A lot of times when teams are loaded with talented experience, coaches like to downplay it but not N.C. State\u2019s Dave Doeren. In his fifth year at the helm of the Wolfpack, he\u2019s proud that his team is considered a contender due to experience and depth.<\/p>\n
When he was in his first and second years at State, he said players came because they saw an opportunity. \u201cThey saw a chance to play early,\u201d Doeren said at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte. \u201cWe told them they\u2019d have to earn playing time but that the lines are short. We had good players (when I came) but we didn\u2019t have any depth. They competed and played and now four years later they\u2019re bigger, stronger, faster and more mature. They are battle tested.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that he coaches in order to go through that journey with players and see what kind of man they become.<\/p>\n
\u201cI \u2018unentitled\u2019 them when I recruit them,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cI tell them the truth. If you want to come play for me at N.C. State, here\u2019s how you\u2019re going to be treated. I\u2019m going to love you but I\u2019m going to push you. I\u2019m not going to baby you. You\u2019re going to earn what you get and if you don\u2019t, don\u2019t be disgruntled about it. If you don\u2019t want to be in that environment, then don\u2019t come to N.C. State because we want kids that want to earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In four years under Doeren, the Wolfpack has yet to have a winning ACC record, despite three straight overall winning seasons. Expectations are high this year as the defense returns eight senior starters and the offense returns eight starters, including three seniors and five juniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike any job, it helps to have experience,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cJust like you, when you\u2019re in your third year on the job, you\u2019re better than the first year. At 22, Bradley Chubb is a lot tougher dude than he was at 18.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chubb, a senior defensive end, led the team with 22 tackles for losses and 10.5 sacks last season. He had an opportunity to go pro but decided to come back to better himself. \u201cI thought another year with my teammates would bring out potential in me that nobody has seen,\u201d Chubb said. \u201cPeople saying take the money aren\u2019t really in your corner. They\u2019re going to ask for the money later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that he came to college to play the best players in the country and he\u2019s doing that in the ACC. The Wolfpack\u2019s bitter loss at Clemson, which turned out to be the nation\u2019s best team last year, sticks in his craw.<\/p>\n
At times, he avoided questions about it saying, \u201cI can\u2019t even remember last year\u201d but other times he admitted that it\u2019s always on the mind. \u201cI try not to think about the close calls last year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you go through hard times with people \u2013 tough losses, hard work \u2013 standing strong through it all is a motivating factor and builds camaraderie\u2026 We\u2019re just excited to get back on the field to show how good we can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Doeren said that obstacles and adversities have made the Wolfpack a more cohesive group. But he won\u2019t predict victories.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn any given day you can beat anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and predict because we were close in two games (last year). We\u2019ve got to do it all over again and so do they.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doeren admitted that there is a gap between N.C. State and Clemson. \u201cThey have a tremendously larger budget than we do. They have different things they can showcase in recruiting than we do. They have a lot more personnel working than we do. So, there\u2019s a gap. Do we have a good football team with great experience?, Yeah we do. So, we\u2019ll see where it all goes on a Saturday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Doeren looks to close out games that were losses last year, like the heartbreaker at Clemson. \u201cYou take moments like that and pin point how important that one play can be,\u201d he said. \u201cYou carry that one play theme in everything you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the learning experiences and depth, N.C. State still must get by the likes of Clemson, Florida State and Louisville, which has the returning Heisman Trophy winner in QB Lamar Jackson.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody was better than the ACC last year on the field. We\u2019ll see this year,\u201d Doeren said.<\/p>\n
Pack Notes<\/strong>: Coach Doeren said the players on his team that have the best football IQ are Shawn Boone (safety), Airius Moore (linebacker), Germaine Pratt (linebacker), Ryan Finley (QB) and Cole Cook (tight end).<\/p>\n The position battle he\u2019s most excited to watch comes at receiver. Steph Louis and Kelvin Harmon are returning starters and may very well see the majority of action. But other receivers, whether in the slot or spread out, who will see action include Jakobi Meyers, Gavin Locklear and Maurice Trowell.<\/p>\n Also two \u201cnew\u201d faces that Doeren said he\u2019s excited to see added to the receiving corps are Jumichael Ramos and C.J. Riley. \u201cJumichael was a really good player his freshman year but he had a bad sophomore season and then, as a junior, he had some tough injuries. He was redshirted last season. It would be a great story for him to have a good year as a senior.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Riley was the guy he was most excited to see going into last season but he tore his ACL in the summer and saw no action. He\u2019s now a healthy redshirt freshman. \u201cHe\u2019s 6-foot-5 and ran a 4.59. Just add him to the stable of guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Wolfpack certainly has options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A lot of times when teams are loaded with talented experience, coaches like to downplay it but not N.C. State\u2019s Dave Doeren. In his fifth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,81,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","category-n-c-state-wolfpack","category-uncategorized","wpcat-79-id","wpcat-81-id","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=527865"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527899,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527865\/revisions\/527899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/527896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=527865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=527865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=527865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}