The Wolfpacker

January 2018

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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70 ■ THE WOLFPACKER WOLFPACK FOOTBALL Texas. The bowl announcement happened to be on head coach Dave Doeren's 46th birthday. "We look forward to the matchup and the hospitality," said Doeren, who scheduled his team to arrive in El Paso on Christmas. It capped a hectic week for Doeren, who had been pursued by Tennessee for its coaching vacancy days earlier. "It has been crazy [this past week]," he admitted. "At this time of the year, it is crazy anyway. You have your players' final exam schedules, your bowl practices, your contact visits in recruiting and your official visit weekends." Doeren turned down the Volunteers on Nov. 30 after interviewing the day before. He met with the NCSU players and dis- cussed the situation, with the squad having its awards banquet the Sunday of the bowl announcement. "We had some stuff going on with job interest, so not a lot of sleep," Doeren con- firmed. "It all worked out and ended up where we wanted it be. We are excited about the results of it all." One question leading into the bowl was the status of star senior defensive end Brad- ley Chubb, who is projected to be a top-10 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Doeren and Chubb will go over the pros and cons of playing in the Sun Bowl. Chubb has an insurance policy, but Doeren expects a well thought out decision. LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Stanford run- ning back Christian McCaffrey elected to pass on their bowl games last year due to fear of serious injury affecting their NFL Draft stock. Fournette was selected No. 4 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars and Mc- Caffrey went No. 8 to the Carolina Panthers. Florida State star junior safety Derwin James announced earlier in December that he was turning pro early and skipping the Noles' Independence Bowl. "I talked to Bradley and his family at our banquet," Doeren said. "Nothing has been completely communicated yet, but they are the kind of family that talks things through. Whatever they decide, we'll sit down and talk through it on whatever they feel best for their son Bradley. "He has done everything he can for this football program, and we understand he has a tough decision to make." The Sun Devils (7-5 overall, 6-3 Pac-12) are in transition due to the coaching carou- sel. ASU fired head coach Todd Graham, who will still lead the team in the bowl game, and hired former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Herm Edwards. The 63-year- old Edwards recently was a guest speaker at NC State, and is returning to coaching for the first time since he was the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008. Doeren noted that the trio of junior quar- terback Manny Wilkins, senior running back Demario Richard and sophomore wide receiver N'Keal Henry had productive years. The Sun Devils stunned then-No. 5 Washington 13-7 Oct. 14, and went 5-5 against bowl-bound opponents. Wilkins has completed 235 of 370 passes for 2,918 yards with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions, and rushed for 269 yards and six scores. He connected with Henry 73 times for 1,000 yards and seven touch- downs. Richard has rushed 185 times for 977 yards and 12 touchdowns, and enters the bowl game with four consecutive 100- yard efforts. Former Clemson offensive co- ordinator Billy Napier will run the offense in the bowl game before moving on to be the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette. Redshirt junior middle linebacker Chris- tian Sam led the ASU defense with 127 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and an interception. Defensive linemen Alani Latu and JoJo Wicker combined for 13 sacks and 22 tackles for loss this season. The Sun Devils had 35 sacks in defensive coordinator Phil Bennett's scheme. Bennett also is leaving ASU after the bowl. Coaching transitions before bowl games have been played have become the norm in recent years. Doeren's first bowl as head coach at Northern Illinois came in 2011 against Arkansas State, who had just lost Hugh Freeze to Ole Miss. Doeren then accepted the NC State job a year later and didn't coach the Huskies against Florida State in the Orange Bowl. NC State's motivation is to finish in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll and to be the 11th team in the school's 125-year history to compile nine wins. "To get to that mark would put us in the top 10 percent in program history, which would be great for this senior class and the coaching staff," Doeren said. "I don't think any one game can derail you either. "If we go down there and don't win for whatever reason, our season wasn't a fail- ure, I can tell you that." Doeren took part in the 1998 Sun Bowl as a graduate assistant at USC. The head coach at the time was former NFL coach Paul Hackett, and the Trojans quarterback was Carson Palmer, who is still playing professionally with the Arizona Cardinals. TCU topped USC 28-19 in front of an an- nounced crowd of 46,612. ■ Junior running back/kick returner Nyheim Hines, who was named first-team All-ACC and tabbed as a second-team All-American by the American Football Coaches' Association, will help lead the Wolfpack against Arizona State in the Sun Bowl. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN

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