Like the rest of NC State athletics fans, Wolfpack football coach Dave Doeren has been captivated by Elliott Avent’s baseball squad’s run to Omaha and the College World Series.

On Sunday, during a tense and thrilling game three, Doeren and his family were on the edge of their seats hanging by every pitch.

“Every single pitch, every hit, every out, that was awesome,” Doeren noted during an appearance on the ACC Network’s morning show Packer and Durham. “I’m so proud of Coach and his team. To go from 1-8 to a College World Series, it’s been an incredible journey for that group.

“We are obviously as a university pulling hard for him. Nobody loves Elliott as much as we do. That guy is so special to this school. He’s been a great friend to me.”

Doeren is a Midwesterner well familiar with Omaha, and he noted that it’s criminal that he won’t be out there for Saturday’s CWS opener against Stanford at 2 p.m., because of football camps.

“I would love to be in Omaha getting an ole 96er or a ribeye from one of those Omaha steakhouses, it’s an incredible place and they do it first class,” Doeren said. “… We have camps here Thursday, Friday, Saturday next week and then Sunday is Father’s Day. It’s like the one unwritten rule in our coaches’ handbook here, that we do not work on Father’s Day.

“We’ll see when that second game is, maybe we can get out to that one.”

Doeren noted that the overall athletics success is good for all of NC State’s sports.

“Even going back to basketball, women’s basketball, Coach [Wes] Moore and his team had such a great year,” Doeren noted. “Our Olympic sports, swimming and wrestling, have always competed and done so well, and now baseball is doing its thing.

“We’re competitive, and we all want to follow each other and play off each other’s momentum. So obviously it helps, it helps the brand to have this like we do right now, and it’ll continue to build as we do these things and win on the field.”

Doeren’s football team will get their turn to build off the momentum of its own 8-4 season in 2020, which included a 7-3 mark in the ACC. When asked by Mark Packer if he felt his team was flying under the radar a bit, Doeren noted, “We’re right where we want to be.”

“It just continues to make that chip on our shoulder grow,” Doeren said. “We’ve got to earn what we want; we've got to prove who we are. That’s the nature of this sport. For whatever reason being under the radar seems to be a place that we live.

“We've got to go out there and beat the best to probably eliminate that. We’re going to have that opportunity. We have a very challenging schedule this fall and look forward to it.”

What Doeren is excited about is the depth of talent on his roster. He noted he could not tell who is ahead, offense or defense, after the spring.

“It’s going to be a competitive fall camp between the two sides of the ball,” Doeren said. “That’s one of the things we love. Iron sharpens iron is one of my favorite Bible verses here, but also just one man strengthens another.

“I use it in recruiting. I remember watching Garrett Bradbury going up against B.J. Hill in practice every day, Bradley Chubb going up against our offensive tackles every day, him and Will Richardson competing. We had Alim [McNeill] going up against Grant Gibson.”

The key this fall will be the development and health of redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary, who went 3-0 as a starter in 2020 but is also recovering from a broken leg suffered in the win over Duke.

Leary was cleared to return for spring practices, and Doeren has high hopes for the former four-star, Rivals250 signing.

“Devin’s always had a great arm; he’s extremely confident,” Doeren said. “He believes in the players around him. I think being in the system for two years now with Coach [Tim] Beck, he’s finishing Coach’s sentences. He’s very confident.

“We’re excited about Devin. Also excited about what’s going on behind him. I think watching [backups] Ben Finley and Aaron McLaughlin grow up this summer, we've got a lot of guys in that room that can help us win games. Devin’s a guy that, with his arm strength and the players around him, should have a sensational year for us.”

Doeren also thinks that his linebacker unit will establish itself as an elite group once more people get to see them in person this fall.

“I know a lot of people didn’t get to do that last year,” Doeren continued. “Drake Thomas, Isaiah Moore, Payton Wilson and Levi [Jones], those four guys play a lot, it’s a really talented position group and the way they play … it’s an aggressive, fun group to watch.

“If you haven’t seen them, especially Payton in person, it’s old school, it’s enjoyable.”

It’s been a busy and exciting month for NC State football, preparing with high optimism and hope for the 2021 season while also landing commitments from five players, including a pair of four-stars in quarterback M.J. Morris from Carrollton (Ga.) High and linebacker Torren Wright from Kannapolis (N.C.) A.L. Brown High.

“June has been crazy here, it’s been awesome,” Doeren noted. “It’s great to have families and recruits back in person.

“The thing we’re most proud of, everybody has great buildings — I feel like at NC State our people are what we show off. We've got a great support staff and coaches, our administration and everybody around. We’re really excited to have visitors again.”

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