On Sunday afternoon, NC State head coach Dave Doeren held his annual media day press conference. It came one day after his young Wolfpack squad, which has only 10 scholarship seniors on the roster, held its first scrimmage of the preseason.

“We have a lot of work to do, a lot,” Doeren said. “I haven’t made any decision and won’t till I have enough with the quarterbacks and others, but I do like the competition and the progress.”

Doeren was referring to the ongoing quarterback battle between redshirt sophomores Bailey Hockman and Matt McKay and redshirt freshman Devin Leary. Coming out of the spring, McKay emerged as a favorite in the open competition.

Doeren said that McKay’s leadership style reminds him of former Pack and current Indianapolis Colts signal caller Jacoby Brissett.

“He says stuff when he needs to say it,” Doeren noted. “He motivates guys in his own way. … He’s very confident.”

The seventh-year coach at NC State is handling his third quarterback competition at the helm of the Wolfpack. In his first campaign in Raleigh, it was Pete Thomas versus Brandon Mitchell.

In 2016, Ryan Finley, Jalan McClendon and Jakobi Meyers entered camp battling for the job, although Meyers switched positions by the end of preseason to receiver, where he now plays for the New England Patriots.

The formula for picking a quarterback remains similar to those previous times.

“We chart everything,” Doeren said. “There are a lot of analytics we look at. We’re looking from the quarterback position — you start with their completion rate, touchdowns and interceptions. Then you’re looking at drives.

"Who’s getting first downs and keeping us on the field" Who is creating touchdowns instead of fields goals, and just the mistake factor? Who is running the system the way we should, delivering the ball where it should go, going through the progression?

“We do that at every position, and obviously that one has got a microscope on it from me and the offensive staff.”

Elsewhere, Doeren noted that the team suffered from too many penalties due to mental mistakes in the scrimmage.

You can listen to Doeren's press conference below:

Here are some other notes from Doeren’s media day press conference.

• When Tabari Hines was a receiver at Wake Forest, he was one of the best slot wideouts in the ACC. His junior year in 2017, Hines caught 53 passes for 683 yards and seven touchdowns and left to play at Oregon as a grad transfer. He caught three passes for 32 yards and a score against Portland State, but those would be his only receptions before his year was cut short with knee surgery.

Hines decided to transfer again, and Doeren and the Pack were well aware of how good he could be. In a Wake Forest win over NC State in 2017, Hines caught eight passes for 139 yards and three touchdowns. NCSU, after doing its homework on Hines’ transcripts and health, added him to its receiving corps.

Doeren left Saturday’s scrimmage convinced that a healthy Hines will add much to the Pack’s offense.

“He’s very, very football smart,” Doeren said. “He’s learned every position on our offense wide receiver-wise so he can play X, Z and slot. Not everybody can do that, particularly when they just get here like he did.

"Demeanor-wise, he’s very steady. He's not an up-and-down guy.”

Doeren also complimented true freshman slot receiver Keyon Lesane, and noted that Hines and Lesane combined with the return of redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas, who had 34 receptions for 383 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie, give NC State good depth in the slot.

All three are in the mix for punt returns as well. Thomas primarily handled those duties last year and averaged 9.3 yards on 15 attempts. Hines and Lesane, along with some of NC State’s young running backs, are getting looks at returning kickoffs.

• The competition to replace former All-ACC punter A.J. Cole, who is in training camp with the Oakland Raiders, remains ongoing with redshirt sophomores Mackenzie Morgan and Trenton Gill, the latter a walk-on and the former a scholarship addition from Australia.

“We have two really good options," Doeren noted. "I’m excited about both of them and just have to see where it goes. Trent, kickoff-wise, has done a great job in camp. He had three yesterday that were seven, eight, nine yards deep in the end zone.

"Between those two guys I think we’ll be in good shape.”

• The young running back group features a sophomore, a redshirt freshman and three true freshman. Among the newcomers, Zonovan Knight turned heads with a banner spring game during which he ran 17 times for 139 yards and a 73-yard touchdown. However, Jordan Houston, a one-time Maryland commit who arrived in the summer, was earning praise for his strong work in the first few practices.

One-time Vanderbilt pledge Delbert Mimms III is the third true freshman in the unit.

“Jordan had a good scrimmage,” Doeren said. “He’s definitely a guy who is going to help us. Delbert Mimms is getting better.

“It’s fun seeing those three freshmen. Zonovan didn’t really start camp well, but has picked it back up. He had a good scrimmage yesterday. It’s going to be a deal by committee for a while with them being so young.”

• Depth along the offensive line has been a concern of Doeren's, but he is heartened by the early returns from the four true freshmen: Ikem Ekwonu, Zovon Lindsay, Timothy McKay and Dylan McMahon. He went as far as to say they are as good a group of true freshmen on the offensive line as he’s seen since he arrived at NC State.

“Our freshman o-line class is talented,” Doeren said. “Those four guys — they are good players.”

• Doeren said that giving a scholarship to a walk-on player is one of his favorite parts of camp. Redshirt freshman linebacker Seth Williams from Wake Forest (N.C.) High had his moment in the spotlight when he was put on scholarship in front of the team following Saturday’s scrimmage.

“Whether they were recruited at a lower level or not, they come in here with a lot of work to do,” Doeren said. “It’s not glamorous work. Seth is a guy that has impressed everybody from strength coaches to coaches to players.

“He had a really good day [Saturday]. He’s starting on a couple of special teams. You can just see the elation of his teammates. ... No matter what we ask him to do, he is just going to do it as hard as he can. Those are the heartbeat of the team, and it’s good to reward that.”

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