NC State football held its first day of fall camp last Wednesday ahead of the 2021 season, which begins with a home game against South Florida on Thursday, Sept. 2.

Head coach Dave Doeren answered questions from the media Tuesday to provide an update a week into fall camp.

Here is the full transcript from Doeren's availability Tuesday:

"We had our fifth practice yesterday. Third-straight practice in half-back shells as we call it. Today is a recovery day. It's gone well. The first two days, we were blessed with some really kind weather. The last three, we've been getting used to the intensity of the heat and the humidity. Those have been good things for our guys.

"I think we're way ahead, just from an install standpoint, from where we were a year ago at this time, which has been nice to see. Not having spring ball, as you guys know, and all the things that went into last year. So I think the ability for the staff to put a little more heat on these guys in practice, a little more of a mental challenge I guess you'd say.

"Having more in has been good to see. The guys that have played a lot of football have risen to the occasion. We're seeing, as you'd expect, some of the newer players are a little more inconsistent.

"I've been very pleased with the attitude, the effort. I talked a lot about the chemistry of this team that's very obvious, watching them coach each other on the field and pick each other up. Back and forth, offense, defense is always very competitive in training camp.

"The fun part about this team is when they get off the field, how they're helping each other. You see Derrek Pitts and the receiving corps, Devin Carter and them talking. You'll see Grant Gibson talking with the nose guards, you'll see Daniel Joseph and Cory Durden and Savion Jackson talking with our offensive tackles. Not just talking, but talking football about what they're doing and how they're doing it and ways they can get better. I've really enjoyed that part of camp.

"We got a lot of work to do, a lot of things we need to clean up. This is an important four-day stretch coming up. Our first day with full pads is tomorrow. We'll be working our short-yardage packages tomorrow and then a bunch of redzone work the day after that, then get into our end of half, end of game two-minute. Offense and defense in that Friday, and Saturday will be our first live, full-tilt scrimmage.

"So this is an important four-day window coming up as we start school next Monday, a week from yesterday. This is really our last week without academics involved to get the rest of our stuff in."

How cool is it to see a past player like Jaylen Samuels talk and sort of mentor Trent Pennix this offseason for his new role at H-back?

"I didn't even know that's happened. That's very kind of Jaylen Samuels to reach back and do that with a player. Our guys are phenomenal about stuff like that. I know the D-linemen and offensive linemen talk a lot, I've been a part of witnessing that.

"Nyheim Hines has been back a lot to talk to guys. I think that the alumni in general, even guys that didn't play in my tenure that come back, are really good with our guys. Dewayne Washington was at practice, haven't had Torry Holt at practice yet, but he's been around our program a lot.

"Those guys just do a great job of giving back. Not only do they love this place, but they like you building their legacy, I guess, through teaching younger players below them and helping them become a better version of themselves. It's fun to watch as a coach."

What is it about Trent that makes him a good fit for the H-back role?

"He's a big kid. He's 230 pounds. He's got really good speed. He does have great ball skills, he played a lot of receiver in high school. So he's just got a unique blend of size, agility and ball skills, we just got to keep him on the field.

"He's had a lot of, I guess you'd call them minor injuries throughout his career that have never allowed him to be a sustained part of our packages on offense. Whether it's a hamstring or a wrist or shoulder or whatever, nothing major, but as a coach, it's about having the same guy with you every day so you can continually give him the same stuff and build off of it. We're hoping that he can get to be one of those guys that we can count on week to week."

How have the battles on the offensive line looked so far and how confident are you in that position group entering the season?

"It's been fun watching the competition. Chandler Zavala and Derrick Eason are two guys that both bring a lot to the table at the guard position for us. We're excited about Bryson Speas and Tim McKay, who is back from injury from last year, what they're showing.

"Bryson has played tackle and guard on right and left side, so he gives us a lot of versatility. He's worked hard to get his mass up, he's 315 pounds now. It's been fun seeing those guys. This is going to be a big week for these competitions because we start tackling and seeing plays finish, so it'll be fun to watch that part of this progress."

Where do things stand with Emeka Emezie after he missed the first day of fall camp?

"He's close. Obviously, we want to be smart with him, and we got to get him to the opening game. Emeka's worst enemy is his own work ethic sometimes, he just goes hard and you can re-injure yourself in that scenario. We just have to really be patient with him.

"He's working, he's out of practice, he's watching but, I'd say he's probably a week or two from being released into what everyone's doing. You just have to day-by-day with him and understand it's a marathon, not a sprint. We're talking about getting him back for the season because he was out for quite a while."

Can you talk a little bit about Henry Trevathan, the relationship you have with him and particularly when you first got this job, sort of how he helped you in recruiting and learning this state?

"He's one of the few people here that's been with me the whole time, and I can't say enough about him. Not just in the job that he does with high school coaches and with young men in our program because he oversees our walk-on program and does a great job with that, helping our parents and all of our signees with admissions steps and things that go into it.

"He's got an incredible history in our state, his dad has great tradition in our state as well. His name is synonymous with a lot of people smiling, they know him. There's people who played for his dad, people that have played for Henry, people that have coached with his dad, people who have coached with Henry. It's been really a great experience having him on our staff.

"His ties go very deep. Him and Bobby Purcell were very close friends, so they know a lot of the same people. It's nice when you work with someone that nobody can say a bad word about, and Henry is one of those people.

"He's first-class and does a really good job with the high school coaches in the state. That's why I hired him. I came in here, as you guys know, from the Midwest, and I needed to make relationships and build bridges with people. I needed someone that they trusted to help me and guide me to say these are the coaches that you need to get in with and you need to talk to and you need to help, learn about and spend time with.

"It's been invaluable, and it continues to this day. Every place I go, high school coaches thank me for having Henry on my staff because he keeps them in the loop on what we're doing."

Coming off of a four-win season in 2019, there was no shortage of motivation last year. Is there more for a team to learn from success than there is from setbacks?

"I think you learn from both. The one thing that we try to do in our program is to use the past as teachable moments. You want to repeat success, you want to eliminate failure, so you got to constantly study those things. Not to pour salt in a wound, but to learn from it.

"To point out to people that need to improve, how can we help them improve and sometimes it's me that needs to improve. We have to have ownership in all those things.

"There's a little bit more motivation, maybe, behind losing. It hurts so much. That digs on these guys, and they don't want to feel that. But I do think in winning or studying winners, there's a lot of things you can take out of that as well."

You mentioned class starts Monday for your guys. Things are different now than they were this time last year. But with the increase in cases with the Delta COVID variant and the relaxed restrictions this year, have you talked to your guys about making smart choices off of the field during the season?

"We've talked a lot about it. Last year, we were very good here from a COVID numbers standpoint until the student body showed up. Not to blame them, it's just what happens when you put 30,000 young people on a college campus. You're going to have a lot of germs brought in and people are going to get sick. So we spend a lot of time discussing that.

"Even if COVID wasn't here, we would be discussing that because we don't want guys missing for other things, colds and a variety of other things you can get. I'm very hopeful that we learned our lesson from watching that horrible movie last year when that went down. I told them, I don't want to watch it again. There's been a lot of education here, there has been a lot of discussion. There's been a lot of conversation, and we're in a very good place when you talk about vaccination rates and all those things with our program.

"So it's really a small group, I guess you would say in the unprotected area of our team. Daily, unfortunately, I'm still talking about that with these guys because I don't want to watch that, I don't want to watch a kid that's completely healthy and has worked so hard get contact traced out because he was in class with somebody that was coughing or has a roommate that's not vaccinated or whatever it might be. We spend a lot of time on that, and that's all we can do is give them the best advice we can and ask them, like they did a year ago here when we kind of bubble-ized this place I guess you'd say, is learn from the past and do the best we can to not repeat the things that put us in tough spots.

"We had to delay our season, we had to move our opener a year ago and obviously don't want to do that again."

Are you still having daily reports with the medical staff about COVID?

"Whenever there are updates, we get them. We meet with the medical staff every day about our team, and that could be a part of it or not be a part of it based on the information they're getting.

"It's pretty streamlined from the Medical Advisory Group to our athletic training group and our docs, then that goes right to me and our staff as soon as they get that info. Then I share it with the team in our team meetings when it applies to them directly. So we're trying to stay right in the loop as close as we can be and what we know today could be different tomorrow on this kind of stuff."

What are you expecting from Payton Wilson this fall after the special season he had last year?

"He exceeded probably what a lot of people thought would happen in his first year as a full-time starter. We expected him to have a great season. Obviously, you can't predict how many tackles a guy's gonna make. But he did a phenomenal job as a guy in our defense making plays, and I think he improved throughout the year.

"He learned a lot from mistakes that you're going to make as a first-year starter. I'm excited to see his growth. That's one of the reasons he came back, and there were things he wanted to get better at before he became a professional. It's been fun to see all the work he's put in since his operation to get better and to get back with us to compete."

You’ve mentioned Cory Durden as a guy you would learn a lot about because he was a late arrival this summer. What have you seen from him in this first week of fall camp?

"Cory is going to help us a lot. Right now, we're trying to get him used to how we do things. He's trying to get back in football shape. He didn't go through spring ball at Florida State, so he was rusty. He's working hard. He loves learning. He's coachable, I like that about him. He'll make mistakes, and we can critique him, be constructive with him and he wants to get better.

"He can play inside and outside in our scheme, so he brings a lot of versatility there similar to Davin Vann that way, a guy that can move in and out of our packages. We're very excited he's here. The next 23 days we have until we play a game, we're going to be important for him. But I think he could have a major role on our front."

What stood about Bam Knight when you were evaluating him in high school and how did his recruitment go?

"He was a guy that could get to top-speed quickly. Their offense, and I know you guys have watched him, was the wing T or double slot. He would get a lot of end arounds, put his foot in the ground, get north and south and just out-run people. He had home run speed.

"Then starting to get around to him in his recruitment. He committed early to Duke, then decided he wanted to reconsider that. He started to come sit on our campus with us, and we spent a lot of time together. He came over here seven or eight times before he committed to us, he wanted to really see it. He wanted to kind of see who we are as people. He's not an outspoken person, but he's a very observant person. I think he came over here and spent seven or eight different times either with me or with Coach Kitchings or with our strength coaches, obviously academics. Once he felt like all the things were answered, he knew this was the right fit and he's been a joy to coach."

He mentioned pass protection as an area he needs to improve in. What are some of the things you think he needs to work on to take the next step?

"The NFL and the college ranks are similar now. Backs are not very often in the game the whole game at the pro level or the college level, there's a rotation now. I think backs need to show they can be an every-down back. You can be a guy that stays in there on third down and does all those things that they have to do.

"For him, he's done a great job as a runner, he's done a good job as a pass-catcher, although I know he wants to be better there. The pass protection is the last area for him to be a complete player all the time, and it's not for a lack of wanting contact, he's very physical.

"It's just technique things that make you a better path protection guy, no different than what Ickey is working on right now. He's trying to get better at pass protection. These guys want to perfect their craft, so he's spending a lot of time on it with Coach Roper."

What kind of steps have Ben Finley and Aaron McLaughlin made over the summer?

"There's obviously a greater understanding of the system for both. Ben's changed his body in a good way, he's put on some good muscle to protect himself. I think him and Aaron are both very athletic guys, and they don't just throw the ball. They can run around and make some plays on their feet as you saw in the spring game with Ben.

"I think the maturity part of it for Ben is the area of growth that he's making and still has a lot of room to grow there as a leader, which is what that position is. He's really hard on himself, and he's just learning how to kind of let the reins loose right there and relax a little bit and get to the next play.

"I really enjoy being around those three guys that are serious about it. They encourage their teammates, they have good attitudes. They're all different, but they're all the same in their competitive spirit. They're guys that really come out there to work hard."

The NC State football Twitter account posted a video from a team meeting in which Philip Rivers spoke to the guys this summer. What was his message to the team and how did the team respond to it?

"It's great. We try to get former players to come visit our team. With COVID, we've had to do a few of them on Zoom, so it was great of Philip to do that.

"It's really just expressing their love for the school, the program and talking about stories that they have from when they played here. For our players to realize how much those guys loved their time here. When you're here, you're in it. You're in the heat of it. You don't realize how special it is right in the middle of it. Then 10 years later, you look back on it and think it was the best time of your life. We all tell them that. But sometimes, as you guys know that are parents, when someone else tells them that, it makes sense.

"It's great to have a guy like Philip that played 17 years in the NFL, talking about how much he loves his time here, his teammates here. He played with Thunder Dan, he played with Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay.

"The guys were able to ask him questions about what made him such a competitor, what made him who he is, what kind of things does he do in preparation, if he had advice for them about his time here. So it's just a great resource to have with guys like him and the others that have helped us to help these guys in their journey."

Speaking of videos, are we going to be seeing you on Tik Tok more now?

"That's funny. I was with one of our donors this summer who does very well. He asked me why I don't have a Tik Tok, and I'm like, 'To be honest, I just don't have time for another social media thing.' So he started showing me all the stuff he's doing and how many people are paying attention to it and his business.

"I was with Annabelle at the ACC media days and our media team was talking about it. So they got us a Tik Tok account. I really leave it up to the young people around here to brainstorm on it, and I would assume we'll have some more things coming if Annabelle can get some things prepped up. I'll give her the credit for that last one."

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