What NC State football coach, players said at ACC Kickoff: ‘We want to win a championship’

Members of the N.C. State football team made their first official appearance of the 2024 season Thursday at ACC Kickoff in Charlotte.

The Wolfpack enters the season ranked No. 27 overall according to 247Sports, with the 18th-ranked transfer portal class, after bringing in Grayson McCall from Coastal Carolina, Noah Rogers from Ohio State and Jordan Waters from Duke. It added Terrell Anderson and Jonathan Paylor to its freshman class.

N.C. State will play just three games outside North Carolina this season and hopes the expanded College Football Playoff will give the Wolfpack a better chance to compete for a national title.

“We’re about to hit the grass on Wednesday. I think every day we’re out there it’s a measuring stick, it is,” N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren said. “We’re one of five programs over the last four years that have won eight or more games in college football. We’ve sustained a level of competitive greatness that not many people have been able to do. With that being said, we want to win a championship.”

Doeren said the team has set its sights on the ACC Championship and a playoff berth. Winning nine games is fine, but that’s not enough.

“What we did last year and the year before and year before was good. You know, winning nine games is good. We don’t want to be good,” Doeren added. “We want to be the best at what we do. These guys understand that.”

N.C. State begins its season on Aug. 29 when it hosts Western Carolina, then returns to the Queen City on Sept. 7 to face Tennessee in the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff.

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Here’s what else N.C. State football players and coach Dave Doeren had to say:

The role of the transfer portal

Dave Doeren: “It’s just another method of adding talent, adding the key ingredients to the roster. It’s all based on need, where you may have a void. In the past, pre-portal, you would look into the junior college areas, sometimes find a transfer that was a grad to fill a spot where maybe you had an injury or player left early to go to the NFL.

“Obviously, as you know, now there’s outflow and inflow coming in at different times differently than there ever has been.For us, it’s assessing your roster. It’s never ending; changes weekly on kind of where you’re at based on the health of what’s going on, who’s coming back, where you think you need to be better.

“We were blessed this year. We had a bunch of really good players that fit the design of what we were doing, that fit returning players as well. Guys like Davin (Vann) that have helped build this program, we don’t want to sacrifice all the hard work of the players that have been here for a guy that’s coming in for a year. They needed to understand they were joining something, and in that helping them to continue to grow what we do and increase what we’re doing.

“We’re very pleased. Obviously two of the guys (McCall and Waters) are here. The team is pretty mixed if you look at that recruiting class. There’s still a great emphasis on high school recruiting, as well.”

Davin Vann: “I think it can really impact our defense, especially, and our offense, too. Those guys have come in and made a really big impact. The transfer class that we got is an amazing one, and I think it’s going to help us accomplish what we need to accomplish.”

What does accomplish greatness mean to you?

Dave Doeren: “I think maximizing the gift that God gave you, to me. One of the tenets, one of the standards of our program is no underachievement allowed. That’s maximizing the opportunity you have as a person. Accomplishing greatness is that. When you go to bed and lay your head down, did you do everything you could that day to be the best version of yourself? If I get enough coaches and players to do that on a daily basis compared to those we compete against, the score ends up being the consequence of those actions.

“What does greatness look like for N.C. State? We want to hold that trophy up at the end of the year. Day in, day out, it’s about maximizing the gift. You expect to wake up every day, you expect for things to be a certain way. We all know that’s not reality. Every day we get is a blessing.”

The transition to N.C. State

Grayson McCall: “It’s refreshing to be in a new spot. Unbelievable opportunity for me to put on the red and black and represent N.C. State.

“First of all, [I’m] just extremely excited for the opportunity that Coach Doeren has given me. As an older guy, I know that’s my responsibility — especially as the quarterback — is to lead the guys, set the example, come in every day, showing them how it’s done.

“The transition was really smooth. Those guys showed me how we do it in Raleigh. Now that I know the standard, now it’s my expectation and my job, my responsibility to come in every day and lead the guys. That starts obviously with my actions. Being more vocal on the field, leading those guys in the right direction every day.”

Jordan Waters: “That transition was great. Everybody welcomed me with open arms. There was no ego. Everybody knows what we came to do. Everybody is great. I love to be here. I’m excited, I’m happy and blessed…Nobody treated me differently because I come (sic) down the road.

Coach D welcomed me. We went fishing a couple times. I beat him in fishing. So it’s been fun.”

Why Vann returned for another season

Davin Vann: “There were a lot of things that I wanted to work on personally. Coach Doeren has helped me a lot with those things mentally, emotionally and physically, as well. It was more the mental, emotional part that was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to stay. I also felt like there was a lot of unfinished business that I had to wrap up before I left. Those were kind of the biggest factors in why I stayed.”

The defense getting overlooked compared to the offense

Davin Vann: “Of course, we take it a little bit personally. It’s understandable. A lot of people think that ‘cause we lost Payton (Wilson) we lost our whole defense. That’s definitely not the case.

“The transfer portal has helped play a really big role in that. We have some dawgs that are ready to go out there and play. Our defense is going to be really good.”

Is there less pressure on McCall after leaving the Sun Belt as a three-time Player of the Year?

Grayson McCall: “It’s extremely refreshing to be in a new spot. The pressure’s always there, but I would say, yeah, it’s a little bit off. All the light’s not on me as it was for three years. It’s been great so far.”