Dave Doeren impressed by strides from NC State's underclassmen

Dave Doeren praised NC State football’s performance in all three phases of the game Monday evening, complimenting the Wolfpack defense, offense and special teams against VMI. 

Standout performances from several underclassmen played a significant part in that victory. Redshirt sophomore safety Sean Brown took on a starting role against the Keydets, and true freshman Kevin Concepcion continued to establish himself as one of the team’s top receivers. 

Those two playmakers are just a couple of the emerging players who took on more responsibility and showed promise against VMI. 

“In all three phases, we scored touchdowns, and we were able to play a lot of guys on the roster,” Doeren said. “We improved in a lot of areas that we were really focused on in that football game.”

Doeren shouted out the performances of running backs Michael Allen, a sophomore, and true freshman Kendrick Raphael. They combined to carry the ball on 22 of NC State’s 45 rushing attempts Saturday and the duo racked up 132 rushing yards in the process. 

Lyndon Cooper’s blocking helped the two backs reach that level of success. The redshirt-sophomore lineman missed the season opener due to injury and split snaps at left guard against Notre Dame. 

A first quarter injury to starting center and captain Dylan McMahon led to Cooper sliding inside. After playing 40 total snaps against Notre Dame, he was on the field for 69 plays against VMI, and Doeren said he graded out at 99 percent. 

The head coach left that game extremely impressed by the interior lineman and awarded him the game’s offensive MVP honors. McMahon remains day-to-day going into the UVA game, but NC State has a lot of faith in Cooper filling that role if needed Friday. 

“We feel great with him in there,” Doeren said. “He understands the system and what to do with it. There’s great confidence if he’s the guy we have to roll with.”

Along the offensive line, Doeren also mentioned the early season contributions of Jacarrius Peak, who is working as the team’s backup left tackle while also subbing in as a tight end in certain formations. 

“Jacarrius Peak has really helped our run game as well,” Doeren said. “He’s a guy we look at as one of our future starters… He’s really playing at a high level, very physical on the edge.”

Defensively, Doeren trusted Brown to step into the starting lineup at free safety. He showed considerable improvement and looked a little more comfortable against VMI. He finished the contest with 6 total tackles and a pass breakup. 

“He’s getting better,” Doeren said. “I thought he was more active, he was more productive, his eyes were better and he played faster.”

In addition to all of the positives, Doeren mentioned that the defense committed four penalties against the Keydets. Each of those miscues were attributed to an underclassman. 

Redshirt-sophomore defensive lineman Travali Price jumped offside, and the refs flagged Brown for defensive holding. Freshman cornerback Brandon Cisse committed a pair of pass interference penalties, and Rente Hinton misplayed a 44-yard passing play.  

“We had two DPI’s,” Doeren said. “Those will be good teachable moments for Brandon Cisse. The explosive pass that we gave up, we had poor eyes on a deep ball. That is something we’ve got to work really hard on. Terrente will improve from that play.”

On special teams, Doeren mentioned the continued production of redshirt sophomore returners Jalen Coit and Julian Gray. The head coach also brought up Terrell Timmons Jr. and Anthony Smith as two receivers who could emerge into larger roles as the season goes on. 

Going into a Friday night week 4 matchup against UVA, NC State lists 39 athletes in the two-deep who are a redshirt sophomore or younger. The Wolfpack is continuing to figure out its personnel on both sides of the ball, but depth charts can change rapidly throughout the fall. 

“It’s a long year, man,” Doeren said. “A lot of things can happen, and where we’re at in week two or week three is not where we’re going to be in week 10.”