New NC State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach D.J. Eliot wants to build a strong relationship with each of his players.

Eliot is preaching to his new defensive players that change can be good and that they can grow as players with some of the new aspects he’ll bring to the program. Eliot looks at his own coaching career that began in 1999 that growth can always occur at each step of the way. NC State coach Dave Doeren hadn’t worked with Eliot in the past, but new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper did, while at Colorado in 2018.