The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1137844
JULY 2019 ■ 49 FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2019 KITCHINGS: "A good friend of mine in the business is [co-offensive coordina- tor] Tony Elliott at Clemson. That's prob- ably the most successful co-coordinator tandem out there. We have always talked ball. "George and I have been working to- gether now going on five years. He and I have always communicated and bounced things off each other. It's been a pretty smooth transition. It's not a situation where I don't trust him, he doesn't trust me. "There are those horror stories out there with co-coordinators, but that's not the situ- ation here. We are embracing and looking forward to this process going forward." How will game day be different for you? KITCHINGS: "I'll still be up in the press box, and George will be on the side- line. We have a longer time to prepare for the first game than when we went into our bowl game. We can get things sequenced out the way we want it, so we can hit the ground running." You two are walking into a situation where you lost an NFL Draft pick at quarterback, two 1,000-yard receivers, a 1,000-yard running back and maybe the best center to ever play at NC State. How do you handle that? KITCHINGS: "That's a lot of produc- tion that is no longer here. There are going to be some new names in new places for the fans of NC State come opening Saturday. That's the challenge of coaching. "We look at it as an opportunity to take these young men, try to mold, teach and educate them in the fall so that they play well on Saturday." MCDONALD: "I think it's exciting. It's really the same type of deal as when Ryan Finley came here, and we were los- ing Jacoby [Brissett]. We were starting a whole new set. "I think that's the exciting thing about college football. You are going to lose re- ally good players, and the next really good player who hasn't gotten the opportunity yet gets to play. I am excited about see- ing where these guys take this offense and where they take this team. "Before Garrett Bradbury was Garrett Bradbury, he was just a tight end. Before Ryan Finley was Ryan Finley, he was just a kid transferring from Boise. I think that's the exciting part. "There are good players on this team — we just don't know what they're going to do or how good they are going to do it. They've just been waiting for a good op- portunity and now they can take it." Where are you most comfortable on of- fense after the spring? KITCHINGS: "In general, I felt com- fortable with our quarterbacks in process- ing information and making decisions to throw the football. We were beat up on the offensive line, and it was hard to judge how effectively we would be able to run the football. "We didn't have [sophomore running back] Ricky Person in the spring, but we were able to see [freshman running back] Zonovan Knight do some things. Getting the offensive line gelled back together is a big piece of it. "With Ricky and Zonovan and the com- petition with the other backs coming in, we hope to have a productive offense running the football and continue with the progres- sion of our quarterbacks. "Receiver wise, [redshirt sophomore] Thayer Thomas has made a bunch of plays for us, and so has [junior] Emeka Emezie. We have a tight end group of [redshirt junior] Cary Angeline, [redshirt junior] Dylan Autenrieth and [redshirt junior] Dylan Parham, and they did a good job in the spring. "We also have [fifth-year senior] Tabari Hines coming in, [redshirt freshman] Devin Carter and [redshirt junior] C.J. Riley, who has played some here. We are expecting them to make contributions to us this fall. "There are pieces there, but it's un- known." Are you going to be analytical with how you approach the quarterback decision? KITCHINGS: "We keep statistics on everything. That's the analytical part of it. This summer, these guys are being placed in leadership roles — who's leading, who are the players responding to. All of guys are doing a good job because they are all wired that way. "It's a good, healthy competition." What are you looking for from the quar- terbacks? MCDONALD: "I think just leading the offense, just playing good football and be- ing a guy that the offense can rally around and that makes plays. Ryan led the team, and he made plays. He rarely put the ball in jeopardy when it was in his hands. "The system is the system, and the sys- tem is built for the quarterback to be suc- cessful. It's who can consistently do the right thing with the football, who can con- sistently lead us to scoring points? I think over the course of practice that usually takes care of itself." ■ McDonald begins his fifth campaign as NC State's wide receivers coach. Last fall, two Wolfpack wideouts — Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers — were named first-team All-ACC, marking the first time in league history two from the same school were named to the top team. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN