Dave Doeren: "We Know We've Got a Great Team Coming to Town"
No. 16 NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media Thursday afternoon to discuss the Wolfpack's upcoming matchup with Texas Tech.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s interview.
“It’s been great. It’s been awesome weather, too, so that’s helped with the speed we’ve had to practice at because of the no-huddle offense. The guy’s are excited. They’re excited to play a night game at home, excited to play against a Big 12 opponent that has the same record as we do, and obviously, they’re coming off a spirited overtime win as well. We know we’ve got a great team coming to town.”
“If you look at the 11 starters [on defense], 10 of them are either seniors or graduates. They’re very old and experience. They’re long. Their previous coaching staff, who I know as well, recruited well. Coach [Joey] McGuire’s done a great job with these guys, but he inherited some nice body types. They’re long. Their D-line’s got a lot of guys that they can play and rotate. Their backers are fast. Both corners are over 6-2. Yeah, it’s a formidable bunch, and it’s going to be a great challenge.”
“Anytime you’ve got guys that have been there and done that, it helps. The nerves aren’t going to be the same as for a guy that’s never been on the road playing in a hostile environment. Again, it’s an experienced football team. Obviously, it’s not the first time they’ve played in front of fans.”
“Every week, it’s based on the defense we’re playing and on the things [Devin Leary] needs to focus on. I’m not going to tell you what the game plan is. Each week, there are little things that you see on tape with every player on our team. It’s no different with the quarterback, the O-line, or the D-line. For Devin, there’s certain things he wants to do better, and he focuses on those things.”
“I think the 3-3-5 allows you to do more things in coverage because, when you play some of these up-tempo, speed teams, as you know, there’s more plays in space. It allows you to get more bodies there faster to make those plays and still be able to defend the run game as you’ve seen with our statistics on defense. I think this type of offense also, years prior to the switch, we’d be first or second in the league on rushing defense and eighth or ninth in pass defense, not because we didn’t have good corners but because they were on their own a lot. I feel like, in this defense, you have the ability to help outside when there’s matchups you’re worried about against the Clemsons and Louisvilles and such. You know, Florida State always has a draft pick at wideout. It gives you the ability to stop somebody not just with a one-on-one matchup.”
“Yeah, I love to learn. I’m always learning. I’m always studying other people. I watch NFL film at least once a week at night just to try and find new things. It was something back when I was a GA at Drake University. We studied football all the time, and I’ve always carried that with me. When you bring a new coach in, Tony [Gibson] in this case, he brought 3-3-5 ideas in. We were 4-2-5 at the time. We were all learning from him, and he was learning from us, and we were trying to blend the two things with the systems we had. It’s the same thing when Joker [Phillips] came in, Tim [Beck] came in, Coach [John] Garrison… There’s always just some new ideas. It’s not just football. Sometimes, it’s how you practice, your schedule, or your offseason program.”
“The only thing I can’t do for these players is make them more experienced. I can do everything else. I can help them get stronger. I can do motivational things with them. I can feed them better. I can get them more rest. I can do all that, but I can’t give them game reps. They’ve got to accumulate that through time. We have a lot of that, so it helps. ‘Hey, this was like that game two years ago. Remember when we played so-and-so, and remember that quarterback and how we kept him in the pocket the game?’ We can have some recall with guys that’s very helpful.”
“Teshaun [Smith] is a fifth-year player, so to have a guy like him [is great], but the guys you see listed on our depth chart as a one or a two are the guys we rotate. We were fortunate last week to get the threes in as well, so I don’t really look at that as a normal rotation. I look at the guys we’re playing in the two-deep, and when you have the ability and competition at practice like we do where Jakeen Harris gets to go in and spell Tanner [Ingle] and [Devan] Boykin gets to go in and spell Cyrus [Fagan], those things help your defense. Teshaun can go in at either corner and help us out there. It’s the same thing you see on the O-line. You see Tim McKay coming in, and he’s playing his butt off right now. He’s helping the offensive line. He’s making Bryson Speas practice harder because he’s playing so well. Depth creates multiple things. It gives you rest, but it also creates competition in practice.”
“They help you from an outside perspective. Obviously, it’s a non-conference game, so win or lose, it’s not going to dictate the ACC Championship for us, but it does in the eyes of the voters as you’re trying to move yourself up in the rankings. Games like this are valuable, and it’s good for our league, and we can lead the conference. Duke beat Northwestern, a Big 10 matchup. Those things are good for our league when we can get those things done on the field.”
“When [McGuire] got hired into the job, I hit him up right away, congratulating him. Earlier this week, he texted me, ‘Hey, man. Looking forward to seeing you.’ I did the same back. He’s a great guy. Both of us come from high school level football to start. There’s a lot of mutual respect. I was fortunate enough to recruit his high school in the early stages of my college career. I offered his first Division I athlete, and he was one of the first Division I players to commit to me as a full-time coach, and Marcus Herford ended up being a great player for us at Kansas for us. It was a neat relationship, how it formed, and the fact we’ve been able to carry it forward for 25 years.”
“When the game starts, you don’t know who’s on the other side, but there’s a competitive spirit as much as we like each other. I promise you he feels the same way I do. He wants his team to win. The friendship’s gone when the game starts, and when it’s over, it’ll be back on. We’re competitive people in this sport. When you start playing, it’s all about your team winning the football game.”
“It’s heartwarming. From a team standpoint, I think it builds morale when guys like [Aristotle Bowles] get to go in, that service the team in practice, and that’s all they get out of it other than putting on the uni. It’s very good for your team morale. It’s great for those young men who, in four years, may never get more snaps than that. You just don’t know how many type of games you’re going to be able to play 83 players in. It’s awesome for all of those guys to see Ari Bowles go in there and Clay Craddock go in there. It was a lot of fun for them. I was excited for sure."