NC State
Doeren: There's a lot of talent out there. Now we've got to get it all pointed in the right direction
NC State football had 18 guys in their first college practice and 32 new players. Head coach Dave Doeren spoke about blending the new and old, plus what stands out about QB Grayson McCall and other offseason moves
They, uh day one, bye. Small. Yeah, I mean, that's, uh, we had 18 guys have their first college football practice today and then 32 new players. And so it was day one, like we always say, but you can tell there's a lot of guys that haven't practiced here, you know, and so we got a lot of just little things on how we work that just, you know, needs to get better. Um, it was great seeing everybody out there. You can tell a lot of guys have worked hard in the off season. Um, but when you have a lot of change on a roster, you got a lot of work to do, you know, the chemistry of the team, the timing of things, the communication. And so it's great to be back out there and it's telling, you know, when, when you see it, um, it's gonna be a lot to coach off of, but I like the way the guys work. It's just right now, it's like, where, where are we going? This drill? Where's this drill where, you know, it's 32 guys that didn't know where the drills were gonna be. You could tell like from period to period and as we go, it's gonna get much more efficient. Um, but with that being said, excited, you know, about what's out on the grass, there's a lot of talent out there. So now we just got to get it all pointed in the right direction. So you haven't seen the time. Yeah. Uh, first thing you see is confidence. You can tell that he's won a lot of games. He's very comfortable as a leader has no problem being vocal and uh learns quickly. You know, I, I like how he handles adversity. You know, if he has a bad play, it's just next play. You know, you can tell there was no body language issues like that about him. Um But yeah, it's just a natural leader is the first thing that he's a guy, you know, and you can just see that uh what I mean by that is he's just very confident he knows who he is and the guys around who can feel that, you know, it just oozes out of him. You mentioned, you know, QB run, obviously Brennan was not afraid to take off, take contact. Is that something that we can kind of see from uh Grayson? And the Yeah, I mean, he's got that skill set to be a runner. Uh How much we run him? Obviously, we got a lot of work to do before that happens. But even when he drops back like Brennan, he's gonna have some freelancing that goes on because of his athleticism. Um, and then the designed runs that comes over time, you know, and we have to see the evolution of things, but he has the skill set to be a runner. And that's the one thing that you're gonna have to account for is him in the run game. Even if it's limited to certain situations or field positions or down in distances, you're gonna have to know that he can do that because obviously over his career, he's been very dynamic as a runner. Coach G be in white. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he hasn't given up a touchdown in two years, you know, knock on wood. Let's go for three, right? But uh not many people can say they have a corner that's got that accolade. He, he's a really good football player for us. He's a playmaker. Uh he's elevated himself as a leader. You can hear him talking to teammates more vocal, but it's great to have him back. I'm excited for him um to have this time to develop a little more and be more ready for the NFL after one more season. So it's great to have corners that you trust. Like that's a big deal when you know that he's got his side of the field, you know, and now to get to watch, uh Coley who you guys just met with and, and Brandon CC and some good competition on the other side, it's gonna be fun to watch the turnover when it comes to flares. Yeah. Blessed. You know, it's really nice to have these guys back. I told them yesterday in our staff meeting, I'm very thankful that we have that kind of continuity. It helps you in a lot more ways than just Xs and Os. You know, when you get into the recruiting world, these guys have been on the same in the same areas, talking to the same coaches now for 56 years, some of them, and that's really helpful in recruiting. You know, when you're turning over a coach, year after year after year, you're losing that longevity in an area of recruiting, those relationships that you've built. And so, yeah, I mean, it helps, there, helps in your player development, helps in your install because coaches are all on the same page and it helps me, you know, I'm not having to coach coaches as much. Um, we've lost some off the field personnel which are having to, to change out in some of those areas and, and so, you know, excited about who's coming in. You know, we fired two new guys in recruiting and really excited about them at some point. You guys are gonna meet with them as well, but, um, fortunate, you know, and, and Boo deserves credit with that too. You know, Boo's done a great job helping us, you know, being competitive. Uh, and and rewarding these guys for the work they've done. Yeah, it's meaningful for me, you know, being here, uh, as long as I have and, and having coaches that these guys have gotten opportunities, it's not like nobody calls them. You know, they like working here. They like working for me. They like their players. They like Raleigh. Um, they love our, our opportunity here with what we have on home games. You know, we have a true home field advantage, we can recruit here as you guys know, there's tremendous talent in the state and around our state. And I know that we have an opportunity this season, you know, with college football landscape changing up to 12 teams, teams like us that have been in the top 20 over and over and over and knock on the door differently than we used to. So, you know, I think these guys feel all those things and for me as the head coach that's, you know, been a part of building this, you know, I'm thankful to those guys and, and it's fun, you know, the continuity goes past, the coaching staff. Coach Thunder has been with me the whole time too and coach Trevethan, our high school relations, there's several guys that are part of this different, uh 32 new players real different, you know, trying to build chemistry with the team. Uh We've done a lot of different things that way uh in our real world, Wednesday talks that we have, which is, uh, leadership that we teach in the off season. It's actually, it's just been us talking to us, players, coaches getting up telling their stories, talking about some really, really deep things personally to them trying to, you know, break down some, some walls and create vulnerable vulnerability on our football roster. It's been different that way, you know, when you just add 10 to 15 guys, Midyear, it's not as hard to integrate, you know, but 32 is a lot. It's a lot. And so for me, it's been all right, how do we get this glue this, this bond that we need because that's what wins games when games are tight, one possession games that, that brotherhood is a big part of winning. And so I got really cultivate that knock on how much uh there would be. Yeah, as opposed to where it was momentum helps, you know, I mean, winning five in a row uh to finish the regular season helps and, and the teams we beat some storied programs, you know, back to back with Clemson in Miami and then uh all those things matter and you get hot. People are talking about you more and that's all happening around the signing date and the transfer portal and we were a hot team at the right time and we took advantage of that and we have stability which you guys have talked about. That's an important factor to these guys and a lot of these kids that transfer went to the school and the coach that recruited him is not there anymore, you know, and, and so, but our staff that recruited him is still here. And so that's attractive to them. They know our people, they know how we do things. They have friends on our roster and all those things played into it and it's kind of a trickle down, you know, you get one and he's friends with this guy that's also in there and then they want to play together and then pretty soon it's like, let's get the, the, you know, the group back together that played in all these seven on seven tournaments. Like, it's amazing how this works now with social media and how these kids stay in touch with each other. So it's interesting times and, you know, I've turned into more of a fundraiser than ever, you know, because of all this stuff that's part of this is getting out and helping one pack and, and, uh, savage wolves raise money, you know, for our collective, finding a kicker in the portal. Does that show the confidence you have in your current kickers? Yeah, I feel really good about the specialists that we have now, they got to get out and prove it and, you know, obviously game day is different, but we have some guys that have been here a while, you know, um, and have earned our trust, you know, and so I feel really good about Canoa Venice and Colin Smith. And we got two young guys coming in that have strong legs. But those two guys have been here, uh, they understand how we do things. They're, they're very, very, very talented and they've earned our trust. Mhm. You talk about, like, different transfers that knew each other coming in? Have you seen that, you know, help, I guess the, the team kind of, you know, grow together with some of these guys already. Yeah, I mean, they, they're built in friends coming in the door. That helps. Right. And 32 guys, if none of them know each other, that's more challenging than if someone do. And, and so, yeah, there was some relationships not only within the, the guys that came in, but with the guys currently on our team and as you know, we recruit a lot of in-state guys. So a lot of these guys have met over the years at camps and clinic or, uh, camps and, and seven on seven tournaments and things like that and they knew each other from competition and those friendships help, uh, for sure when it talks about when you're talking about building chemistry on your roster. All right. Thank you guys.