NC State LB Payton Wilson: 'We don't need to get better; we need to get tougher'

NC State linebacker Payton Wilson has not shied away from his leadership role this season. In each of his post-game press conferences following the Wolfpack’s three losses this fall, the graduate student has remained candid and driven home the team’s mission with every opportunity he had.

Following a 24-3 loss to Duke, a game where the Wolfpack gave up an explosive play of 10 yards or more on 19 percent of its defensive snaps, Wilson shared his frustration.

The team’s 4-3 record is not a skill issue, in the linebacker’s opinion. It falls on the Wolfpack’s effort in all three phases of the game.

“Honestly, we don’t need to get better; we need to get tougher,” Wilson said. “This whole team needs to get tougher from offense, defense to special teams.”

Wilson was the only member of the Pack to finish the game with more than 4 tackles, but 19 players recorded a defensive statistic during the loss to Duke. The NC State graduate student and captain is looking for a more complete, all-out effort from this program.

“People in the stands can probably see it,” Wilson said. “There are some times it feels like there are only three people on the field at once. I just think that, at certain times, we don’t have people running to the ball all the time, we don’t have everybody playing as hard as they possibly could, and Duke does.”

When asked about the 8 explosive plays allowed to the Blue Devils, which included an 83-yard rushing touchdown and a 69-yard touchdown pass, Wilson pointed out that this has been an issue all season for the program.

NC State has two weeks to fix those problems before an Oct. 28 showdown with Clemson. Both Wilson and head coach Dave Doeren said this is the longest the team has played before a bye week since they joined the program.

The linebacker said he has full faith in the staff to put them in situations to improve over the next 14 days.

Sophomore quarterback MJ Morris is ready to put in the work needed to take the necessary steps forward. He finished the Duke game completing 24 of 40 passing attempts for 193 yards and an interception. The signal-caller also led the team in rushing with 38 yards.

Looking to the bye week, he will spend as much time at the Murphy Center as needed to return the Pack to its winning ways.

“We’ll stay till 12 o’clock watching film at night,” Morris said. “If that’s what we’ve got to do, that’s what we’ve got to do, but we’ve got to do something to fix this.”

Morris said he is focusing on improving personally, making strides as he prepares for his fifth career start against Miami. When looking at the team, he wants to see every member of the Wolfpack getting everything they can out of the rest of this season.

“How hard can we push ourselves each day?” Morris said. “The games are going to come, but it’s the day to day, the early mornings, the late at nights, how much heart do we have? That’s really what I want to see.”

Doeren said the staff will spend its bye week continuing to evaluate who is seeing the field. Effort is going to be a top priority for the Wolfpack head coach.

“We need to look at personnel,” Doeren said. “Really look at who’s going to play the hardest, and put those guys out there, and let them play the hardest they can to give them an opportunity to win.”

Wilson knows this performance did not live up to the program’s standards, and he emphasized how the team needs to improve to correct course heading into the season’s final five games.

“I just want to apologize to Wolfpack nation,” Wilson said. “That’s not what they deserve, that’s not how we should play. Everybody on this team has got to get with the program. We’ve got to come out here and we’ve got to play as hard as you can possibly play every single snap.”