Even as the N.C. State football team struggled last season and new head coach Dave Doeren’s fast-paced offense sputtered, there was hope on the horizon at the quarterback position. With the Kay Yow Spring Game approaching, Wolfpack Nation will soon get its first glimpse of the future.
The Wolfpack will feature redshirt junior Jacoby Brissett at quarterback this season. The transfer from the University of Florida, who started three games in two seasons in Gainesville, will get the keys to Doeren’s offense and hope to improve not only on last campaign’s 3-9 mark, but also give the N.C. State offense steady play from behind center.
Last year, with four different players at the quarterback position, N.C. State threw 14 touchdown passes, including from a wideout, and 15 interceptions. Brissett enters 2014 looking to move the Pack back into the thick of things in the Atlantic Division of the ACC.
Doeren’s offense, with its alternating tempo and unpredictability, is something Brissett feels will be a strength for State. With a season on the scout team and the practices in the spring to prepare, the West Palm Beach, Fla., native is acclimated to his teammates and the coaching staff.
“We switch the tempo up,” Brissett said. “I’m pretty comfortable. I think we’re doing well. It’s just about the little stuff. Overall, I think it will really help us to have the ability to change speeds. It’s all about just sending a signal and then going from there.”
Brissett is also getting used to the campus and the area. Hailing from South Florida and having spent two seasons at Florida, where he played against No. 1 LSU and No. 24 Auburn in his sophomore season, he enjoys the ambiance and weather in Raleigh.
“I love it here, this weather is nice,” Brissett said. “Back in Gainesville, it would probably be about 105 degrees. Everything is good. I am playing now, so that is different. That’s the main thing. It feels good to be out here. I am comfortable on campus and going to school here. There is no better place to be right now than here. Everything I could have asked for is here. The sky’s the limit.”
When things fell apart last season, and the Pack ended with eight straight losses, there was an impulse to look ahead to better days in the coming years. Doeren, when asked about the future, would sometimes remind those following the program that Brissett — the Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year in 2013 — was on the horizon. After seeing the transfer compete on the field both last fall and in the spring, the second-year coach feels Brissett has what it takes to make the next step on the field and in the huddle.
“He is so hard on himself and he plays hard,” Doeren said. “He plays well and he commands the offense. He wants to score every time he’s out there and he’s got a great way about him. He’s also very positive, encouraging and enthusiastic to his teammates. He has a good grasp of what’s going on and gets people where they are supposed to be.”
It is exactly the type of self-critique Doeren spoke of that permeates in Brissett’s assessment of his play. While encouraged by the progress, the redshirt junior is still working to improve.
“We are picking it up,” Brissett said. “Now that [the quarterbacks] are getting more time to actually throw and get the game reps, it is getting better. I need to get better. There are plays there and we have got to be able to make them. We have got to get consistent and that’s when I know we’ll have a great team.”
