North Carolina State University Athletics
2016 #PackCamp: Practice No. 10
8/10/2016 1:09:00 PM | Football
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State returned to the practice field in full pads Wednesday morning.
Transcript of head coach Dave Doeren's postpractice comments on Wednesday:
On whether Nickel Niles Clark would be a good coach:
Niles would be a very good coach. He's extremely intelligent, high football IQ, good communicator, well organized, intrinsicly motivated, all of the things if that's what he chooses to do.
On the defense cutting out big plays:
You're seeing a lot fewer mistakes and communication errors. Presnap, they're communicating well, they've been through a lot of things together. They know what every guy is going to do because they've played with each other. The confidence of looking at each other and knowing what that guy's thinking and how he's going to handle a situation is something that makes you play faster. I told the guys when you free your mind, you free your feet. I think that's happened a lot on the defensive side of the ball.
Statistically across the board, we were where we wanted to be in a lot of places [last season], but when you give up as many big plays as we did for touchdowns … they're going to be big plays in a game because offenses are explosive right now, but you can't give up big plays for touchdowns. You gotta man up and play. That's been the biggest focus on that side of the ball. How do you do that? How do you leverage? How do you pursue? How do you play the ball when it's in the air?
On overall progress in camp so far:
We're on par for where we thought we'd be. We haven't had to cancel an install and the guys have handled it well. We've had ample meeting time to make corrections in the evenings and get a walk-through on our install for the next day. The guys have done a great job in the summer putting a lot of time in. Â
On the play of DT Eurndraus Bryant:
Outstanding. I'm not going to say he's been unblockable, but he's pretty close. The dude's 330 pounds and he's rolling, he's moving well. He's got unbelievable feet and hips for a guy that big. [Strength & Conditioning coach] Thunder's done a great job conditioning him. Last year he played two plays and then hit the sideline. He's able to sustain it now.
On the combo of Niles Clark and Dravious Wright at nickel:
Niles is a crafty guy. Having all that experience at corner, he's got good awareness of route concepts and things that happen. Dra is a physical presence in the run game. He's worked really hard this summer on his man to man and gotten a lot better. Last year we had a run guy and a pass guy and now we've got two guys. Niles put on some weight this summer because he didn't want to just be a third-down guy.
On CB Sean Paul:
We've finally been able to keep him in practice for a long period of time. He's a guy who can run – he's one of the fastest players on our roster – and he's got great change of direction.  He's tough – he's a contact player. He's a guy who can help us a lot – on special teams and on defense. Â
On quarterback Jakobi Meyers:
Today was the first day he took team reps. We're finally able to get him in the rotation and see him in there against the defense. He's mad at himself for spraining his ankle playing basketball. It's not a whole lot he can say, but he's worked really hard to get back. Today he was flying around making plays. Hopefully he can build on that.
There are three guys. He's got to take advantage of the reps, because we're about 5-6 days from cutting the three's out. Â
On progress at wide receiver:
Steph [Louis] and [Bra'Lon] Cherry are very consistent. They have been the same every day. Kelvin Harmon has been one of our most productive guys from a big play standpoint. Chandler Belk has had a really solid camp for us. Nyheim [Hiens] is a guy when we get him the ball, he makes plays with it. Those five guys have all contributed well. We're just trying to get Maurice Trowell in the flow of things. He had a better day today.
Â
Transcript of head coach Dave Doeren's postpractice comments on Wednesday:
On whether Nickel Niles Clark would be a good coach:
Niles would be a very good coach. He's extremely intelligent, high football IQ, good communicator, well organized, intrinsicly motivated, all of the things if that's what he chooses to do.
On the defense cutting out big plays:
You're seeing a lot fewer mistakes and communication errors. Presnap, they're communicating well, they've been through a lot of things together. They know what every guy is going to do because they've played with each other. The confidence of looking at each other and knowing what that guy's thinking and how he's going to handle a situation is something that makes you play faster. I told the guys when you free your mind, you free your feet. I think that's happened a lot on the defensive side of the ball.
Statistically across the board, we were where we wanted to be in a lot of places [last season], but when you give up as many big plays as we did for touchdowns … they're going to be big plays in a game because offenses are explosive right now, but you can't give up big plays for touchdowns. You gotta man up and play. That's been the biggest focus on that side of the ball. How do you do that? How do you leverage? How do you pursue? How do you play the ball when it's in the air?
On overall progress in camp so far:
We're on par for where we thought we'd be. We haven't had to cancel an install and the guys have handled it well. We've had ample meeting time to make corrections in the evenings and get a walk-through on our install for the next day. The guys have done a great job in the summer putting a lot of time in. Â
On the play of DT Eurndraus Bryant:
Outstanding. I'm not going to say he's been unblockable, but he's pretty close. The dude's 330 pounds and he's rolling, he's moving well. He's got unbelievable feet and hips for a guy that big. [Strength & Conditioning coach] Thunder's done a great job conditioning him. Last year he played two plays and then hit the sideline. He's able to sustain it now.
On the combo of Niles Clark and Dravious Wright at nickel:
Niles is a crafty guy. Having all that experience at corner, he's got good awareness of route concepts and things that happen. Dra is a physical presence in the run game. He's worked really hard this summer on his man to man and gotten a lot better. Last year we had a run guy and a pass guy and now we've got two guys. Niles put on some weight this summer because he didn't want to just be a third-down guy.
On CB Sean Paul:
We've finally been able to keep him in practice for a long period of time. He's a guy who can run – he's one of the fastest players on our roster – and he's got great change of direction.  He's tough – he's a contact player. He's a guy who can help us a lot – on special teams and on defense. Â
On quarterback Jakobi Meyers:
Today was the first day he took team reps. We're finally able to get him in the rotation and see him in there against the defense. He's mad at himself for spraining his ankle playing basketball. It's not a whole lot he can say, but he's worked really hard to get back. Today he was flying around making plays. Hopefully he can build on that.
There are three guys. He's got to take advantage of the reps, because we're about 5-6 days from cutting the three's out. Â
On progress at wide receiver:
Steph [Louis] and [Bra'Lon] Cherry are very consistent. They have been the same every day. Kelvin Harmon has been one of our most productive guys from a big play standpoint. Chandler Belk has had a really solid camp for us. Nyheim [Hiens] is a guy when we get him the ball, he makes plays with it. Those five guys have all contributed well. We're just trying to get Maurice Trowell in the flow of things. He had a better day today.
Â
#PackCamp pano
— #PackCamp (@PackFootball) August 10, 2016
?? ?? pic.twitter.com/CluLxdwrbg
Good ???? #PackCamp https://t.co/3OteXZKZ2d
— #PackCamp (@PackFootball) August 10, 2016
Goal line!#PackCamp pic.twitter.com/evDahdqFHy
— #PackCamp (@PackFootball) August 10, 2016
Players Mentioned
DT
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NIC
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WR
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QB/WR
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WR
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NIC
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