The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JULY 2019 ■ 69 FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2019 view with Huxtable about the defense. How did you feel coming out of the spring? "We were able to get a lot of players reps this spring. Several of our freshmen came in early January, so they all got reps this spring. A lot of our players who were red- shirted and did not play last year got a lot of reps this spring. I felt good about that. "We will continue to work over the sum- mer. Then in fall camp, we're going to have to start narrowing it down and getting play- ers ready for the season." Have you seen that many freshmen enroll early (15, including nine on defense) in your career? "It's a new day of college football. I've never had that before. They're supposed to be at their high schools eating lunch. Instead they are here practicing spring football. "It's so valuable for them, especially from the academic standpoint and then just get- ting ahead in the football." A year ago, the defense had lost a lot of starters and NFL talent, and everyone thought the offense was going to have to score a lot of points. This year the role might be reversed. How do you approach that situation? "I always hear chatter that the defense has to step it up, so that's nothing new. We lost some good players on of- fense, and we have some good players coming back. Coach [Des] Kitchings and Coach [George] McDonald will get them where they are supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to do. "Defensively ,we have to do our part and do our jobs. We're young in some areas, but we do have some guys coming back. Our job is to deny points and keep people out of the end zone. That never changes from one year to the next." Offenses are spreading teams out and speeding up their pace. How has that changed what's considered a good per- formance statistically in terms of points per game, yards per game, etc.? "Those numbers change throughout the years because people are putting a lot more points on the board now. Our goal is to shut everybody out. That's the mindset that we have — nobody is going to score on us. "But we know that as explosive as of- fenses are those things will happen some. We've got to eliminate them as much as we can. "All wins are good wins, but defensively we want to do our part to get that win." What has new safeties coach and co-de- fensive coordinator Tony Gibson brought to the staff? "Tony has been a defensive coordina- tor, he's coached the secondary and he's coached many good players. He brings a lot of experience to us defensively, and gives me a guy to sit and talk football with and bounce things off of. "He gives us another guy with the sec- ondary, along with Coach [Aaron] Henry and Coach [George] Barlow, to help us get stronger at that position. I'm very apprecia- tive and excited about having Tony here. He's been great in our meetings and he did a great job this spring. "I saw our secondary get better with the fundamental techniques he's been teaching back there. I think he'll bring a lot to the game plan part of it too." In what area would you like to see the most improvement for the defense? "We have to get better in the secondary. We have to get better in our pass coverage and eliminate explosive plays back there. "Are there things that I can do to help with the calls? Yes, but I don't believe there's any magical call. I think it comes down to basic fundamentals and techniques. "We've gotten better there through spring practice, and hopefully we can continue to get better this summer and in fall camp. That would be the one thing I really would like to see us improve most." How do you feel about the defensive backs going into 2019? "It's the most talented group of DBs we've had since I've been here — they are very, very talented. At the corner position, we've got good depth. We've had some guys injured this spring that will be back for the summer going into fall camp. "We have some depth at the safety posi- tion. I am very excited about what I'm see- ing on the back end." How is your depth at linebacker? "I've got good, talented depth, and I don't have any seniors in my room. I'm very excited about the linebackers. It was a very competitive spring with those guys, and I am looking forward to the summer and fall camp." How have you seen the defensive line mature? "[Fifth-year senior defensive end] James Smith-Williams and [fifth-year senior de- fensive tackle] Larrell Murchison are com- ing back, and those two guys really anchor the D-line. Murch had a great spring, and James had a great spring. "[Sophomore] Alim McNeill at tackle, [redshirt junior] Val Martin at the nose tackle position, and [redshirt freshman] Joseph Boletepeli and [redshirt sophomore] Xavier Lyas at the field end position — all of those guys have worked really hard. "I see Savion Jackson, the freshman de- fensive end who just got here in January, getting better and better. He is building confidence and understanding. At first, the speed of the game was overtaking him, and now I think he's understanding it." ■ Huxtable's unit returns eight players that started at least six games last year, and an- other seven that started at least one. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN "Our secondary is the most tal- ented group that we've had since I've been here." ■ Huxtable