NC State will not hold open spring game in 2025
After NC State hired two new coordinators this past offseason and it is working to install new schemes on both sides of the ball, the Wolfpack will not hold an open spring game this year.
NC State coach Dave Doeren made the decision to close all 15 spring practices to the public earlier this year. He cited the change in both play-callers with offensive coordinator Kurt Roper and defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot configuring their systems as a main reason why the Pack will not allow fans or media to see a glimpse of the new-look roster this spring.
“With spring football, there’s 15 opportunities,” Doeren said after NC State’s first spring practice on Tuesday. “I told the team this the other day, there’s only 365 days in year and you play 12 games that you’re promised. You only get to play football 15 times in the spring, so they’re very valuable.”
In years past, NC State opened a brief portion of the first spring — and fall camp — practice to the media. The Pack, however, did not hold a media viewing period on Tuesday, following the same thought process of not holding an open or televised spring game.
The Wolfpack had hosted a spring game televised on ACC Network in previous years, as was required by the conference. This year, though, the league is not providing that must-have for its member football programs, which allowed Doeren to keep the doors closed on his team this spring.
This isn’t a new thing around college football. Texas, USC, Nebraska and others have also elected to not hold a spring game this year, instead opting to have another closed practice.
NC State enters the 2025 season after a 6-7 campaign last fall, which featured a Military Bowl loss to East Carolina, who the Wolfpack will open this year with inside Carter-Finley Stadium. Rising sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey is at the helm of the offense, while he’s surrounded by a plethora of returning talent that the Pack believes can take a step forward under Roper as the play-caller.
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Bailey did not believe keeping practice closed would reduce any of the pressure on the Wolfpack’s offense this season. Instead, he thought the unit has the same approach of wanting to become the best version of itself in Roper’s high-tempo pro-style system.
“I feel like our team is ready for whatever,” Bailey said. “I feel like we’re ready for whatever is thrown at us. We proved it in the offseason, we had a lot of sudden changes. Nobody cried and we just got to work.”
NC State began that work Tuesday on its outdoor practice fields. It will continue Thursday and Friday, holding three practices a week for five weeks to begin building for the 2025 season. The team still anticipates to scrimmage between itself throughout the spring, despite not holding an open game at the end of the 15-practice slate.
Doeren, who is going into his 13th season with the Wolfpack, believes his team will use the spring to its advantage. And he doesn’t want to give a heads up to its future opponents of what the offense and defense will look like under Roper and Eliot.
“We’re going to play and we’re going to get better this spring,” Doeren said. “For obvious reasons, you don’t want your stuff out there if it doesn’t have to be.”
