. 3 yet.”
“Almost. Not there yet. We’ve still got this week. We’ll start that on Tuesday of next week."