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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 15, 2017

Dave Doeren

Greensboro, North Carolina

COACH DOEREN: . Just following up on Bradley, just really excited for him. Just the way he's playing the game, he's having so much fun and producing and preparing himself week-in and week-out to make plays and putting it on the film, not just on defense, but helping our special teams units with field goal blocks and punt blocks and having a good time doing it. It's really rewarding as a coach to see a guy like that, and the way his teammates are playing with him, too. Wish I could clone him. But a great young man and deserving of everything he's earned.

As far as our team, excited to be able to go up to BC and beat a very good football team. It was a physical game on their Senior Day and they had a bye week to prepare for us. I think the world of Coach Addazio and their staff, and I tell you, that running back, Dillon, is a special young player. We found a way to win in a tough situation, and blocking a punt before the half, making a field goal after three straight consecutive icings of our kicker was impressive for Kyle.

Then we struggled with the field goal kicking in the second half and in a him broke a big run for us to finish the game and defensively had four fourth down stops and two takeaways in the football game.

So a lot of things we need to get better at but a lot of things to be proud of on the road against a team that had won three in a row.

Now go down to Wake and play a similar team from the standpoint of how they are scoring. BC had scored 35-plus in three straight games. Wake is the same and their quarterback is playing as good as anybody in the country right now. He can run, he can throw, he's accurate, he's tough, he's got game experience and he's got good weapons around him and a good system.

Coach Clawson has done a nice job down there. He played a lot of young guys like we have, and now they are playing in their second, third and fourth year with some guys and they believe in each other and they are playing hard.

And defensively, they have struggled at times but they did a great job in the second half against Syracuse. They are well coached. They have had some injuries that have hurt them, and we have been through that here, throughout the year, as well, so we understand that.

Look forward to playing them in an in-state game that I know will mean a lot for both teams and expect a great football game from both schools.

Q. Bradley Chubb had said to me at ACC Media Day that coming back, he just felt like faith-wise, God told him to come back to NC State and he said, "I can't doubt God." Talk about the faith that you see from him and the faith he gives to this team?
COACH DOEREN: That's a great young man that's raised by incredible parents. He did it the right way. He sat down with us and had us give him all the information we could get back from the NFL.

Our university was able to ensure him through the NCAA, you know, for returning in case of injury, which I know gave him some peace of mind. He was close to being able to finish his degree by coming back and just looking at the math of what he could gain, he would have been probably the fourth or fifth end picked in the draft last year, which is anywhere from 3- to $7 million. Coming back he stood to be the first end which is 20 to 30 million per year.

And from a business decision standpoint, Bradley looked at it all and talked to everybody he could talk to, and the people he trusts and then he prayed on it, and, well, in his heart, he loves his teammates and they love him, and so I think that was a big part of it, as well.

Q. For you, coaching nowadays, it's what have you done for me lately and a lot of coaches don't get time to build a program or to be able to make their mark on it. You have had an opportunity at NC State to build over the past few seasons, and just what can you say about your appreciation in them believing in himself your plan and then seeing that plan turn into you being either No. 1 or two in the Atlantic Division of the ACC throughout the season?
COACH DOEREN: Well, I'm proud of our players and our coaches for hanging in there. We went through a rough stretch last year after we lost to Clemson. We were emotionally disabled, really, for a couple weeks and then bounced about a being and almost beat Florida State. Played Miami to a tough game and lost, and then found a way to win three of our last four in a Bowl game. Through that finish, we were able to earn another year. Had we not finished that way, I don't know if I would be on the phone with you.

Our kids hung in there. Our coaches hung in there and earned another opportunity to come back here for this season. It's been in the making. You know, when you play a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, it takes time. I'm just glad we were able to finish the way we did so the administration would allow us to continue our work and continue to work with these great players, great young men, and be a part of such a great institution like NC State.

Q. Not only you, but on the other side, in the match up with Dave Clawson, he was given time to build a program, as well, through some adversity. What can you say about how the Atlantic Division looks moving forward?
COACH DOEREN: Well, it's a great conference just in general, not just the Atlantic. You sit at that table and you look around it, and there's a bunch of guys that you look up to in the business and have done a great deal of work, not just in our league but you've got Coach Richt and everything he did at Georgia. It's impressive as you look across the table and you see Coach Cutcliffe and you have Dabo, obviously and Jimbo and guys that have won national championships.

Then Coach Fuente did a great job his first year. There's some tremendous football coaches, and Bronco did a great job at BYU and is turning Virginia around. This league is full of tremendous coaches and all of them recruit hard and do it the right way and when you play each other, you know, it's every week, it's a battle. I think every year because of that, you're going to see some upsets; and hopefully you see like it was this year, a chance for a team like us to climb the ladder; if we can win out and do something that do something that hasn't been done here, and that's win seven ACC games.

Q. You guys have already clinched the winning ACC record for the first time since 2010 and sounds like you want more. You mentioned that last week. How important is that now that you are able to say that you do have this winning record in the ACC and there's plenty more to build on from here on out?
COACH DOEREN: Yeah, I think it helps. You know how many people are using that against me in recruiting, and obviously in the media, that was a story that wasn't good. To be able to flip that and show the progress in our program, it takes time.

To build it and to build it the way we did and play young guys; I mean, we didn't try to quick-fix it and bring in a bunch of junior college kids. We had a transfer here or there but we did it with young players and developed them.

To be able to show the fruits of your labor, I'm happy that we have five wins. We'd be ecstatic if we could get a sixth and then a seventh. It's never been done.

So that's kind of -- with these seniors, I love these kids so much and I want them to say that they have done something that hasn't been done at this school, and that's what we're talking about trying to do.

Q. How hard is it to compile such a deep and experienced and senior-laden defensive lines, and maybe if there is it another group that you've worked with in your time you've been around for a while.
COACH DOEREN: Yeah, it's challenging to keep guys. First of all, to recruit four guys that good that work that hard, is hard, in one class and you don't always hit the jackpot and have four for four, you know what I mean.

Sometimes one of them gets hurt and one of them doesn't feel like he plays enough and he transfers, or one of them, you know, doesn't develop the way that you thought he would or has off-the-field issues or academic issues. There's a myriad of things that happen to these guys in college.

All four of these guys have worked their butts off and worked through injuries that they have had and stayed healthy enough to become what they are and on top of that, they are just incredible human beings. These four D-Linemen are role models.

So what we did, we hit the jackpot with them. When I was at Kansas my last year, we had a very talented defensive line. Not as talented as this one as Wisconsin. We had J.J. Watt and Brian Schofield in the same year and they were both really good players.

But even the guys that are rotating in are really good with Roseboro, what he produces and Bryant at times this year has played really well. So hopefully we can continue the tradition here -- I don't know when it was, but in the last 20 years, they had a D-line like this where there was three of them drafted in the first three rounds with Mario's class. So it would be great to continue that tradition here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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