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Tony Gibson working on multiple plans for Saturday

MattCarterby:Matt Carter•11/15/22•

TheWolfpacker

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NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson (Photo by Ken Martin/On3)

NC State defensive coordinator/lineabackers coach Tony Gibson was nominated for the Broyles Award given to college football’s top assistant. For the second straight year, Gibson has fielded an excellent unit.

One of the better performances a year ago was the job the Wolfpack did on Louisville star quarterback Malik Cunningham. Although Cunningham rushed for 76 yards in the NC State victory, the Pack was one of just two teams in 2021 to keep him out of the end zone on the ground, and his rushing total was slightly below his season per game average of 79.3 yards.

So was his average per rush at 4.2 yards compared to 6.0 on the year.

NC State also kept Cunningham from a good passing performance. The Pack was the lone team to keep him under 50.0 percent completion rate in a contest when Cunningham was just 11 -of-28 throwing for 219 yards and a score with an interception.

Yet, Gibson may be handicapped this week because he doesn’t know if Cunningham will be able to play.

“That’s a mystery right now,” Gibson acknowledged. “We’ll see.”

Cunningham appeared to injure his shoulder at the end of the first half during Louisville’s loss at Clemson last Saturday. He’s listed by Cardinals’ head coach Scott Satterfield as “day-to-day.” That kind of vagueness from the fourth-year UL coach was predicted by Gibson before Satterfield held his weekly press conference later Tuesday.

“I’d say he won’t give it away, but I hope he does,” Gibson joked.

Thus, don’t be surprised if Gibson is on the field early Saturday, long before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

“See if Malik’s out there,” Gibson noted. “That’ll be my first job. I’ll be out there early trying to figure it all out.”

Jokes aside, there is a reason for why Gibson may be focused on that particular development. Cunningham’s backup, junior Brock Domann, is a far different quarterback than the starter, who last year finished with over 1,000 yards rushing.

“Malik, I think, is an elite runner, probably one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the country,” Gibson said. “That guy’s a weapon with his feet, extending plays, all that.

“I think [Domann] is more of a thrower. He’ll sit in the pocket a little bit. They don’t do a lot of quarterback design run with him.”

Domann did break off a 44-yard run when he helped lead Louisville to a win over Virginia in Cunningham’s absence, but in three appearances since then has 8 carries for negative-18 yards.

For the season, Domann has completed 40 of 77 passes for 584 yards and 2 scores with 4 picks. Cunningham is 133-of-212 passing for 1,552 yards and 8 TDs with 4 interceptions and has rushed for 561 yards on 109 runs, including 11 scores.

Hence the diverging defensive game plans for NC State depending on who may be at quarterback for the Cards.

“Obviously the quarterback run game is crucial for us [if Cunningham plays],” Gibson confirmed. “We have to be able to stop that. If not, then obviously all the focus goes to the tailbacks if Malik’s not playing.

“We’ll just kind of see what they throw out there and we’ll be prepared and ready to roll.”

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