Dave Doeren had a quick reply when asked if any of the NC State quarterbacks vying to replace Ryan Finley, who will be throwing for NFL scouts at NC State’s Pro Day on Wednesday, had moved ahead of the others at this point.
“No,” he said, while not even trying to suppress a chuckle.
Doeren did admit that it’s three quarterbacks who are getting most of the reps — unsurprisingly the trio of redshirt sophomores Matt McKay and Bailey Hockman, and redshirt freshman Devin Leary. Walk-on Micah Leon occasionally will receive reps, and early enrollee true freshman Ty Evans is not working with the top units yet.
“Coach [Kurt] Roper is rotating those guys through the groups,” Doeren noted. “They’re all getting a lot of reps whether it’s ones or the twos or the threes, depending on how we’re doing it that day.”
Roper is NC State’s new quarterbacks coach, replacing Eli Drinkwitz, who doubled as the Pack’s offensive coordinator for the past three years before taking the head coaching job at Appalachian State in December. Replacing Drinkwitz at coordinator is the tandem of running backs coach Des Kitchings and wide receivers coach George McDonald.
Doeren offered some clarification on how that relationship would work.
“Des calls the offense for the most part, but George has segments in the field and situations that are responsible to him — third downs and red zones are kind of those areas,” Doeren confirmed. “You do get in a flow sometimes. If Des is rolling, [McDonald’s] going to say, ‘Keep going.’ We talk during the game. Even when Eli was here, he would be asking because George was our third-down guy.
“There’s some communication taking place. You hear that from the play caller to the O-line coach at times: 'What run do you like?' It’s a real group effort, but Des is the one that kind of triggers it, and then he’s using George in those certain areas of expertise that he takes charge of.”
On the field, the offensive coaches are working through a variety of changes. In addition to a new quarterback, the wide receiving corps lost its two stars in Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers, a pair of juniors who elected to enter the NFL Draft.
Doeren noted that timing is very important in the passing game.
“We don’t have great timing right now, we don’t,” Doeren said. “And you can’t really when you’re rotating guys in like that with different wideouts every time. I won’t say there’s a bunch of balls flying around all over the place, but you do notice when it’s the same guys catching it at a different rhythm.
“We’re just not there yet.”
NC State also has to replace 1,000-yard running back in Reggie Gallaspy Jr., who was a senior last fall. Sophomore Ricky Person Jr. is missing spring practices while trying to get healthy.
An early enrollee has made a quick impression at the position.
“Zonovan Knight of the true freshman class has put together the best body of work so far [among the early enrollees],” Doeren stated. “He’s very calm and a very explosive guy. He doesn’t get rattled.
“He’s impressive, he really is.”
Doeren also cited a pair of true freshmen on defense that have shown flashes — cornerback Shyheim Battle and linebacker Drake Thomas.
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