Dave Doeren meets with media before Louisville game

NC State football coach Dave Doeren met with the media Thursday for one last time before Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Louisville. The game will be at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville and can be seen on RSN.

A transcript of Dave Doeren’s availability is provided below.

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Dave Doeren Pre-Louisville

On injuries:

Dave Doeren: “I’m not going to talk about injuries. Anything about the game you guys want to talk about?”

On playing at Louisville:

Dave Doeren” “I haven’t played there in a while. Last time we were down there was in-between staffs, and it wasn’t really a game. Other times we were down there, when they were playing pretty well under [Bobby] Petrino.

“They had a great fan base there that day. It was loud. It’’s like any road game. If the fans show up and give them support, it makes it a harder place to win.”

On MJ Morris learning lessons in practice this week:

Dave Doeren: “Like I said earlier in the week, because he played so well in the other six quarters he played, we had unrealistic expectations that he’d never make a mistake. He made a few. He’s going to learn from them and be better for them. That’s all you can ask. When these guys are 18 or 19 years old and in their first year playing and they make mistakes, process why it happened and try to make it where it won’t happen again.”

On practice this week:

Dave Doeren: “We — me and them, us — we were hurting after the game. We felt like we got robbed. That’s a tough feeling. It’s one thing when you get beat. It’s another thing when you make a play to win the game and you don’t get to celebrate making it. That was a tough one in the locker room, then the next day.

“We flushed it. I thought they came out with great enthusiasm and practiced well all week. I’m proud of them for that. I think that shows maturity on their part. It’s not an easy thing to do. There was a lot lost in that. From a legacy standpoint, those seniors really wanted to win on senior day and accomplish breaking Coach [Lou] Holtz’s record.

“But I think when they realized that, hey, last year at this time we were 7-3, we beat Syracuse and beat UNC and had a chance to win 10. Let’s not go down letting one game get into the next. I think that’s one thing this team has done a great job of. When we’ve had a setback, we respond very well.”

On cross-training players to develop depth:

Dave Doeren: “I think our coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for cross-training guys. Players ultimately just want to play. If you’re an offensive lineman, I tell them, wouldn’t you rather have five lottery tickets than one? If you can play all five spots, you have a chance to play more. The same thing goes on in back end and at linebacker.

“If you can learn Mike, Sam and Will, it’s better than just knowing Mike. It gives you a better opportunity to get on the field if you’re the next best player. We try to cross-train the guys who have the ability to do that.

“Sometimes, it’s asking too much early in their career. You have to have them get through a couple seasons before they can really do that. It’s a value to your depth chart because now you’re deeper than your depth chart looks so you can move a guy over to play a spot.”

On time spent on roster management:

Dave Doeren: “I wouldn’t say it’s every day, but it’s close to every day. If I’m not, somebody is. Our recruiting office is doing that non-stop. You’re constantly evaluating your competition. You’re evaluating guys that you think might go in the portal. You’re evaluating your own roster, obviously. What do we need? How are we performing at this spot vs the rest of the league? Where do we need to get better? So, that’s an ongoing thing.

“From a head coach’s standpoint, it’s different from the recruiting office because I’m looking at the 85 scholarships, and who’s leaving and who might declare for the NFL Draft early. How does that change what we thought was going to be? So, there’s a lot of moving parts right now, a lot.”

On re-recruiting own players:

“That can happen. I haven’t had to do a ton of that here. It’s more been just helping them through the process of do you want to go pro or not?

“Sometimes, I think there’s a misconception publicly when a kid goes in the portal that it’s bad. Sometimes, he just wants to play more and he’s buried in the depth chart where he’s at. I want him to play, too, and have a good career and be happy. If I tell him you’re going to be third and he can go be first for someone else, I’m going to help him. So, it’s not always bad when a guy does that.

“I think it’s just managing why if someone is thinking that way, why are you thinking that way? Sometimes you are getting bad advice and you got to look really look at what’s going on here. Someone’s giving you advice that’s not here and doesn’t understand what’s happening, you can help them with that.

On the month of December:

Dave Doeren: “It used to be a really fun month. You would finish your season and if you were bowl-eligible, you’d give the guys a little rest to get ready for finals. As coaches, you’d change your routine and go to high schools and recruit. Go do home visits and get some good meals. Then you’d come back and you’d start bowl prep with your guys. It was a celebration almost that you were going to a bowl.

“Now, it’s so much more than that with the early signing day, with the portal. If you lose a coach, you’re replacing coaches. It’s a lot, and NIL has added more to that. So December has become. I wouldn’t say it’s a month you don’t like because there’s good things about it, but it’s very, very hectic. There are no breaks. For me, anyway, it’s the busiest month of the year.”

On making changes to the calendar:

Dave Doeren: “I think they have, I don’t know what they’re calling it, a committee that’s looking at the calendar and trying to figure out what’s the best steps now that we have all these new pieces. It has a lot of decisions to make and coaches have weighed in and tried to give them different things for them to consider.

“I guess we will get feedback when we get another meeting, but I haven’t heard back from them.”

On concerns about NIL:

Dave Doeren: “I think it’s pretty unregulated thing that has a lot of rules that don’t get enforced. If you’re at a school like ours where we’re going to do things the right way, and you’re competing against teams that may not, it’s difficult when there’s no enforcement out there.

“So yeah, it’s a concern. It’s a major concern. Not because we’re not going to be in the NIL space. Our boosters are actively trying to help us. The collectives are doing what they’re able to do and helping our players. So that part of it’s good at NC State. But as you know, there are other conferences where there’s a lot more money involved sometimes.

“Is it always being done the right way? With no enforcement, I’d probably say no.”