CHARLOTTE — It might have been a bit inevitable that the first topic of conversation for NC State sixth-year head coach Dave Doeren at ACC Kickoff in Charlotte would be about concussions and the future of football.
Doeren has his rival from down the road to thank for it. UNC head coach Larry Fedora caused a media storm Wednesday by suggesting — in perhaps hyperbole — that the game of football is changing in a direction that could lead to its downfall in 10 years and subsequently will lead to a national disaster.
“I fear that the game will be pushed so far from what we know that we won’t recognize it 10 years from now, and if it does, our country will go down, too,” Fedora said.
Then Fedora stepped into another hot button issue by expressing his doubts about the correlation of head injuries and concussions in football leading to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE, which is a degenerative brain disease that can lead to mental health problems.
“I don’t think it’s been proven that the game of football causes CTE,” Fedora said. “We don’t really know that.”
Doeren’s first question in both his press conference and subsequent breakout media sessions surrounded those topics, and multiple reporters took turns asking about them at different times. Doeren’s consistent answer: learning more about CTE is important.
“This isn’t just football,” Doeren said. “You are reading about soccer isn’t allowed to head the ball anymore with young kids. When people say it’s an attack on football, I don’t look at it that way. It’s new information that could lead us to learn how to practice smarter, how to play smarter in all of our sports.”
Doeren stressed that the game of football has changed as they have learned more about the consequences of concussions. Teams cannot do two-a-days on back-to-back days anymore, and he noted at NC State during training camp they will not have back-to-back practices in full pads. During practice, the Wolfpack use helmets that have extra padding on the top, a new technology that NCSU embraced as soon as it was available.
Players are required to do a baseline concussion test, and then once one suffers a concussion he has to pass two tests — a return to learn and a return to play. Doeren can recall the one concussion he suffered while playing at Drake, which he sustained when he was hit hard on a crossing route.
“I was in the library that night studying. … Our guys are not allowed to play video games, they are not allowed to do anything,” Doeren noted.
Doeren believes football is a sport worth its value in the American culture.
“We believe football is a great sport for young men,” he said. “We believe it teaches valuable life lessons. It’s the only sport that has the numbers it has. For us, 115 young men from all over the place, different backgrounds, home life, are working for a common goal dealing with shared adversity. As a coach, having an opportunity to help those young men fight through an adversity and reach a common goal [is rewarding].
“We think it’s a valuable sport. You just want the right types of things being said, want the right information and a lot of this is fluid.”
Breaking down the Pack's recruiting successes
Another popular topic of discussion Tuesday for Doeren was recruiting. NC State’s 2019 class is ranked No. 18 nationally by Rivals.com and has collected verbal commitments from 13 of the top 50 players in the state of North Carolina according to Rivals.com.
Doeren said there is a combination of factors contributing to the stellar start, including luck. He noted that the city of Raleigh is as hot as its ever been, and when more than half of the recruits he talk to asks him what NC State can provide after football, the coach can’t help but smile.
“One of my D-Linemen right now works for IBM, [redshirt junior] James Smith-Williams, as an intern,” Doeren said. “We actually had IBM’s executive team come in and interview players in front of the team and critique them on things they could have done better. If we had Apple and Amazon [companies who are considering the area for new offices] and IBM, are you kidding me? Who else could say you can get internships with those three companies?”
The success has also been the culmination of grinding to achieve the trust level of high school football coaches across the state.
“When I first got here, people looked at me as a Yankee, I think, even though I’m from the Midwest,” Doeren joked. “I had to prove myself to people. I had to build relationships. It takes time. You can’t do that overnight. You can’t become trustworthy to people who may not trust you.”
Then there is the success of the team. In Doeren’s first season, his team won zero ACC games and did not have a single NFL Draft pick. Five years later, the squad tied the school record for the most conference victories with six and set a new standard for draft picks with seven.
“It’s not a blueprint anymore,” Doeren noted. “It lives and breathes.”
Indoor practice facility has proven its worth
Ever wonder about the value of the Close-King Indoor Practice Facility, which opened in the summer of 2015? Doeren can probably describe it best.
“We weren’t like Carolina where they had a bad one and are getting a new one,” Doeren said. “We didn’t have one. When we’re outside in 30-degree weather, in rain, we were practicing. Our offseason program was spent on wet grass. How can I make you faster, more explosive, have more change of direction if you can’t get cleats in the ground? It’s impossible.
“We wouldn’t be where we’re at right now without that building, period, no way.”
Doeren noted that when he arrived, the indoor facility was eighth on the project list at NC State. After director of athletics Debbie Yow watched the team practice on a cold, windy and wet day that concluded with players belly-sliding on the field, she agreed to team with Doeren to push harder for it.
Following a meeting with officials, Doeren helped sway the powers-that-be to move it to second on the list, behind only Reynolds Coliseum.
“The University had my back, Debbie had my back,” he said. “It made a huge difference.”
Preparing for training camp
Doeren cut his teeth in college football coaching by first working at some smaller programs, notably Montana, an FCS powerhouse that has won two national titles (1995 and 2001) and appeared in five other championship games.
That has given him a healthy respect and appreciation for NC State’s season-opening opponent, James Madison, who will play in Raleigh Sept. 1.
“Scary football team,” Doeren said. “Back-to-back national championship games, winner of one of them; very, very well-coached. I think that their staff has a lot of veteran, really good football coaches on it.
"I know how that game will be played on that side because I’ve been there. It’s a nothing-to-lose game for them. It’s not going to be an easy game at all.”
Leading into training camp, Doeren identified running back, tight end, cornerback and middle linebacker as the top position battles on the field for his team. One X-factor is redshirt sophomore tight end Cary Angeline, who is a transfer from USC that will have to sit out the first three games of the year, unless NC State's waiver to the NCAA is approved.
“Technically, he played in their first two games and dressed in their third but didn’t play, and he got out of school after that game,” Doeren said. “We are working through the details of whether he has to sit the first two or the first three. He only played in two, so he should only have to sit for two — that’s what we are working hard to get.”
Doeren said that Angeline’s impact would be “huge.”
“He’s 6-foot-7, 250 [pounds], can run, pass, block,” Doeren said. “He’s got a really, really good skill set.”
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