LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Players
No. 14 NC State's Drake Thomas, Devan Boykin, and Jack Chambers met with the media via Zoom following the Wolfpack's 19-17 win over Florida State Saturday evening.
Thomas led the Pack on defense with 14 tackles, two of which resulting in a loss of yardage, as well as two pass breakups and one quarterback hurry. Boykin intercepted Seminole quarterback Jordan Travis with less than 40 seconds remaining to seal NC State’s victory. Filling in for starting quarterback Devin Leary, Chambers rushed for 39 yards on seven carries, leading the Wolfpack offense to three consecutive scoring drives.
NOTE: Click on each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each interview.
Drake Thomas
On the second-half adjustments addressing Florida State’s run game…
We just had to play fundamentally gap-sound defense. It wasn’t anything that they were doing. We were doing it to ourselves, and we knew that. We talked about it at the half. We just had to do our job and focus on that. It paid off in the second half.
On the range of emotions over the course of the game…
You can’t really let that affect anything. We went into halftime and, as a defense, got together and talked. There was no doubt in our mind. We said, “We’re going to win this game, and we’re going to shut them out in the second half.” We said that, we spoke it into existence, and we went out there and got the job done.
On the lighting malfunction before the game…
I was going through my routine. I just hung out for a little bit. It didn’t really have a huge factor. We just waited a little bit longer.
Devan Boykin
On what he saw on the interception…
There was about 10 seconds left in the game. Coming out of the timeout, we kind of knew that they weren’t going to leave it up to the kicker, that they were going to take a shot at the end zone and try to put us away early. I was expecting verticals. Watching film, we had good preparation in my position group. Shout out to [Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay]. He prepared us well this week in being aware of certain routes that we’d get. It just happened that they’d scored earlier on that same route, so I kind of knew they’d go back to it. It just came down to making a play on the ball.
On Leary’s injury…
Obviously, Devin Leary is very crucial to our team, but we’re kind of used to players going down. We have a history of people being injured, but we always have players that are able to step up and make big-time plays in big-time games like Jack did today.
On if he expected Chambers to play as well as he did against FSU…
We believe highly in Jack. He’s actually my locker-mate, so I talk to him every day. Stepping up in big-time game, that’s just something we expect across the board no matter who goes down.
On the mood at halftime…
We definitely weren’t down at halftime. Like Drake said, we knew what had to be done. We knew that we were going to come out in the second half and shut those guys out. In the first half, we were in our own heads, not getting the job done. We knew we were giving them a lot more yardage than we wanted to. Coming out in the second half, we doubled down and shut them out.
On if the defense knew that the game would be on their shoulders…
After halftime, we knew the game was going to be on us. Especially after Shy Battle got that pick — there was probably about four minutes left in the game — we knew that we were going to have to come back out and get another stop. We knew the game was going to end on us, and that’s how we wanted it.
On Chambers’ emotions after the game…
We were definitely loving on him a lot. He stepped up and made those crucial plays throughout the game that we needed to get us in field goal range and be able to put points on the board.
Jack Chambers
On what this moment feels like…
It’s definitely a surreal moment being able to be here for this team, do my job, and come out with the victory. It’s exciting to see this team do great things.
On how calming it was to put points on the board on his first drive…
I was really fine because the first thing I did was ran. Once you get hit, after the first time, you’re good to go. All the nerves are gone. They got beaten out of you.
On the nerves prior to getting hit…
My first reaction when Devin went down was, ‘Dang.’ That’s a guy I’ve been very close with since I’ve been here. He’s like a brother to me now. I just wanted to make sure he’s all right. Then, I’ve got to step up and do my job, do what I came here to do. I knew my team had my back. My O-line, my running backs, and my defense, I knew what they were going to do, so we just had to step up and do our jobs.
On how much of the playbook is available to him…
I think we have to talk to the coaches. I’m not really sure, but I know the whole playbook. It’s an open game.
On how it feels to lead the team to victory…
It definitely feels amazing. Any time you can get a victory, it’s a great feeling, especially against a great Florida State team. It’s about working and making sure our guys have the best position to put our kicker out there. [Christopher Dunn] did an amazing job sealing the game for us. Then, D-Boy closing the game was just incredible. It’s the best feeling I’ve experienced in my college career.
On if he said anything in the huddle to calm everyone down after Leary’s injury…
The guys already know I’ve played a lot of football. Actually, they came up and talked to me. They were like, ‘Hey, we’ve got you. Do what you’ve been doing for 12 years.’ They were joking around and keeping it cool and light. They knew I played a lot of football. I just had to go in there and play my game.