Travali Price: "We Just Want To Strain"

NC State redshirt freshman defensive lineman Travali Price is earning snaps for the Pack, and he recently spoke with the media about his development and preparing for Texas Tech's high-powered offense.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Do you look forward to these kind of games against a team that passes a lot and under the lights in Carter-Finley?
Absolutely. The whole team wants to execute. We just want to strain and get to the quarterback as fast as we can. We want to maintain our cage discipline and just focusing on things like that.

When you watched that film, what was the first thing that came to your mind?
Against?

Texas Tech.
Their big guys. We're just really focused on executing what we got to do really, to be honest with you. I don't really know too much about it. I don't want to speak too much on them, I want to focus on us a lot more.

What is your focus on for you guys?
Caging the quarterback. He can run, he's a pretty fast guy, so we just want to keep him caged and make plays and execute.

Have your responsibilities changed as a defensive end when you're facing a mobile quarterback like that?
Absolutely. You want to limit your pass rush moves as much and then cage the quarterback a lot more, just stay disciplined, and things like that.

How big is it this week to not ball chase and do those things and just play your assignment in the gaps and things like that? Is it bigger against a team like Texas Tech?
Oh, absolutely. We just want to get after them really and just, like I said, focus on caging the quarterback as much as possible because he's a pretty fast guy. He gets out of the pocket and scoot.

When a team tries to run a hundred-plus plays, as a defensive guy, what do you think about when that could happen?
Well, we got to have guys rotating in, so we going to be good on that perspective. But I mean they do get a lot of plays in there, but as a defense I think we are up to the challenge. We're working on our tempo and things like that, so we're going to be good.

You said you had your best Tuesday practice. Why was it? Why do you think that was?
Because we hustled and strained. That's what we do. That's what NC State football is about. We're straining, we work hard, we grit and grind.

You had a couple big plays in the game on Saturday at home. Just what was the emotion of that? How cool was that in front of the fans to be able to experience that?
Oh, it was surreal. My first time really doing something, and I just was happy, enjoyed the moment with the fans and my teammates and hope to make more. But same with the team, just everybody.

What was it like to learn from older players and then working with Thunder to get your body to where you wanted to be and the challenges of that over the last year?
I think it was really huge learning from Davin Vann and Savion, them teaching us, teaching me just the ropes of the game of college football. Them being veterans like they are, it really helped me, so now I'm able to execute it just as good and we can all just play as a team and get better.

How big of a jump was it to go from your high school to NC State and seeing what that level of football is like?
I mean obviously the game's faster. It was a lot to learn really, just learning to drive strike and things like that. It was a lot to learn because I wasn't taught those things at first in high school. So it was different, but I was excited to learn. I was open to learning and I was happy that the whole team was able to help me out with that.

Is there point where things have started to slow down for you or you're doing more reacting than thinking?
Absolutely. There's things like that, but we always regain focus and just the next play mentality. So that's for everybody, like the whole team like that.