Doeren: 'We have to execute ... we have to play football
The NC State football team has had an extra week to prepare for Saturday’s game at Wake Forest, plenty of time to correct mistakes help Devin Leary settle into his new role as starting quarterback.
Just don’t expect any new wrinkles to be added to the Wolfpack’s attack.
Rather than adding to the playbook with the strong-armed Leary under center, coach Dave Doeren said he and his staff spent the open week focusing on getting better at what they already do
“I think opening up the playbook is the wrong thing to do,” he said. “We have to execute the playbook. Whatever the plays are, whether we have 50 or 100 in the game plan, we have to execute. We have to catch passes, protect our quarterback, see the run lanes, finish blocks. We have to play football.
“Devin is excited and has done a good job. I’m excited for him, and I think he’s got a good look to him, but adding plays to a guy going into his first start? That doesn’t make sense. It’s about executing plays.”
Doeren also addressed several defensive issues Thursday during his final session with the media before this weeks’ game.
Among them was the move of versatile freshman Cecil Powell back to cornerback after spending the past few weeks at wide receiver. It’s a shift Doeren said the youngster has made with surprising ease.
“Remarkably not difficult for him. He played both ways in high school so he’s used to being on both sides. He was recruited by other schools as a wideout so he has that skillset, and it’s out of necessity for us with four corners out. To have the ability to have even a two-deep at this point is pretty crazy. The fact that we have De’Von (Graves), Malik (Dunlap), Kishawn (Miller) and Cecil, we still have four guys we feel really good about.”
Doeren also discussed the development of another freshman, defensive tackle Joshua Harris, who saw his first action from scrimmage in the Boston College game two weeks ago and figures to have an expanded role as the season enters its home stretch.
"Josh has done a good job," Doeren said. "He was in a position when he got here where he needed to lose weight, and he’s dropped 25 pounds. He still needs to get lighter. He played well with his hands, and I think conditioning will always be a factor when you’re at a place where you want to be in the 320s probably with him.
"He’s got better each week since he got back from his injury, and that was very valuable for him to be out there. He eats up a lot of space, he can take on double teams, and he can knock the pocket back. It’s about him being able to sustain it now with his conditioning."
As for the rest of the defense, Doeren said it's important to bounce right back from the dismal performance it had at BC, in which the Eagles rushed for more yards in one game (429) than the Wolfpack had allowed in its first six games combined (400).
"There are so many things we have to do better than we did at Boston College. Run defense starts with your leverage, guys being gap sound, and it’s about tackling. For us, all of those things matter and the games we’ve done that well, we’ve played really, really good football."
