Last week was not ideal of NC State head coach Dave Doeren and his operations staff, but looking back at it, the sixth-year Wolfpack head coach is pleased with how his program handled the test.
On Tuesday, while coming off the practice fields, Doeren and NC State learned there was no need to continue preparations for a nationally ranked showdown with West Virginia at home in what was perhaps the most anticipated home game of the season for the Pack. That was because the forecast were too ominous surrounding Hurricane Florence, who eventually, and slowly, trekked to the North Carolina coastline and officially made landfall Friday morning at Wrightsville Beach.
Tuesday night, Doeren held a team meeting to let the players know they were being sent home, but if they could not make it or preferred to stay in Raleigh, they were being set up at the team hotel starting Thursday morning.
“Felt like that was the best way to know everyone was safe,” Doeren explained.
Those that left town were to report back 2 p.m. Sunday, which everyone did. Those that stuck around, which Doeren estimated was about one-third of the team, enjoyed some valuable team-building moments in the team hotel.
“We definitely had some camaraderie going on,” Doeren said. “We had a miniature golf championship going on in the hotel. It was pretty fun. Guys were setting up holes with Powerade bottles. We got the most out of it.
“The power stayed on, we were worried about that. We sat there and ate together and hanged out together. We were actually talking about it at one of our meals: you don’t see guys talking on their phones right now, there’s a lot of conversations.”
Doeren noted it was about making the best of a bad situation.
“It’s not ideal but it’s out of our control to, so you make the most of it,” he added. “I told our players you try to find a positive in everything. We were a little beat up at the time and it was really hot training camp and really hot first two weeks of the season. I think having that chance to kind of hit reset, catch up on our sleep, it was good for all us.
“You hate to look at a bad situation as a positive that way, but we did get something out of it. Obviously the whole time we were sitting there we were worried about everything else going on.”
The team had what Doeren called a good practice Sunday. The coaches, with no game against West Virginia, used Wednesday and Thursday to jump on Marshall, NCSU’s opponent this Saturday in the first road test of the fall for the Wolfpack.
In the off time, fifth-year senior receiver Stephen Louis (concussion), redshirt junior receiver Jakobi Meyers (ankle) and redshirt sophomore Dylan Autenrieth (undisclosed) healed up and all three practiced Sunday. They should be available for Marshall.
Also coming into the fold is redshirt sophomore tight end Cary Angeline, a USC transfer who had to sit out the first three weeks of the year. Angeline has been touted as an instant impact performer for NC State, but Doeren cautioned that it could take time.
“Our receivers are playing really well,” Doeren noted. “We’ll really get it going in practice this week and see where he’s at. He’s been on the scout team getting ready. It’s not going to be like all of the sudden he’s out there getting 30 catches in a game … he’s going to have to work his way into playing and blocking. He will play, and he’ll be a part of what we do.”
Perhaps more important, Doeren noted that Autenrieth and Angeline should help shore up a tight end position that struggled to help in the ground game against Georgia State on Sept. 8.
Still working his way back is freshman running back Ricky Person Jr., who is dealing with a muscle injury in his leg. Thus walk-on senior running back Brady Bodine joins senior Reggie Gallaspy Jr. and freshman Trent Pennix on the running back depth chart.
“He just knows what to do all the time, and I think sometimes there is a lot of value in that,” Doeren said of Bodine.
With Hurricane Florence moving past them, the focus is back to football. The team will practice on the turf fields this week due to Marshall’s playing surface, and naturally the forecast indicated there could be rain Saturday in Huntington, W.V., so Doeren will have his team prepare for that.
With so many younger players on the roster, the team will find out how they can handle the road atmosphere for the first time. Marshall leads college football in the best home winning percentage in history.
“It’s an opportunity,” Doeren said. “I look at it more like that than a concern, and a chance to play in a good place.”
Other tidbits
• Redshirt freshman Grant Gibson is now on the offensive line. The reserve defensive tackle took snaps during training camp after his classmate, Kollin Byers, went down with an injury, leaving fifth-year senior and starter Garrett Bradbury and redshirt sophomore Joe Sculthorpe as the options at center.
Doeren noted that Gibson looked great in practice Sunday.
“It really was a function of how well some of the other guys were playing and he just wasn’t getting a lot of snaps on defense,” Doeren said. “I think long term he could be a lot like Bradbury over there. He’s very smart, he’s extremely intelligent football wise. He already knows how to play.”
• One question still looming after the cancellation of the West Virginia game: will they reschedule a 12th game. Doeren made his feelings clear: he hopes the answer is yes.
“I would love to have a 12th game personally,” he stated. “It’s got to fit what we want. We have a bye week that we want to keep obviously for the reasons that it was put there right in the middle of the year before we start Clemson and everybody else.
"Having a 12th game at the end of the year makes sense for a lot of reasons. Obviously you want to be in the best bowl game you can be in, and having that if you can win it gives you another opportunity to move up, but … you got to find the right opponent that is willing to come here.”
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