The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1013591
12 ■ THE WOLFPACKER "What's your 'one more' today?" That's something I've asked our team every single day of fall camp. In other words — what's one more thing you can do to make yourself better? As a program and as individuals, I want us to learn from yesterday and get better today. I've emphasized to our guys that if every one of them does one thing better each day, our exponential improvement as a team would be huge. I believe that our guys have embraced that mindset and are approaching every day with a desire to be better than the day before. With 22 days of fall camp, there are plenty of opportunities to get better each day. Fall camp is a grind both mentally and physically, but our staff has been very strategic about maximiz- ing our time on the field as well as our recovery time. We have the best strength and conditioning, athletic training and nutrition staffs in the country, and they have coordinated with the coaches to make sure we're in prime condition when the season begins. As you know, our goal as a program is not only to help the young men we coach develop into better players, but also into better men. This spring, we instituted a new competition called the Champions Cup to help with that goal. We divided into six teams and the members earned points for their team through community service and extra effort in the strength and conditioning program, and lost points for lack of effort or being late to appointments. The best component of the entire program was that it al- lowed some of our players to take ownership of their group. I saw players take responsibility for the actions of others on their team. The competition was fierce, but in the end, the DreamChas- ers, led by the group's captains Germaine Pratt and Will Dabbs, was the winner with almost 40,000 points. I have to give credit to redshirt freshman offensive lineman Liam Ryan, who earned an amazing 4,800 points for the DreamChasers (the next clos- est was wide receiver Stephen Louis with 1,150 points for the Warriors team). I took the DreamChasers out for a pretty nice meal at the Capital Grille on our first off-night during camp to reward them for their efforts. One of the things I love about being a college coach is that every year, you have a new team with a new personality and new opportunities for young men to step up as leaders. Some of the leaders of this year's team have been named to preseason watch lists for national awards and I'm so proud of the recogni- tion they're receiving. Here's a list: Center Garrett Bradbury Rimington Trophy, Outland Trophy Punter A.J. Cole Ray Guy Award, Wuerffel Award Quarterback Ryan Finley Davey O'Brien Award, Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year Receiver Kelvin Harmon Biletnikoff Award Linebacker Germaine Pratt Butkus Award It's exciting to see us picked in some of the preseason polls after we finished the season ranked last year. I think it shows the respect we are beginning to earn nationally that we are ranked despite losing so many players to the NFL. I have a team that is hungry and willing to put in the work. As a coach, that's about all I can ask for. 1Pack1Goal Coach Doeren ■ From Head Football Coach Dave Doeren PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN