Co-DC Charlton Warren brings contagious energy to NC State’s secondary in spring practice

Charlton Warren didn’t just walk into the lobby of the Close King Indoor Practice Facility. It was more of a bounce. The second he entered the room with a half dozen reporters ready to fire questions, Warren’s energy radiated from the podium. 

That wasn’t a coincidence, either. It’s Warren’s natural state. One that he’s brought wherever he has been in life. The former Air Force Academy defensive back won the “Mr. Intensity” award, an honor that goes to the hardest working player on the team, as a senior with the Falcons. 

Ever since then, being a ball of energy is all Warren knows. It doesn’t matter the setting — from the football field to his decade-long career as active duty Air Force — NC State’s current co-defensive coordinator is going to bring the juice. 

“I’ve been the same human my entire life,” Warren said. “When I was in charge of programs, I was intense and fiery. When I was in special forces? Same thing. Now, as a coach, it’s no different. That’s who I mold myself to be and I try to put that on my guys: a sense of urgency, compete your butt off and let the chips fall where they may, but they’re going to do it 100 mph vectored in the right way.”

“It’s all I’ve ever been.”

Warren got his coaching start at the Air Force Academy, where he was assigned for the last two years of his active duty service. It was there where he fell in love with that side of the sport, changing his career desires from becoming a general to developing football players on the field and making them even better people off of it. 

“I was able to see how you can change a young man’s life,” Warren said. That just spoke volumes with me as my time at the Academy as a military coach. When it came time to move, I said, ‘I love my country, I love what I’m doing in my career field, but I feel like I could have a bigger impact on kids’ lives by doing that.’ I’m a father first, then I’m a mentor and then I’m a coach.”

That led him on a winding road in coaching. It took Warren, a Georgia native, all over the country to Nebraska, UNC (twice), Tennessee, Florida, Indiana and eventually NC State this year.

Through the Wolfpack’s first two weeks of spring practices, Warren has been able to use his fire on the field with his nickels and safeties on a daily basis. It’s one of the better parts of his job, in Warren’s eyes, as he gets to instruct in the meeting room before seeing it on full display in a football setting. 

Warren is in an interesting spot this spring. He has a recruiting history with a handful of the defensive backs — Asaad Brown, Brody Barnhardt and Zach Myers — but, for the most part, everyone has a blank slate. This is an opportunity for him to earn their trust, while the players are all on a level playing field as they look to earn snaps this fall. 

The 21-year coaching veteran wants to see each defensive back prove who they are on the practice field. Finding a way to match his level of energy could be a good starting point.

“I told them when I got here, no matter what you did in the past, you have an opportunity to rebuild yourself right now,” Warren said. “If you’re a great player, you have to prove it. If you were bad, you have to prove you’re going to be bad. It’s an open competition. The jobs are open. Their enthusiasm and hunger is what’s going to push them to earn reps or lose reps.”

From a player’s perspective, Warren’s desire to operate at a high intensity is welcomed. Senior safety Renté Hinton, who has bounced between that room and cornerback during his tenure in Raleigh, appreciates Warren’s approach.

“He brings a lot of energy,” Hinton said of Warren, who hosted the position group at his home for a cookout earlier this year. “With him, you never know what to expect, but he’s a good coach.”

So far, Hinton has been one of the top leaders within Warren’s room. He was one of the first players to meet with the new position coach in a 1-on-1 setting after he was hired in January, and Hinton has tried to expand his leadership skills on the field.

He isn’t the loudest person, but Hinton has led both by example and with his voice in the Pack’s morning workouts and on the practice field. That’s been a welcomed sight for Warren, who was eager to see which players would step up to the plate as the nickel and safety rooms will replace all three of its starters from a year ago. 

“I think Terrente has done a really good job at being a vocal leader, a leader by the way he works and acts and being a second coach on the sideline when something goes wrong,” Warren said. “I think he’s taken a mature stance to help our defense get better and to help our program get better.”

As Hinton has appeared to lead the way, Georgia State transfer safety Jeremiah Johnson has received rave reviews, while reserves Daemon Fagan, Barnhardt, Brown and Myers all push for more playing time this fall. 

And so far, it seems that NC State’s defensive backs have taken Warren’s challenge and ran with it. He’s brought a fire to the group and they’ve appeared to match his intensity on the grass practice fields just yards away from Carter-Finley Stadium. 

“These kids, one thing they want to be is coached,” Warren said. “They want to work hard, they’re tough and that makes my job easier because they’ve got a lot of want to. I’m not prodding guys to do anything. They’re open eyes, open ears, notebooks ready. They’re being sponges right now.”