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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 30, 2017

Dave Doeren

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE DOEREN: Looking forward to the opportunity to play in Charlotte against South Carolina. It's been a good week of practice with the guys. A little break in the weather for them, as well. It's nice to be into this mode of the season. Looking forward to seeing a lot of hard work from our coaches and our players against a great opponent at an incredible venue for them to play in.

I think a lot of things that I went through in my press conference the other day from a personnel standpoint, so any questions, open it up there.

Q. Your assessment of how South Carolina's offense might test your experienced defense this week.
DAVE DOEREN: They're both experienced. The matchup, they have 10 returning starters, 97% of their receiving guys are back. A great tight end. They're powerful on offense. They're athletic. It's going to be a great matchup.

Obviously they're throwing the ball. Experienced quarterback, experienced wideouts. We expect them to test our secondary. I know the kids are excited about the opportunity of playing against the talent that they have there.

Q. How do you feel about your secondary now that you've gone through camp?
DAVE DOEREN: Well, the nice thing for us, we've got a great group of receivers here that challenge them every day. I feel like it's been a good back and forth. You see improvement. You see guys getting better at certain skill sets. Jonathan Alston has had a great week of practice. Nick McCloud is always consistent. Shawn Boone has really adapted well to our nickel position. Dexter Wright and Jarius Morehead have played well for us, steady players, great tacklers. Now it's time to do it. The test is on game day. They're going to be tested. I look forward to watching them go out there and compete.

Q. The connection with Coach (indiscernible) helped you get Ryan Finley as a grad transfer. Did you have a similar connection to Carson Wise or did he contact you out of the blue?
DAVE DOEREN: We did not have a staff connection to Carson. I really don't remember how that came up. It was very obvious with the kicking coaches that are out there now, these kids, they go to Jamie Kohl, they go to a lot of different people across the country, Sailer. We just reached out to those different people, told them we were looking for a graduate transfer, a junior college transfer at that position. Once we did that, a lot of kids contacted us.

Carson is from the region, being from Blacksburg, understands what ACC football's all about, having been at Virginia Tech for a year. Looking for a consistent guy that was mature, had been through some different things. He's definitely been very consistent for us in fall camp. So I'm looking for more out of him when we get to game day.

Q. Is there anything about that grad transfer rule that you don't like or would change?
DAVE DOEREN: There's a lot of stuff on the table with transfers right now. I'm not sure where it's headed. I think the way it's set up right now, I don't mind how it is. I think if there's a kid that graduates from your program that is not playing, has done everything right for you for four years, wants to go somewhere where he can get on the field, I don't have a problem with that.

I would be nervous about them getting rid of the rule for other transfers that are not graduates where they would be immediately eligible. I think that would create a lot of chaos in recruiting. I don't think that would be good for college football. I know it wouldn't be good for the things that could happen to recruiting.

I've heard different people say they may make it where all transfers have to sit a year, and if you're a grad transfer, they'll grant you an extra year. I don't know if that's real or not, but it's something that seems fair, too, so if a kid leaves, he wouldn't play immediately, but he'd gain an extra year from a culture standpoint.

But there's a lot of unintended consequences with where this rule could go. We're going to have to see. I know that's a big topic right now.

Q. A lot of the talk around this NC State team has been around the defensive line. What makes that group so strong?
DAVE DOEREN: You start with the physical tools. They're big kids. They've worked hard to become that way. They were all playing as freshmen when they probably shouldn't have been out there. They've made their bodies the way they need to look through hard work and nutrition and development.

On top of that, they love each other. I mean, these guys have tremendous chemistry in that unit. I think they care deeply about playing well together. They're not selfish. Even though they get a lot of individual talk, I think they care a lot more about how they play together than anything. That's unique, particularly today. I think a lot of people care more about themselves than they do their teammates. This group has been a pleasure to be around because of how they work together. There isn't a unit on our team that can say they work harder than the D-linemen. There's a lot of guys that work hard, but those kids put in a lot of time together. It's personal to them. I think all those intangible things is what makes a player different than other players.

Q. How has Kyle Bambard come through in terms of everything that he went through, the negativity he had to endure?
DAVE DOEREN: I'll really proud of Kyle for being strong. He's got good faith, great teammates around him that have supported him. I think he's learned a lot the hard way unfortunately just about who his friends are and how to deal with tremendous adversity. He's had a good camp. He's really doing a good job as our kickoff guy right now. He's worked hard on it. He's getting tremendous hang time. He's bought into that role. He's been very supportive of Carson.

All of us that know what he went through, to see how he's handled it is very impressive.

Q. Did he ever consider leaving the team?
DAVE DOEREN: No, he didn't. We talked at the end of the year. I just said, Hey, we're going to talk about this because it's an obvious topic.

He said, Coach, I love NC State. You gave me this opportunity. I love these kids, these teammates. I'm going to do everything I can to get better. Whatever my role is, I'll accept it.

He obviously comes from great parents. He has tremendous values and character.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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