Published Sep 29, 2020
NC State looks to show improved maturity by bouncing back strong
Matt Carter  •  TheWolfpackCentral
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This week, NC State football could find out whether or not it is a more mature team than last year.

A year ago, the Wolfpack struggled to bounce back from its losses. Head coach Dave Doeren noted Monday that some of that was due to the inexperienced roster, where players were simply trying to remember plays correctly as much as anything.

It’s true, sophomore running back Zonovan “Bam” Knight noted, that this year is different, with more energy focused on motivating each other this week.

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“Last year, coming off of the first loss we had at West Virginia, you could tell that following practice that people were kind of down,” Knight said. “Versus this year, you have guys lifting people up during the meetings, even on the practice field.

“The overall energy of the people has changed. You even have freshmen that just got here trying to help motivate upperclassmen. That's pretty much the biggest difference we had.”

Fifth-year senior tight end Dylan Autenrieth, who missed most of last season with an injury and is a two-year team captain, loved what he saw in practice Tuesday, NC State’s first in preparation for No. 24 Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Autenrieth noted that there has been an added attention to fixing the mishaps that occurred during a 45-24 loss at Virginia Tech.

“This year we are a totally different team and learning from our mistakes,” Autenrieth noted. “We had a great day of practice. … I think that’s what this team does differently. We are always looking for ways to get better.”

Autenrieth admitted that the Wolfpack offense was caught by surprise by some of the twists in Virginia Tech’s defense, debuting under a new defensive coordinator. The Hokies were playing its opener, whereas upcoming opponent Pitt has three weeks of game tape to study.

The tight end’s goal for Saturday is, “that we show up in Pittsburgh with a team that we know we are, and you guys know that we can be.”

Improving the energy level from the start on the road will be one potential fixable area. It will be a noon kickoff, and although it is to be determined if Pitt will be allowed a small number of fans at the game, players will still have to create their own enthusiasm.

“We have to do a better job this week of getting the guys riled up for the game because last week pregame, you could tell the energy wasn't there,” Knight said. “So we have to do a better job of bringing energy all week leading into the game.”

“Every time you go somewhere they take pride in it being kind of their home turf, so everybody plays a little bit better at their own stadium. … You got to be more together, and sometimes you don’t think about that,” Autenrieth added. “You don’t necessarily get up to the level of what you need to play, and every game in the ACC is tough though whether it’s home or away.

“I think going forward we are definitely going to be ready to play all the games."

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