The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1502339
TRACKING THE PACK 14 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY ETHAN MCDOWELL Maurice Moses joined NC State's cre- ative team in 2021 after a previous stop at Georgia Southern, where he served on the video production staff, and an internship at his alma mater, Missis- sippi State. Initially, he was a part of a two-man full-time team at NC State with Mike Jones. Jones now works for the Charlotte Hornets, and Moses has taken on his role, serving as the Wolfpack's director of creative media and content strategy. Working alongside assistant direc- tors of creative media Hailey Parker and Nick Oerter, Moses has helped lead the department through two years of rapid growth. During this year's slate of official re- cruiting visits, Moses, Parker, Oerter and a team of 17 interns have helped the program's content reach a new level. The Wolfpacker spoke with Moses about the creative team's development and how it assists NC State football re- cruiting. In what ways have you seen NC State's efforts expand regarding the use of creative media in recruiting? "This is the first year where we're actually going full-scale production. Essentially, the same type of effort and energy that we would put into our team's intro video, we're going to put into these recruiting shoots. It's going to be huge for us, and we need a lot of manpower in terms of our interns and our staff. "We've grown as a staff, but we've also received more of an investment from the athletic department, head coach Dave Doeren and the recruit- ing department in terms of the type of equipment that we're allowed to buy." How has the creative team devel- oped its graphics, videos and other content for this year's official visit schedule? "It started off with needing to find out which dates the kids were com- ing. We started ideating content to give them to post on their own personal so- cial media to say, 'Hey, coming to town.' "We want them to know that this is going to be a big event. Hailey Parker made the video that all the recruits have been posting. "In terms of the actual visits and photo shoots, we wanted to make sure that we added a lot of photo stations. "We're filling a few-hour gap where the kids could do photos, get food and hang out with the coaches. "We have 10 photo/video stations. Some stations are just photo, some stations are just video, some are both photo and video. "We're going to have a bunch of our interns helping out with the photo shoots and just making sure that the kids know, 'If you come here, our cre- ative staff can put on a production, plus the game environment, everything, is superb here.' "We can help them build their own brands, learn how to post quality con- tent on their page and captioning and things like that." Has it been exciting to be at the head of a program growing that quickly? "It's crazy. When I first got here, I was saying I didn't know how long I'd stay, just because I was in an entry-level position. But being able to see it grow and being able to grow with it has been cool." What makes you excited about the photo shoots and the overall con- tent that you are going to be putting out for the recruits in the future? "There are a lot of places that put a lot of work into official visits, and they put together cool edits. We're not just setting up some light tubes in the locker and pushing in some smoke. There are a lot of moving pieces, and there is genu- ine production value going into it. "It's not being seen as a hassle any- more, not that it ever was, but we have help now. We have the resources to where we can do more than just the ba- sics. I'm really excited for everybody to see the production." Moses plays a key role in supporting the football program's recruiting efforts by creating media content for visiting prospects. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS SITTING DOWN WITH: Director of Creative Media and Content Strategy for Football Maurice Moses " There are a lot of places that put a lot of work into official visits, and they put together cool edits. We're not just setting up some light tubes in the locker and push- ing in some smoke. There are a lot of mov- ing pieces, and there is genuine production value going into it." " Moses