Player development has been hallmark of NC State football
NC State coach Dave Doeren said there are many variables into what kind of recruit they go after, but it doesn’t just stop after Signing Day.
Doeren said Monday that the combination of evaluatig of players, having strength and conditioning coach Dantonio “Thunder” Burnette develop them physically and the coaching staff teaching them is the key to a quality football program.
NC State hosts North Carolina at 8 p.m. Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium. The two programs are admittedly different from each other in their approach, with few recruiting battles that go the distance. NC State stars such as senior outside linebacker Payton Wilson and freshman wide receiver Kevin Concepcion are two of its biggest wins, with the Wolfpack flipping Wilson in the class of 2018 and Concepcion picking NCSU in the class of 2023.
“I set the stage Sunday in the team meeting,” Doeren said. “I did a little history lesson when you talk about the opponent. They know. KC knew before he came here. The stage is set and now you just do what you do.”
NC State has averaged 43.2 overall team recruiting ranking in the country by Rivals.com from 2018-23. North Carolina in turn has been ranked No. 19.4 in the nation.
Doeren has gone 37-23 overall and 23-18 in the ACC since 2019, with six players going in the NFL Draft the last four years.
North Carolina coach Mack Brown has gone 38-25 overall and 24-17 in the ACC since 2019 with one Coastal Division title last year, with 15 future NFL Draft picks since 2020.
In the most important metric, NC State has gone 3-2 against UNC the last five games.
“You know the bragging rights are real,” Doeren said. “It’s great when you win a rivalry game. You go out on the road as a coach with your chest out. I don’t think it changes who we get [in recruiting] all the time. It’s a separate piece, but a million pieces in the decision. It might be an exclamation point sometimes.
“The rivalry is very meaningful to the fan base and the alumni and coaches, and current players and former players.”
The process starts with NC State’s staff properly evaluating a player, and then continues when they arrive in Raleigh.
“There is an evaluation piece of what we look for in body types, what we look for in length, speed, athleticism and then their intrinsic makeup,” Doeren said. “There are measurables that go into that, work ethic and live evaluations. There is a lot of time spent to get to know young people and who they come from.”
Besides Doeren, the other constant has been former NC State star linebacker Thunder Burnette. Doeren is still amazed at the physical development of past players such as James Smith-Williams, Drake Thomas and Thayer Thomas, who all made the NFL.
“It is just about doing all the right things with the training with coach [Burnette] and what he does down there and how he explains things,” Doeren said. “Our nutrition staff, Natalie Faustyn, does such a great job. Justin Smith and our sports med staff does such a great job.
“I think the developmental piece is one of the strengths of our football program. Thunder has a deep part of that.”
Doeren credited the culture of the program developed during his 11 years for bouncing back after the disappointing loss at Duke, and to win four-straight ACC games.
“Persistence, perseverance, resiliency, grit, all those characteristics early on were really deep and thick in this thing,” Doeren said. “The guys who helped me build it early on, they hung in there through some tough things and grew up. Those early recruiting classes were a lot of guys you enjoy watching in the NFL. Their blood is in the bricks here, as they say.”
| Year | School | Ranking | School | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2019 |
NC State |
28 |
North Carolina |
31 |
|
2020 |
NC State |
42 |
North Carolina |
12 |
|
2021 |
NC State |
41 |
North Carolina |
15 |
|
2022 |
NC State |
62 |
North Carolina |
11 |
|
2023 |
NC State |
43 |
North Carolina |
28 |
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