Run game, secondary becoming focal points for NC State
Two questions have emerged through two games for NC State, and it’s one for each side of the football.
Offensively, a traditionally balanced attack under head coach Dave Doeren has not materialized because the running game has been slow to get on track. In Doeren’s first four years, the Wolfpack ran and threw for more than 2,000 yards each year. Prior to Doeren’s arrival in 2013, it had been since 1992 that NC State ran for at least 2,000 yards in a season.
NC State is averaging 116.5 yards per contest on the ground through two games, which is a pace of 1,398 yards over a 12-game season.
NC State head coach Dave Doeren said Monday during his weekly press conference that offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, running backs coach Des Kitchings and tight ends/fullbacks coach Eddie Faulkner are working hard to get the rushing attack on track.
“You guys know how I pride myself on being balanced,” Doeren said. “I don’t care so much about a zero- or one- or two-yard run, it’s the ones that end up negative that I don’t like. … You don’t want to be in a situation where you are calling plays on second-and-12. We can’t put ourselves in those positions as an offense.
“There was way too many of them in that [Marshall] football game.”
The run game could get a boost with the return of starting right tackle Will Richardson, a redshirt junior, from his two-game suspension to start the season. That will allow NCSU to move redshirt junior Terronne Prescod back to left guard, after he started at right tackle versus Marshall. Redshirt freshman Joe Sculthorpe, who started at left guard against the Thundering Herd, will move into a sixth-man role on the line.
“Getting Will back and putting 'T' back at guard will help with some of that,” Doeren conceded, before later adding, “We just got to clean it up, and I know they will.”
Defensively, the secondary continues to get hammered with injuries. Two starters, senior corner Mike Stevens and redshirt junior free safety Dexter Wright, missed the Marshall contest. Redshirt freshman James Valdez, who subbed in for struggling fifth-year senior starter Johnathan Alston at halftime last Saturday, injured his left knee in the fourth quarter.
Wright and Valdez are out for Saturday, Doeren noted, and the defensive coaches are still waiting to get word on the severity of Valdez’s injury for future games. There is a chance that Stevens will be back on Saturday against Furman.
“We practiced him one day last week, took him through individuals and then stopped him,” Doeren explained. “Don’t want to go too fast. Tomorrow will be a good test to see. … It’d be great to be able to play him this week, get him in on third downs, get him in on some passing situations and let him get his feet wet, let him hit some people and cover some people live before we play at Florida State.
“He has not gone through the entire week like he would to play a game yet. The big thing is we want him to be ready, we want him to be confident and we are not going to rush the process. We’ll just have to see where Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday put him.”
With Valdez’s injury, redshirt freshman Bryce Banks and true freshman Chris Ingram will get extended looks this week at cornerback.
“Bryce is a guy that plays with really good fundamentals, he’s got really good length,” Doeren said. “I think just the little things of playing the position have gotten easier and easier as the weeks have gone on. This is an opportunity for him this week to be on the two deep and show us what he can do in practice every day. He’s been splitting reps out there.
“Chris Ingram is a guy who is going to be put up, too. He’s been really impressive for a freshman and some of the things he has done on special teams.”
Other tidbits
• Hurricane Irma made landfall over the weekend in Florida, and at least one player on NC State’s roster has been affected by it. Senior safety Shawn Boone is from West Palm Beach, Fla., and his family’s house had its roof caved in.
• Senior H-back Jaylen Samuels’ acrobatic, triple-tipped catch while laying on his back against Marshall made ESPN SportsCenter’s top 10. Unfortunately for Doeren’s luck, an official blocked his view of the play. It was not until Doeren saw it on replay did he realize how special a catch Samuels made.
“It doesn’t surprise you really with all the things that kid’s done,” Doeren said. “Got an incredible skill set.”
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