Brennan Armstrong assesses his familiarity with NC State's offense

Brennan Armstrong is one of the biggest new additions for NC State this offseason. In the process, he’s reuniting with a familiar face — and they’re picking up right where they left off.

During Armstrong’s first four seasons at Virginia, his offensive coordinator was Robert Anae. But ahead of the 2022 season, Anae left for Syracuse and helped the Orange go from the worst passing offense in the ACC to the seventh-best. Now, he’s at NC State after Tim Beck left to become the head coach at Coastal Carolina.

Under his tutelage at Virginia, Anae helped Armstrong throw for 4,449 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2021. They’ll try to replicate that success at NC State, and Armstrong said the offense hasn’t changed too much since that season.

“It’s still some of the same play designs,” Armstrong said. “Every team in America knows football. There’s not anything really special that you’re going to do that people don’t know. But I think with what he’s done, going to Syracuse and picking up some stuff there, we’ve added some cool stuff that we’ve got going on in this offense.

“I think he’s compiled everything he’s been doing and is trying to make this team understand what we’re doing, and then figure out what we’re best at. Obviously, that’s what it comes down to. What we’re best at.”

Last year at Virginia, Armstrong threw for 2,210 yards, seven touchdowns and 12 interceptions in seven games.

He then entered the transfer portal and ended up at NC State, and is already starting to build chemistry with his new receiver room.

However, Armstrong said summer will be key in growing those relationships.

“I think, now, the chemistry is starting to get there, and I think the summer is going to be huge for us because now they’ve been in the offense,” Armstrong said. “They’ve seen what’s going on in spring ball. They understand the route concepts, the things that we’re just trying to create on offense. And I think that’s going to go a long way.

“I think it’s going to be in our hands in this summer to really, really take the next step forward in just building confidence. That’s the main thing that I saw the difference in, from one year to the next, from ‘21 to ‘22; it’s just that confidence. When you step on that field, it doesn’t matter what play is called. We’re gonna make it work, and we’re gonna make a play out of it. So I think that and the summer is gonna be huge for us.”

On3’s Justin Rudolph contributed to this report.