The weekly Dave Doeren Radio Show is streamed live on NC State's Facebook account at around 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday and then also broadcast on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on various affiliates across the state.

New NC State receivers coach Joker Phillips joins the program for the assistant coach’s portion of the show. He previously coached with NC State offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Beck and its running backs coach Kurt Roepr, and thus far Phillips is loving it in Raleigh. Phillips said similar to Lexington, Ky., where he spent most of his time, only bigger.

• Phillips was really pleased with how well the receivers blocked on the perimeter. They use the term “bowling a strike,” which means getting a body on body. On the fourth down play that running back Zonovan “Bam” Knight ran for a touchdown, they bowled a strike.

• Sometimes blocking can be simply running off and taking the defensive back with you. They also have some bid-bodied receivers like redshirt sophomore Devin Carter. Phillips noted that sophomore Keyon Lesane is a really physical blocker.

Bottom line, a receiver will not play if he cannot block.

• Phillips has a competitive group of receivers with 14 scholarship players, so he does not have to teach effort.

They want to play with emotion, but not be emotional. Phillips watched a couple of NC State games last year while he was at Maryland and then watched a lot of film when he got to Raleigh. He thought the group get perhaps too emotional sometimes last year.

• With the size NC State has on the outside they can sometimes body up a defensive back, like how senior receiver Emeka Emezie did against a smaller defensive back from South Florida in the game last Thursday. Phillips saw that last year and wanted to carry that over to this season.

• It was important to the offense and thus an emphasis to get Emezie started early, especially since he did not have a lot of work with the team — none in the spring and very little in fall camp.

• Getting to know the receivers was a priority when Phillips arrived. During a group meeting, he asked all the receivers to get up to tell their story — who are their heroes, what were their hardships and what has been their highlights.

Phillips led it off so they could break the ice and know what he was looking for. His heroes are his family, his highlight was getting the head coach job at Kentucky to be near his family and his hardship was losing his father.

Head coach Dave Doeren joins the program and reflects on the college football games he watched Saturday since NC State had played on Thursday. He really enjoyed, as a defensive coach, the Wisconsin-Penn State battle, which he said was very physical.

• When you win it gives you a chance to coach the guys hard, Doeren noted. He knows you never are going to be perfect, but you want to be as clean as you can. NC State missed some opportunities against South Florida. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary’s interception should have been a touchdown, and there were some little things alignment with that could be improved.

Doeren told the coaches they need to get better from the USF game because they are about to play a much tougher opponent in Mississippi State.

• He is proud of the coaches and players. The staff prepared well and the players took their coaching. Doeren thought there were not a lot of dropped passes, missed tackles or other mistakes like that. He was pleased with only three penalties and a clean performance on special teams.

• Doeren felt Leary was a little rusty early on, and Leary would agree with that. Leary though doesn’t get rattled. He could make a mistake or a player could drop a pass, and Leary stays positive and moves on to the next play. Doeren was proud that Leary threw a deep ball and completed it one possession after his underthrow was intercepted.

• The adjustment from going to a practice to the live speed of a game can be tough for some quarterbacks, Doeren believes. NC State did a lot of good-on-good to offset that.

• One of Doeren’s favorite Bible verses is, “iron sharpens irons, so one person sharpens another” and that’s what they are about at NC State, which is why they work good-on-good in their camps.

• Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson had a good game plan, Doeren noted, and called a nice game. Gibson was very spirited at halftime and challenged his defense, warning them not to let up. Doeren noted how challenging it is to get a shutout in college football.

• Sophomore running back Jordan Houston’s pancake block on the jet sweep earned him a syrup bottle. Redshirt junior receiver Thayer Thomas also got a syrup bottle for a pancake he delivered on the first run of the game.

Offensive coordinator Tim Beck made sure that Houston was going to get that touchdown because of that block he threw.

• All five offensive coaches put the game plan together, and offensive line coach John Garrison leads the running game. It’s important communications between Garrison and Beck before and during the game.

• Fifth-year senior guard Chandler Zavala has good demeanor, toughness and consistency. Doeren said they were very fortunate to have an opportunity to get Zavala in here, not just to fill a hole in the line but also for the human being that he is. Doeren praised his selflessness.

They joked that Zavala’s award-winning father is willing to cook for anyone they can if they can get him up to Raleigh.

The staff was looking for an older lineman figuring that Joe Sculthorpe was leaving, and when they saw Zavala in the portal and found out his mother works at NC State, it made sense. Doeren noted however it was a hard recruitment since a lot of schools were after him.

• The running backs all need each other, Doeren pointed out, and even in the NFL backfield tend to split the carries. USF is how they want the game to play out in terms of running back rotation and production. Doeren noted that both sophomore Zonovan “Bam” Knight and junior Ricky Person Jr. are each other’s biggest fan.

• Knight and Person should be a bigger part of the passing game this year, Doeren explained, but some of that will depend on how they are defended. Doeren notes Houston can also catch the ball out of the backfield.

• Redshirt freshman Christopher Toudle is a great story, Doeren said. Toudle came in as a receiver and wasn’t doing poorly there. It was just there was a crowded room and limited playing time. Since he was a bigger player, they thought he could put on a little weight and perhaps rotate at the tight end position. Toudle was all about it and it has been a really good move. Toudle is happy to get a chance instead of having to wait.

• They thought they would get some wildcat from USF, so they did prepare for the mobile quarterback. Doeren noted that Timmy McClain however threw too many passes to NC State and thus probably got him back out of the game.

• In breaking down the defensive transfers’ first performance at NC State, senior safety Cyrus Fagan had a really good game. He had a couple of interceptions in practice on gameweek, and they were expecting him to do well. He was really breaking well on the ball.

Redshirt junior corner Derrek Pitts Jr. gave up the one deep ball but otherwise played well, and redshirt junior defensive lineman Cory Durden held up well on the rotation.

• Fagan and junior safety Tanner Ingle both made nice plays on the ball for their picks, Doeren thought. Sophomore linebacker Drake Thomas’ interception was probably more of a poor decision/throw from McClain.

• Doeren noted there were four targeting penalties in the Louisville-Ole Miss game in the first half, thus it is very important to understand where is the strike zone.

• Thomas practices like a maniac every day, Doeren said, and they knew he would play like one on Thursday. He really prepares hard, and Doeren really enjoys watching him play. Also shining at linebacker is sophomore Jaylon Scott, who is earning himself some playing time.

• Doeren was a DB coach at Montana meeting with his players when the Twin Towers were hit on 9/11. His dad was supposed to be on one of the planes leaving Boston that was hijacked. It took a long time before they got word his father was fine. Doeren can't recall specifics, but it was something like a taxi driver being late that forced his father to miss the flight.

• Doeren asked the team if any of them had seen the cowbell SNL skit with Will Ferrell and none of them had. So they had the ops staff at NC State email it out to the players. They want to embrace the cowbell. They are using cowbells in practice. They are looking forward to playing in the environment at Starkville.

• Defensive line rotation and depth is critical Saturday, Doeren said. They need to harass the quarterback at Mississippi State. They have to make him think, too, by mixing up coverages. There’s not a lot to the offense, but it’s very precise.

Mississippi State only uses a handful of formations, handful of pass routes, handful of runs and a few screens. They make their reads and find their playmakers in space.

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