Tim Beck: "We Live In A Microwave Society"

NC State offensive coordinator Tim Beck met with the media ahead of the Wolfpack's upcoming matchup versus Syracuse.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview with Beck.

Thoughts on the quarterbacks...
I think all the quarterbacks, all of them can do what we do. It's why they're here. It's why we recruited them. It's why the guys are where they're at, even in the depth chart, positionally, right? If they couldn't do those things, then they wouldn't be where they're at.

Certain guys do certain things better than others, that's at every position. It's offensive line, it's wide receivers, it's running backs, but you trust them to go in there and run the offense and execute.

So that's always the expectation. I'm very, very hard on the quarterbacks about that because they're always one play away from playing, and it's been one of my things that I've done for years, and years, and years, is to make sure that that guy practices all the time.

Even when they're not going, they're back there. They got to tell me to play, they got to run through it. I grade them off film watching where they throw the ball, like all that, even when they're not going. So they all do it and so they all get reps. Because the worst thing we can do is, as a football team and a community, a fanbase, a university, is put a guy in and he says, "Well, I didn't run that play."

Well, then that's on him. We're running those plays every day. You need to be dialed in. And so just holding them accountable to do that. And they've done a great job. So that's why Jack was able to go in and do what he needed to do. And I'm sure MJ could have been very successful doing it, Ben, like all those guys that we have in our system do that.

It worked that you only threw the ball once with Jack Chambers. Did you call more pathways and you kind of had to scramble them, some of them? Or is that just kind of how the game flowed in the second half?
Yeah, it was a little bit of both. I felt like we were having the opportunity to control the line of scrimmage a little bit. I felt the momentum swing and change when some of that was happening. And we were putting ourselves in position to score. And so the last thing you wanted to do was to try to risk anything. Again, I hold those guys accountable to take every rep, but they're physically not throwing it and they're physically not always seeing the coverage. So sometimes you get a little bit like, “Oh, does he feel good about this play or not.” That type of thing, so.

Is it better too, that if it is Jack, and he's got a lot of experience, and him going into maybe a hostile environment as opposed maybe somebody that hasn't played as much as him? Does that help quite a bit?
Yeah, I think that's a pretty obvious statement in terms of anybody that's played a lot of football and been... the guy's played in Georgia. You know what I mean? So, to go play in the Dome in Syracuse, in a hostile environment like that, he's at least had opportunities in his career that he had to go do that, and the other guys have not yet. But again, if those guys happen to be guys that are playing in the game, then those are the guys that are playing in the game.

How does it feel playing against a 3-3-5 defense in Syracuse this week, first time all year?
Yeah, it's a different. It's similar to ours, but not quite. They do a lot of different coverage variations than our guys and different pressures. They're a fast, quick team, and they do a lot on the back end... disguises. It's one of the things you got to spend a lot of time watching film to try to figure out coverage and the things they're trying to do. So they've done a good job. They're playing with a lot of confidence right now. It's a good defensive football team.

The way you guys won last week coming from behind, would that help you guys down the road do you feel like?
Yeah, no doubt. No doubt, and just the way it happened, right. You lost your leader, arguably one of your top best players on the team and on offense... a two and a half year and a half starter. The guy that put up incredible numbers last year that led our football team, and you lose them, that hurts, and you're losing when that happened. To have Jack go in and the guys rally around him on both sides of the ball, our defense played unbelievable, and offensively, our guys just kept swinging and kept pounding the rock. And eventually, we were able to breakthrough. I think it was a great testament of what this football team's character is about.

What is it about NC State? In 20 it was Hockman who had to come in and then you had the game of course Saturday. What is it about the resilience of NC State to overcome those situations?
Well, it starts with Coach Doeren, right. He's built an incredible culture here. That hard, tough, together is, they're not just letters or words. He believes it, and our kids believe it. And things are hard, life's tough, and we got to do this thing together. So that's what it is. Last year, we had defensive guys hurt. Two years ago, we had a bunch of offensive guys hurt. And the guys just keep stepping up. Delbert Mimms had to come in. Look how he ran the ball, it was awesome. And he just stepped up and did his job.

And so, you see that a little bit. Trent Pennix is out. You got Cedd coming in and doing great things. So it's just part of the culture that he built. It's part of the coaching staff. Believing in guys and keep developing it. And you got to be patient. Everybody wants to be great immediately, and we live in a microwave society, right? We want to put it in there and hit start for 30 seconds, and it's done. It doesn't work like that. You got to take time and develop the guys, and it does take time. It takes experience, it takes playing games. It takes making mistakes, and you just try to limit them as best you can.

With the offense coordinator, what was the Leary injury like for you sitting up watching, and I guess hoping and everything else that was going on?
Yeah. The biggest thing is you never like to see anybody hurt, and then you see him down, it's hard. It's certainly hard. He's invested a lot, and to see him laying there like that is hard. But you got to transition. The team's counting on you and you got to move on, and you got to get the next guy ready. And you got to talk to him and get his mind right, and let him know where he is. You got to get the backup ready because he's now play. The next guy, he's one play away.

You reflect on it afterwards, that's what I did. I went home and reflected on it with my wife. And it just... it sucked. That's what it did. But I was really proud of the way Jack and the guys performed.

I guess you were able to talk to him, Leary, after the game.
Oh yeah.

Did he try to pick his spirits up, or just what kind of communication you had?
A little bit. It's never easy.  There's an uncertainty a little bit and uncomfortability going through rehab. So it's just different, but on the same token, he's very positive, very upbeat, very encouraged, and it permeates through the team, you can feel that.

The point that Jack Chambers showed coming into that situation, is that something that was pretty obvious about him when you first got to know him? Or is that something you learned about him?
Yeah, I was really impressed with Jack when he stopped by here and visited. He just kind of poked his head in. I was impressed with him.

Is that the way he was, he just poked his head in?
Thank God, no. He was just kind of looking for a place to maybe play and move on and through the Carolina area. Yeah.