NC State coach Dave Doeren says the offense is ‘a work in progress,’ but it’s making strides

A week after NC State coach Dave Doeren said the Wolfpack needed to get the ball in freshman wide receiver Kevin Concepcion’s hands more, he posted a 102-yard, 2-touchdown day on eight receptions in the team’s 48-41 win over Marshall. He also added one carry for 6 yards.

Concepcion’s playmaking ability led the Wolfpack with three explosive plays. He snagged a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter, added a 15-yard gain over the middle in the second and had a 38-yard catch-and-run early in the fourth quarter. 

The two-time ACC Rookie of the Week honoree, who picked up his second award of the fall after the Marshall win, was a key cog in the Wolfpack’s 11 explosive plays — six passing and five rushing. Those plays were pivotal in the outcome, Doeren noted. 

“We were very explosive in the game, I think that was a huge factor,” Doeren said. “A bunch of good plays there to spark us at needed times.”

NC State’s offense runs through Concepcion. He paces the team with 52 targets and has 31 receptions for 347 yards and 4 touchdowns this fall. Though he’s made a few freshman mistakes, including a dropped pass that turned into an interception against the Thundering Herd, Concepcion has continued to blossom into the Wolfpack’s No. 1 receiver. 

And that’s music to Doeren’s ears. 

“He’s just getting better each week,” Doeren said. “I think his fundamentals have improved as the season’s gone on. … The thing you love about KC is he’s a fast learner. When he does make a mistake, he makes it full speed. He learns from his error. He’s very competitive. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t repeat mistakes.”

Concepcion was the recipient of many pop passes that NC State utilized similar to a handoff in order to get him rolling. It worked and the wideout recorded 91 yards after the catch, according to Sports Info Solutions. 

Now, with Concepcion back in his groove, Doeren has his sights set on getting senior wideout Keyon Lesane and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Julian Gray more involved in the offense. 

“He’s a talented runner with the ball in his hand,” Doeren said of Concepcion. “I thought coach [Robert] Anae and the staff did a great job trying to find ways to get the ball to him, to Julian. We have to continue to do that with Keyon as well. This offense is evolving, and as it does, so do the players.”

Lesane is second on the team in targets with 22, but is seventh on the team in receptions with 9 catches for 83 yards. Gray, who is a dangerous kick returner for the Pack, has been targeted just 18 times which has resulted in 10 catches for 123 yards this fall. 

While the Pack is focused on incorporating those two wideouts into the offense to take some of the pressure off of Concepcion, NC State got graduate tight end Trent Pennix heavily involved in the passing game against the Thundering Herd. 

NC State used designed plays to get him open in space, and he did the rest. Pennix recorded 3 receptions for 99 yards and 2 touchdowns in his breakout game as sophomore quarterback MJ Morris made his first start of the season. 

With more players than just Concepcion being productive in the passing game, it opens up the field more for NC State’s offense to execute, and makes the Pack tougher to defend. It also has shown how Anae’s offense has continued to evolve in 2023, especially with the change to Morris at quarterback.

“It helps when you can distribute the football to more than one guy,” Doeren said. “You want to spread it around, it makes you harder to defend. … I know that’s something Robert’s trying really hard in his game planning to do: to try to get the ball to Julian, to Keyon, to Trent — guys that have shown over the years that they deserve that. That’s the continuation of this thing.”

The Wolfpack offense hasn’t been stable personnel-wise this season with the move at the Pack’s signal-caller, as well as running back Jordan Houston’s decision to redshirt the season. But while that’s the case, NC State still scored its most points against an FBS foe since it beat East Carolina 58-3 Dec. 1, 2018 with an effective run game, too. The Pack posted 136 rushing yards with two touchdowns against the Herd.

And for Doeren, that shows growth.

“There’s been a lot of things that have happened between the quarterback change, the injuries that we’ve had, the running back position changes, the center,” Doeren said. “It’s a work in progress. To see us put up 48 points last week against a top-20 defense, that was great progress.”