Provided by the ACC:
DAVE DOEREN: Looking forward to playing our first game of the season. It's been a great fall camp for our players. At this point you're 15 spring practices and 29 fall practices added up, and you're around 43 to 44 practices without a game. The guys are ready to get on the field and the coaches are ready to see them play. Thankful to be at home and in a sold-out atmosphere, and appreciative to our fans for that. Looking forward to getting back in Carter-Finley. Had a great recruiting class a year ago. Some of those kids will play, and just having a chance to see them in their first college games, and some of the guys that redshirted that have been in the program a couple years have developed into guys that get their first college reps. It's exciting, and you can see it in their faces. As a coach to get out there and hope that the jitters don't hurt us too much and have an athletic team coming to town in Troy that has nine starters back.
Neal Brown, the head coach, also calling the plays, a really good offensive coordinator, and puts up a lot of points, runs an up tempo system, so it'll be a great challenge for our defense in the opener.
Defensively they lost quite a bit off their roster but have a very experienced play caller in Coach Koenning. I'm not sure exactly schematically what we'll see, but try to prepare the guys for a lot of different looks. Looking forward to the opportunity.
Any questions?
Q. To look at the quarterback position going into the season, just what you can say about Jacoby (Brissett). I know he's grown a lot over his time there, but if there's anything else that he's been able to add to his game or anything that sticks out to you from the fall?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, I mean, he's in a great place right now mentally. I think last year was his first year as a starter, so this time last year he was pretty nervous, and he just looks like a guy that's played a lot of football, knows the system, very dependable and consistent and worked a lot in the off-season on his play action game and has done a really nice job in fall camp with those throws. Looking forward to his senior year. I think any time you have a returning starter at the senior quarterback, it's exciting for your offense.
Q. I talked about the recruiting class finally getting some reps and getting out there. Who were some of those guys that you've really keyed in on that are going to get an opportunity this season to be something really special for NC State?
DAVE DOEREN: Well, in the most immediate class, Nyheim Hines will play, be a starter for us in our efforts at the slot. He's had a great fall camp. Will Richardson was a redshirt a year ago, a redshirt freshman,now will start at right tackle, and so those two guys will play offensively.
Defensively, Darian Roseboro is going to play quite a bit on our defensive line, and excited to see him out there, and it's great to have Monty Nelson back, who redshirted last year, had some injuries. Excited for his return.
And then we have three brand new kicker, snapper and punter, Kyle Bambard is our kicker, and excited to see him; AJ Cole and Tyler Griffiths are our snapper and punter. Those will probably be the freshest faces, and then at running back, Reggie Gallaspy, we're planning on playing him, as well.
Q. With Dayes filling in for (Shadrach) Thornton, can you go more into the Pack's depth at that position at running back?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, Matt will play the majority of the snaps, and Dakwa Nichols, Reggie Gallaspy, and then Jaylen Samuels, those will be the four primary ball carriers in the game, and then we have the luxury of really all four of those guys getting significant snaps in the last week. We feel like they're all ready. They're all a little different from each other and they're all versatile guys that can play in space or play downhill. Excited for Matt, though. I think he's had a really good camp, and for him to be able to get the majority of the carries, it'll be a good day for him.
DAVE DOEREN: Looking forward to playing our first game of the season. It's been a great fall camp for our players. At this point you're 15 spring practices and 29 fall practices added up, and you're around 43 to 44 practices without a game. The guys are ready to get on the field and the coaches are ready to see them play. Thankful to be at home and in a sold-out atmosphere, and appreciative to our fans for that. Looking forward to getting back in Carter-Finley. Had a great recruiting class a year ago. Some of those kids will play, and just having a chance to see them in their first college games, and some of the guys that redshirted that have been in the program a couple years have developed into guys that get their first college reps. It's exciting, and you can see it in their faces. As a coach to get out there and hope that the jitters don't hurt us too much and have an athletic team coming to town in Troy that has nine starters back.
Neal Brown, the head coach, also calling the plays, a really good offensive coordinator, and puts up a lot of points, runs an up tempo system, so it'll be a great challenge for our defense in the opener.
Defensively they lost quite a bit off their roster but have a very experienced play caller in Coach Koenning. I'm not sure exactly schematically what we'll see, but try to prepare the guys for a lot of different looks. Looking forward to the opportunity.
Any questions?
Q. To look at the quarterback position going into the season, just what you can say about Jacoby (Brissett). I know he's grown a lot over his time there, but if there's anything else that he's been able to add to his game or anything that sticks out to you from the fall?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, I mean, he's in a great place right now mentally. I think last year was his first year as a starter, so this time last year he was pretty nervous, and he just looks like a guy that's played a lot of football, knows the system, very dependable and consistent and worked a lot in the off-season on his play action game and has done a really nice job in fall camp with those throws. Looking forward to his senior year. I think any time you have a returning starter at the senior quarterback, it's exciting for your offense.
Q. I talked about the recruiting class finally getting some reps and getting out there. Who were some of those guys that you've really keyed in on that are going to get an opportunity this season to be something really special for NC State?
DAVE DOEREN: Well, in the most immediate class, Nyheim Hines will play, be a starter for us in our efforts at the slot. He's had a great fall camp. Will Richardson was a redshirt a year ago, a redshirt freshman,now will start at right tackle, and so those two guys will play offensively.
Defensively, Darian Roseboro is going to play quite a bit on our defensive line, and excited to see him out there, and it's great to have Monty Nelson back, who redshirted last year, had some injuries. Excited for his return.
And then we have three brand new kicker, snapper and punter, Kyle Bambard is our kicker, and excited to see him; AJ Cole and Tyler Griffiths are our snapper and punter. Those will probably be the freshest faces, and then at running back, Reggie Gallaspy, we're planning on playing him, as well.
Q. With Dayes filling in for (Shadrach) Thornton, can you go more into the Pack's depth at that position at running back?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, Matt will play the majority of the snaps, and Dakwa Nichols, Reggie Gallaspy, and then Jaylen Samuels, those will be the four primary ball carriers in the game, and then we have the luxury of really all four of those guys getting significant snaps in the last week. We feel like they're all ready. They're all a little different from each other and they're all versatile guys that can play in space or play downhill. Excited for Matt, though. I think he's had a really good camp, and for him to be able to get the majority of the carries, it'll be a good day for him.
