you're you're into a Western Carolina prep what have you seen from the quarterback you know it's it's quite a bit different when you go into game prep than it is Spring ball or or fall Camp you when you go against your defense you get to spend a lot of time you know teach them what their scheme is and then when you get into game prep you have a lot fewer days and you have to tell these guys they got to learn fast right you got to speed rape you got to speed read uh all the notes that we give you and and process a lot of information that's why experience is the best teacher you know when you talk to a guy like Grayson that's been around and you and you say something he can see it in his Mind's Eye I don't have to spend as much time maybe showing it on tape or things like that but but uh it's obviously a challenge when you got you know just a set amount of days to get ready for for an opponent so we're into that and and uh you know we're getting ready for a good football team so it's it's a challenge how's Grayson grasp the offense it's new to him but yet he's he's such a veteran guy how's he he's done a good job I he's in his you know he was with Coach Chadwell and he's with Coach Beck and and so when he went from one offense to the next offense you just get better at learning the next it all just it's easier to correlate we're all doing largely the same things when you watch football it doesn't matter what level we just speak it differently right maybe few changes here there and when you're getting into your third offense it's just it's an easier progression have you all made a decision on who Grayson's backup is going to be yeah yeah and I would assume coach when he wants to have that conversation is probably the one that needs to have that conversation what's been your overall impression how do you like you know I think we're a talented group um you know Grayson's got a lot of experience Lex has been around here a long time Ethan has been around here um you know a long time and been in the offense and then now we got a new you know really talented young football player so you know I really enjoy my room I enjoy coaching those guys I think they're a talented group but but you're always nervous you know about staying healthy you know staying healthy would be you know obviously the the best of everything what's been your impression of the CJ you being out there on the field and just kind of learning you know he came from such a good program and they threw the ball so much that his understanding and um his spatial awareness is at a higher level than a lot of guys when they first come in you know he's played a lot of football for a lot of years um with good players against good players and he was asked to do a lot of things within that offense so you know he he is um he's been impressive with a lot of things he's done coach what's what's the balancing act like for CJ because maybe might want a red shirt and possibly but you want to play in those four games but if you playing those four games someone gets hurt then he's those four games are gone what is that balancing act like for the coaching staff you know those are that's a great question and that's an ongoing discussion that we have all the time and and obviously you know we dealt with that last year you know so it's it's uh it's been something that we that we've obviously had discussions about and we continue to have discussion about what have you seen from Lex over the past year you know what he's healthy and I think that's you know that was a tough thing that he had to battle his senior year and uh and I don't know that anybody Works harder than Lex like he's here all the time and I think his arm is stronger than where it was when he was getting uh recruited he has a really strong arm he's a fast twitch guy he I mean he loves this game he's a Thomas is the best way to say it and uh he keeps getting better every day what you been like working with the inh helmet communication kind of get used to that over the last 6 mon you know I think it's still a learning process it's obviously easier to give quick notes they didn't game I think you you don't want to talk a whole lot maybe you saw it online but uh Matt Stafford is is getting talked to by a coach in his ear and he's in the Huddle and he's like he's still talking oh my god do y you should look it up it's interesting thing but for me it was a Learning lesson you can give too much right you got to let these guys go play so obviously it's an advantage to hey it's third down now hey whatever the situation is I can give him a quick reminder but but he's got to go play we got to let him go play you've been here for a little bit now I mean how comfortable have you gotten here with the wol pack oh yeah you know I 6 years at one place is fortunate in this profession and and uh and every day I'm grateful to be able to drive to the same house i' I've lived a lot of places and it's been um I've been fortunate to be able to let raise my kids in one place for such a long time you now when you are when you were when you got you know I think you better grow every year as a football coach I think maybe maturity is the best way to say it um you know maybe dealing with people and how I communicate with people we hopefully we keep getting better on that like I've been coaching football 30 years now there's not much I haven't seen schematically right um it's probably more relationship based than anything else and maybe being a dad has helped me grow in that that area you think uh one of the strengths is there's a lot of flexibility in the sense of you know some schools all the quarterbacks all look the same and they all play the same that that really hasn't been the case at NC State where you know one guy might be 66 one guy might be 6 foot one guy runs one guy passes like what what kind of flexibility does that give well I think it it's good Flex just so you understand I in this game I believe you have to be able to throw the football I think that's the first thing that I'm looking for in a quarterback is is can he functionally throw the football cuz at some point it's going to come down to that and we want want the best athlete that we can find if that comes in a guy that's 66 or 6 foot then so be it every year that's happen but those are the things that we're looking for and then we're looking for a competitor that we all can trust right and uh sometimes that comes in different packages every year