Sophomore wide receiver Travares Copeland grew up as a quarterback. However he knew that when he got to West Virginia as a true freshman, he would be moving to wide receiver and, after originally planning to redshirt, he appeared in four games with two starts and made 10 catches for 55 yards.

A family illness forced Copeland to return to Port St. Lucie, Fla., in the middle of the season and then he decided to transfer to NC State this spring. One year after playing wide out for the first time in Morgantown, the 5-foot-11, 187-pounder is adjusting to new surroundings, a new offense, new teammates and new coaches once again. He is also tasked with learning a playbook for the first time in his football career.

"They didn't have a playbook at West Virginia, it was similar to my high school, where we just went off signals," he explained. "Here, there's a playbook so that's a difference, but the similarity is that Coach [Dave] Doeren likes fast-paced and Coach [Frisman] Jackson likes fast-paced; I'm used to that."

Copeland went as far as to say that the only major difference between the offense he played in at WVU and the one he is learning in Raleigh from a pass catcher's perspective is the wide receivers' splits; they line up wider with the Wolfpack.

Some of the older wide outs who went through spring practice also took the time to help explain the offense and some of its routes and concepts to Copeland after he arrived on campus, and he can see the benefit from that work now.

"I adjusted pretty good," he said. "The guys are really good to me, so we bonded really quick. They're great guys and I feel comfortable around them.

"There were a great help. They weren't acting like they were all that. When I came in, they accepted me with open arms. They just told me what I needed to do, I did it and when we started studying the playbook, they have been a big help for me. The playbook is still tough, though."

There's only one way for Copeland to ensure that learns the playbook as well as he needs to in order to make a great impact with the Red and White, and even if that means sacrificing one of his favorite hobbies in order to study more, he'll do it during the season.

"It's like class, you've got to study," he noted. "In class, we have mandatory study hall. The playbook [studying] isn't mandatory, but you have to do it on your own time. When I'm at home, instead of playing Call of Duty, Madden or College Football, I've got to study that playbook. All the fun with the games stop because we're in season now. Instead of playing video games, I'm in my playbook."

The speedster is expected to make an immediate impact with his new squad, and could be a factor in the return game, as well as out wide. After he arrived on campus in May, it was unknown if Copeland would be able to contribute in 2013 or if he would have to sit out a year following his transfer like quarterback Jacoby Brissett, a friend from back home who helped pave the way to Raleigh for the receiver.

On June 26, Copeland found out that the NCAA approved his waiver to request immediate eligibility and he wasted no time in spreading the news, via his personal twitter account.

"The first person I told was twitter," he remembered with a laugh. "I wanted to surprise my Grandma, she was stressing it, so when I told her, she was really excited, but it was twitter first, the fans are important.

"It was a great feeling, but the whole time I had faith because I was telling the truth. I wasn't lying or just wanting to leave because I didn't like the situation. The situation was great over there, but I had family problems. When I got the news, I was excited but I had faith the whole time. There was never a doubt that I was going to play right away, but it did feel really good when I got the news."

When asked what the toughest part of the transition has been, Copeland flashed his trademark smile and said there has not been anything too difficult, especially now that he knows he can help the squad in 2013.

"It was a blessing to get a release and to get the chance to play again," he explained. "I took heed of that and I'm just really excited."