Here is a full transcript from NC State head coach Dave Doeren's press conference Monday previewing the season opener against South Florida Thursday night at Carter-Finley Stadium.

"It's been a long time since we've played, so excited to have the fans back and things somewhat back to normal from a game to atmosphere standpoint.

"But more than anything just excited to get the season started with this staff and group of players. As a head coach, I'm really proud to be a part of such an experienced staff. We have 299 years of coaching on our coaching staff and it's a great group of guys to work with. A group that cares a lot about each other, likes to have fun together and does it for the right reasons.

"We get to work with some fantastic young people. It's a team that has grown together over time and definitely understands commitment and what it's like. Being at practice with them today, and just seeing how they're handling game week, it's a much more mature football team than we've had that way. It's a one time a day at a time journey with these guys, and that's what they want it to be. And that's what it's about. We're all about winning the day, and it's cliche I guess to stock days now, but that's really the focus of this group and trying to be the best version of ourselves as men each and every day as students, as athletes.

"I've enjoyed the process of fall camp. It's great to have a normal fall camp, and get to coach football and a preseason. It's been a challenge, been hot. We've had some crazy hot weather here, and these guys have endured that. So nice to play a night game Thursday and not have the sun on our necks for a day.

"Looking forward just to seeing them get to go out there and compete against somebody else. I know they're sick of hitting each other. It's time to test our mettle and see where we're at and what we need to work on, what we've grown, and where we've grown. It's the first opportunity and test of the season and we're excited, excited to play a very athletic South Florida team, an experienced team.

"They had a new coach last year who were very familiar with when he spent all his years at Clemson. He did a great job there as an offensive coordinator, and they're in year two with him. I know what that's like first year in a program. It's difficult.

"They've got a lot of players back but they also have a lot of transfers that they've brought in. I know he'll have his team ready. For us, I've always felt like the opening game you're chasing a lot of ghosts, particularly coming out of the COVID year because there are opt outs on the team that you're playing that are back and there's transfers and there's new guys and different jersey numbers. Maybe there's a handful of new coaches.

"Early in the season I feel like and really year round but particularly early and you see it in bowl games, there's some sloppy play. There's a lot more games that are lost than won at the beginning of seasons. And we've made that a major focus here.

"To be the best team we can here we need to get out of the way and not beat ourselves. Minimize pre snap things that we can take off from a focus standpoint. Minimize post snap things from an emotional standpoints. And again, making your layups. Taking the gimmies that are there and making those routine plays, and then really competing on special teams to give ourselves an advantage. I feel like our guys have worked really hard with Coach [Todd] Goebbel in that area.

"And in my career and for most head coaches, I think you could say the turnover margin and explosive play battle tells us a lot. Those are major points emphasis for us.

"When it comes to our roster, I really really like the competition we've had. Just going to start on offense.

"Our offensive line, to have the ability to rotate some guys and some versatility. Ickey [Ekwonu] and [Chandler] Zavala, Grant [Gibson] and [Dylan] McMahon and [Bryson] Speas and [Tim] McKay and [Derrick] Eason are guys that we feel like can all play will play. In Dylan [McMahon] a guy that can play multiple spots, guard and center. Tim McKay can play multiple spots. Speas can play multiple spots. We feel like we have some good flexibility there.

"Devin Leary's in a really good spot, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. I like where he's at. He's comfortable. He's ready to lead. He built really good relationships with his teammates.

"Our backfield has experience and there's talent, when you look at what Bam and Ricky can do and the way Jordan [Houston] has improved, with the way Delbert Mimms is improved. There's a lot of hands back there that can help us win.

"The tight end position is probably the biggest spot where we lost production from last year on offense. With Cary [Angeline] leaving him, Dylan Parham I'm excited for him and his sixth year, to see how he can play, not just as a blocker. He's been a really good blocker for us but now he can evolve now as a past catcher.

"I think Trent Pennix and Chris Toudle are two young guys that have our coaches excited. I'm excited for them. They are both guys that have changed positions to get on the field more, and they have some versatility. Chris being a former receiver and Trent being a former running back, where they can do a lot of things out of that tight end room. Kam Walker's a lunch pail guy that has worked really hard.

"At receiver, obviously there is experience there with Emeka [Emezie] and Thayer [Thomas] and Devin Carter, CJ Riley, Porter Rooks and then Julian Gray one of our newcomers that we expect a lot out of. As the year goes on you'll probably see him more and more. That's really the group there offensively.

"Systematically, being in same system another year. When I asked him to grow it, the philosophy doesn't change: to be aggressive and be balanced and, finish every drive with a kick. I think that's the biggest thing offensively. Using our personnel the right way and Devin being a distributor of the ball.

"On defense, a few newcomers with the transfers, but our D line rotation you'll see Savion [Jackson], you'll see Cory Durden, CJ Clark, Josh Harris, Daniel Joseph, Davin Vann, and Danny Blakeman. Those guys all rotated throughout camp. Our D-line like most D-lines is going to rotate player. The guys that take the first snap of the game are going to be the guys that graded out the best each week.

"Our top three linebackers have gotten a lot of pub and we expect a lot out of them. I think Payton [Wilson] is poised and healthy and has grown a lot as a player, particularly just the mentality of how to practice and how to study film. A lot different, not different in how hard he is going to play, I can tell you that, but just the maturity that he has now compared to a year ago.

"Isaiah Moore has improved himself athletically, a lot. Still a great leader but he's lost some body fat, and is really moving well. I think he's poised to play really well. I think Drake [Thomas] also has changed his body, and those three guys are the heartbeat of what happens on defense. They make a lot of plays, they can all run, they all have game experience.

"In the absence of Drake and Payton, we were able to get Levi [Jones] a lot of work, as our, not just our Sam but as a rush player for us and special teams guy. Jaylon Scott, we're really happy with his progress. Guy has really changed his body, maybe one of the most improved when you are talking about the linebacker body type, from last year to this year. I think he was like 260 something last year in the fall camp and now is in the 220s and looks really good.

"At safety Tanner Ingle returns and wants to be in the game, the whole game. He's got to do a great job for us being a player that he can be. He's a dynamic guy. He's a contact guy. He's a great leader. Jakeen [Harris] and him and Tyler Baker Williams, those three guys when they're all in there together do a great job. We've added some good competition.

"It's been fun seeing Cyrus [Fagan], Khalid Martin, push those guys in front of them and Devan Boykin, Josh Pierre-Louis will have a role for us as well and Rakeim Ashford.

"The corner position, that competition is still going. It's been really fun to see. We've got some talented corners that are all playing and have to play well and will play in the game you know between Shy Battle, and Derrek Pitts and Chris Ingram and Teshaun Smith and then Aydan White, there's five guys that are pushing each other every day.

"Like our D-line, we don't really have two guys that we look at starters. There's multiple guys that will play in that room and whoever plays the best will continue to be the starter in that room. We'll have a rotation and the way offenses play now with their tempos, we need to have a rotation at many of these slots. Our specialists, as you guys know, Chris Dunn and Trent Gill and [Joe] Shimko our long snapper, those three guys have been together now going on three years and looking forward to seeing them together again. Thayer is our punt returner and Bam our kick returner. It's a must win area. It's an elite group that has game experience that needs to give us an edge.

"As far as game day, having a night game at Carter-Finley, very excited for our team for our fans to be back together at home on a Thursday night. Our Thursday nights have been electric and expect it to be. I appreciate Boo Corrigan and Fred Demarest and the admin staff for the improvements that have been made in the stadium I think the beer garden area, the party platform or whatever we're calling that up there, it's going to be fun for those that take advantage of it and hopefully give you a reason not to leave at halftime, to stay in there and hang out with us and enjoy what's going on.

"We need a four quarter crowd. We need it rowdy and I hope you're ready to do that. Coming back from COVID where you couldn't really be a part of our game day, it's now here, and that what makes this different. We're asking for our fan base and our students section to be a 12th man that has one thing in mind and that's making life hell on the opponent and lifting the spirit of our team and making it hard on their team.

"And I think we have a fan base that can do that. We need you to do it for as long as it takes. If it's for overtimes, it's for overtimes, but it does give us a unique environment here when we have it the way that it can be and I expect it to be that way Thursday.

"I think we have an incredible tailgate here and I want our fan base to take advantage of that. And then I want him to be in the seats for four quarters cheering on this team that has worked their butts off for you, and make game day something that other fanbases should be to be jealous of. I think that's something we should strive for is a fan base.

"It's definitely an opportunity for us to be a part of it together. We talk about our mission statement here is one Pack, one goal. It's a united mission to win a championship and it's united not just players and coaches, it's all of us, it's our fans, it's our administration, it's just students. It's our players and our coaches working together as they get these seven home opportunities to be uniquely special. We want it to be that. We want you to be a part of the journey with us.

"When we come out of that tunnel, whether it's for the first quarter or the third, it matters. It matters a lot to our young men and so again, you can hear the passion in my voice asking for your help with an incredible season coming off of the most difficult season in my life as a player or coach when you talk about what we went through last year. What a reward to play on a night at home against a team.

"Regardless of who it is, I think just the opportunity to have that Wolfpack fellowship and brotherhood and let's make everyone jealous about how special is your game day.

"So with that I'll open it up for any questions."

You have a familiar face a quarterback in Cade Fortin play against you guys several years ago for the team in blue, but he's hasn't played much at all, obviously since and there wasn't a ton of film on him before that. How do you sort of scout a guy? Do you look at the film even though it's at UNC?

"When we played him obviously it was a long time ago in his career. We know that he's grown a lot since then and he's going to be a much better player than he was that day. We have a lot of respect for him and know that he won a battle with another ACC quarterback that transferred in there. So it wasn't like it was handed to him. He earned it. And I think last year they had a challenging situation offensively.

"You can tell there was a lot of rotation. A lot of guys in and out. That couldn't have been easy for him either. Just reading as much as I could get on their situation sounds like he really stepped up in their offseason program and on their spring, and earned a lot of respect on the roster. He got a scholarship to that other school for a reason and they recruited well their quarterback so the guy has a lot of talent.

Have you decided on Devin Leary's backup?

"No, both Ben Finley and Aaron McLaughlin are kind of listed as 'ors'. Both of them could play. Both of them will be ready to play.

"Ben has more game experience than Aaron so right now we go that way. If it ended up being a long term thing, we may see both of them. They both have had good camps. I think we're in a good situation with their progress. I think Ben is way better player than he was a year ago, and Aaron is really poised. Love his size and the way he can run the ball and it's just him getting getting more and more reps, but I like the way that we're set up there right now."

How excited are you for the newcomers going into this game?

"I think it's a gift that these guys get. It's part of the sweat equity I think that you earn that as a player you work so hard for these special moments. Coming out of the tunnel when the Carter is packed, it's unique. I've been in four power five conferences, played in a lot of stadiums. And when ours is the way that it can be it's one of the best, it is. The entry is special and I've been through there many times as a head coach now and each time it's wow when it's lit up the way that it can be.

"I'm happy for them to go their first. I think it's going to be unique for college football. There's a lot of players on all of our rosters that haven't experienced crowd noise at all. You think about last year's class plus this year's class plus whatever transfer came in your door in some cases it may be half of the team hasn't played in front of a loud stadium before. How teams can handle that is going to be part of the challenge this year for road teams."

You said this is a mature team. Elaborate on that and how does that help the coaching staff.

"I think last year they stepped up in a big way like seeing each other through that quarantine time. That showed a lot of maturity. How we handled the day to day protocol through covid showed a lot of maturity.

"I think we made a lot of immature things happen on the field still in that. We were able to take the good the bad and the ugly I think going into the offseason and really praise them in some ways, and challenge them in some ways. We had 109 penalties last year and that's a lot over the course of 12 games and we can't be like that.

"When you break down a what they were, the guys I broke them down to them. I showed them. Here's all of them and here's the ones on offense, here's the ones on defense, here's the pre snap, here's the end play ones. Then here's the post snap and, what can we do to fix this. Those guys were really diligent about wanting to fix it.

"We had officials at every spring practice. We had officials at very fall camp practice. We're throwing the yellows at them, and then we're talking about them. So hopefully that'll lead into this formula for winning that we believe in here. I think you can make it hard to win on yourself and that's, when I look at it, it's immature. When you're having pre snap focus penalties and post snap emotional penalty that's immature football. That's where I'm hoping you see it. We did see it in our second scrimmage. We saw a huge improvement. So hopefully that'll carry over to game day."

How much more confident do you feel at this point compared to last year, not only having most of those guys back, especially at the lead in terms of offensive and defensive coordinator, as far as the install is going knowing who your opponent's going to be in for several months now?

"It's a way different set up I mean we had three different teams we were going to play in the opener last year and one month from the season start you know. That was crazy.

"Coach [Tony] Gibson and his staff now been together with him as the coordinator two years. Tim and his staff have been together for two years. Joker [Phillips] is new but Tim [Beck] had worked with Joker previously. Coach [Kurt] Roper worked with Joker previously.

"There's a lot of continuity in there and we've done a lot of things from a staff building standpoint, whether it's just our coaches hanging out, or our coaches and our coaches wives hanging out. We've done a lot to get close with each other and feel really good going into the season.

"These guys have been through a lot in games whether they were coordinators or position coaches or in Joker's case he's the head coach. They've seen a lot, and so for me it's great to have those kind of guys in the room with me that can, 'Hey coach if you've seen this, I saw this today made me think about something that happened to me in 2006 and wanted to share this story with you. Maybe it's something that can help us.'

"Charley Wiles has got a lot of coaching and he can, 'Coach [Frank] Beamer did this one year thought it was really good.' It's been nice having that kind of sounding board and obviously Ruffin McNeill and spend a lot of time talking about things, not just with the team, but with staff things. Things that he's seeing as coaches or I'm seeing and asking each other's opinion on them."

I know it's only one of 12 but last year that opening game against Wake Forest really kind of set a tone that you guys just picked up on and built on. How important is it to get off to a good start and that first game and to really set a tone for the rest of the season?

"It's obviously helpful to do that but it's not going to always be that way. We got to go out and do everything we can to make it go our way.

"Wake Forest, we had a heck of a game last year. But that was last year. Now whatever this first experience is we're going to have to grow from it. Hopefully it's a win. That's what we're all trying to do. Both teams are. It's a long season. We need to take whatever we can from that first game and I think the biggest goal of this team is to get better every week. Every single week we want to grow and learn and improve."

Coach, entering year nine, third longest tenured coach in the league. In college football nine years is a long time at one spot. What's the key to that kind of longevity?

"Well it's a blessing to be here this long, for one. You're not always wanted as long as I've been able to stay and winning obviously is a part of that.

"What we do from a recruiting standpoint, how we develop players, the type of young men that want to be here and the things we've done in the community, the things we're doing in the classroom, all of it plays into the product. The way our former players have done in the NFL, the way they talk about our team, our coaches, I think there's just a lot to it.

"It's rare to be somewhere as long I am. Obviously football has been played here, I don't know, if it's 138 or 139 years now at NC State, to be second on the list of tenured coaches at this university, I think, says it all. Hard to do.

"One of my best friends, Chris Ash, coaches in the NFL now, used to be the head coach at Rutgers and d-coordinator at Ohio State. We were together at Wisconsin and Drake. We were talking on the phone earlier this summer, just talking about the NFL and how that is and talking about college and he's like, 'Dude, you're almost at a school for a decade.' I just started laughing.

"It's hard cause I still look at myself as somewhat of a young coach. I'm used to being called that. Now I'm the third oldest in the league and second long standing in the conference. It's kind of crazy, but it's a total blessing that Sara and I've been able to be here this long, and our children have been able to stay in their schools as long as they have.

"We hope that we're here for the duration, until I'm done with this sport or sport's done with me, whatever it is. But we love the city of Raleigh and the fan base. What this state brings geographically, as someone that lives here, we're in a really, really awesome place to live. I think you guys have been here for most of your lives know that. I've been all over the country. I've lived in California to Montana to Illinois to Iowa to Kansas to Wisconsin. To be able to not get on an airplane and go mountains to lakes to rivers to ocean, it's pretty unique. Consider myself blessed to live in such a great place."

A lot of the talk in July was about the 85% mark on vaccinations. Do you have an updated number of where you are at, and the other thing I want to ask about that was, how did you handle those conversations with the team, whether it was education, maybe you're not trying to push it on them but I'm sure you had guys that concerns and questions. How did you handle that?

"We're above 90 percent, close to 100. As far as the team, you know, this started back when the vaccine came out. Our coaches started getting it, our older coaches first and then at risk coaches. Then more and more vaccinations became available and then we just started talking to the guys about it openly. Where do you need information? What can we do to help you with this?

"We brought in our team doc. He's been in multiple times. He's had visits with our entire team. He's had individual visits with guys that wanted to ask more individual questions about it. Same with our coaches. There were coaches that had questions about it, so offering them opportunities to get that.

"Then eventually there was decisions made about whether you can travel or not travel as a staff member or an athlete. Like I told the guys at some point in time you're going to have to make a choice, and you may not like your choices, but you're going to have a choice. For us, the choice is to get the vaccine and be a part of everything, or not get the vaccine and not be a part of everything but still be a student and on scholarship, and on the roster and all those things.

"I'm not going to hold a grudge or be upset with anybody, but at the end of the day, we all saw with this did our country last year and I think we're all in a different place now knowing that there is protection for those of us that believe in the vaccine and see the numbers that what's going on in the hospitals for the unvaccinated population. It's been tough.

"Just trying to provide all that to the best of our ability and keeping everything out of it from a political standpoint, everything out of it other than the medicine. Trying to leave it at that. You know I'm not a guy that goes to get advice from someone that isn't professional at it. If I have financial advice I'm going to go to a financial advisor. If I have medical advice I'm going to go to a doctor.

"One thing about the Triangle we had phenomenal health care. We're able to get really good answers from people that have studied this a long time."

Is there a competitive advantage?

"I think so. I mean for us, inside the Murphy Center we're 100% vaccinated. For us, we still have to wear mask in here because that's policy on our campus, but we can have meetings with our guys.

"The contact tracing rules as you know are different from the CDC and university standpoint. It's a lot different than waking up every day looking at my cell phone and seeing who has a runny nose and these 20 players can't come to the building because of it. We don't have that anymore. If you have symptoms, you're removed, until you have a negative test, and it's just one person that has to leave.

"A lot different than last year when it comes to who could be pulled out of your roster, or your staff, and not just your coaching staff, your training room staff, your dining room staff, your nutrition staff, your weight room staff, your operation staff. You could lose a lot of workforce last year because of one person not feeling well.

"I feel like there's a huge competitive advantage if you can prevent that from being how you live on a daily basis, and we've been able to do that so it's nice to be able to have that kind of setup right now."

Is there a palpable feeling, to get when you make that move from camp to game week? How is this group handling it compared to the other guys you've had?

"They're so sick of not playing. They want to play a game,. They're at that point. Going to practice, they value practice, they know they need practice, but they do want to see where they're at and compete at this point.

"They've handled it well. I think the one thing that's been unique, or fun I guess you would say as a coach, is watching them coach each other now and teaching some of the younger guys how to study film. I think that was something at Wisconsin that I learned as a coach. That was kind of just the way things were that university. That the players came in and studied a lot of tape and they demanded it from each other.

"I've shared those stories with our players here and you see it now. They want to be great and they want to understand that the guy behind them may have to play, and he better know what he's doing. And so watching how they handle each other that way is a lot of fun."

What would kind of be a major expectation that you have for this veteran defense coming into the year?

"I think, to put numbers on it, I'm not sure I can do that. I think the biggest thing we want to see starts on defense with how we play on the line of scrimmage. I think that's programmatically how we win. We have to win offensive, defensive line of scrimmages. We've got experience and depth on the defensive line. We expect those guys to battle in there for us and create havoc and disrupt them and to beat the other team in plays in the backfield.

"That's one of the things we look at. We call them bombs, but how many bombs go off where we are in that backfield versus our backfield. The next thing is defensive takeaways. How many times are we gonna get the ball back for our offense. I think that's a big deal. Two years ago we were really bad in that area and we had a bad season. I think the more we can set up the offense, defensively, with three and outs and takeaways, the more points we're going to score, the more games we are going to win.

"And lastly, it's just the explosive plays you heard me talking about earlier. We can't give up explosive plays for touchdowns, we can't. They're going to happen, they're gonna have plays over 20 yards in games. Offenses are built that way now. We got to get them down on the ground and survive that down and get to the next down and stop them. So those are kind of things I'm looking at.

"I'm not going to say we got to be third in this category, or this category. No, I think it's more about is creating disruption and takeaways and limiting explosive place that other side of the ball."

What are your thoughts on the defensive line going into the season and where do you think that unit stands right now?

"I think it's a hungry group. It's a group that probably feels disrespected a little bit. I think there's been a lot of things written about them in a negative way that they've read and I think there's a chip on our shoulder.

"Daniel Joseph's a guy that plays really hard, Savion [Jackson] you've heard me talk, I think he set himself up for a really good year. He's in good shape. he's 290 pounds, he's playing very confident. Reminds me of kind of how Kentavius [Street] was. He was just kind of in the right place for a couple years and then he broke out as a playmaker. And I think Savion is in that spot.

"Cory Durden is really versatile guy. He can play inside and outside and has played himself in a really good football condition. I like how hungry he is. He's got something to prove. He wants to finish his career in the right way. And, Davin Vann can also play nose or four technique or five technique and what he brings to the table. There's depth. I think they need to produce. I think that's a group that wants to and shown the ability to do that.

"CJ Clark's probably been one of the most impressive guys up front and in training camp. It's been fun watching him and Grant Gibson compete against each other every day. He's really playing hard. He's got a high motor. It'll be fun to see that group on game day and the rotation and see how it all plays out with them."