ACC Media Days: Duke, NC State, UNC optimistic for upcoming season
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WTVD) -- ACC Media Days wrapped up Thursday and the Triangle teams are all feeling optimistic ahead of the upcoming college football season.
NC State
N.C. State's class included its next starting quarterback in 10,000-yard career passer Grayson McCall, a proven runner in Duke back Jordan Waters, receiver help in Ohio State's Noah Rogers and a veteran center in Notre Dame's Zeke Correll, who had 31 starts dating to 2020.
When transfer quarterback McCall showed up at NC State with a buzzcut, it turned some heads.
"My first day of workouts I come into the locker room and I'm like, 'Who's that transfer?," said Wolfpack running back Waters. "Guys were like, 'That's Grayson McCall.' And I'm like, 'That's not Grayson McCall.'"
McCall was known as much for his long-haired mullet as his quarterback play during his five seasons at Coastal Carolina, where he threw for more than 10,000 yards and 88 touchdowns while elevating the Chanticleers onto the national scene.
Behind the prodding of his new Wolfpack teammates, McCall said he's decided to grow the mullet again.
"It's coming, baby. It's coming," McCall said with a wide smile. "When I showed up to Raleigh with the buzzcut, I got a lot of mullet requests. I'm ready to let this thing go."
Waters is among those happy to see the return of the mullet.
"The mullet is Grayson McCall," Waters said. "He looks so much better with it."
Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren knows he has a talented roster and a favorable schedule. Still, the team needs to put it together on the field.
"One of the things that makes NC State special is the way the fans support all the teams, not just one," Doeren said. "And it's really a strong athletic department and so that wave, that momentum, starts with the fall sports and then the winter sports pick it up and the spring sports, and then it's our turn."
Doeren said he was "excited about riding that red wave," which has included basketball Final Four appearances for both men's and women's teams, a men's basketball ACC championship, a baseball College World Series appearance and dominant efforts in wrestling, swimming, tennis, track and other sports.
"We've sustained a level of competitive greatness that not many people have been able to do," Doeren said. With that being said, we want to win championships ... we don't want to be good, we want to be the best at what we do."
UNC
Omarion Hampton is eager to become a more versatile, well-rounded running back entering his third season at North Carolina.
Hey, even second-team All-Americans need goals.
Hampton was fifth in the nation in rushing last season with 1,504 yards and 15 touchdowns, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. But his receiving numbers were much more pedestrian with 29 receptions for 222 yards and one touchdown.
"I just want to show that I'm an all-around back, like Christian McCaffrey on Sundays," Hampton said, referring to the San Francisco 49ers All-Pro running back. "I want to catch the ball more, have more receiving yards and get better at pass blocking, because I know that is what they want in the National Football League. Doing that, it will expand my game."
Hampton said he's been working on his hands during the offseason with some of the team's wide receivers, including J.J. Jones.
North Carolina coach Mack Brown said Hampton has taken big steps in the passing game.
"I think he's already there - he can catch, he can block and he can run," Brown said Thursday.
Hampton hasn't forgotten about his bread and butter.
He said Thursday that he wants to become the first North Carolina running back to surpass 2,000 yards rushing in a season, which would shatter Don McCauley's single-season record of 1,720 yards in 1970.
But Brown said he wants to find others who can share the load with Hampton in the backfield, so he can keep his star back healthy for the entire season.
"Last year I wouldn't let him come out of the game," Brown said. "(Running backs coach) Larry Porter would be on the sideline saying, 'OK, Omarion...," and I would say, 'No, leave him in.' Porter would say, 'But we're at the 20," and I would say: "He can go 80 (yards), and the others can't.'"
Duke
Manny Diaz arrived at Duke with high expectations. The former Miami head coach took over at Duke in December.
It was a return to head-coaching jobs after a stint out of the top chair.
Diaz led the Hurricanes from 2019-21 before being fired for Mario Cristobal. He didn't linger long in the frustration over losing that job despite posting a 16-9 league record in his tenure, spending two seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Penn State.
"The year Manny got let go, I kind of reached out to him, and said, 'Hey, if we'd ever have a (coaching) opportunity ...'" Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. "And Penn State gobbled him up so quickly, that's how highly he was thought of. After Miami, I'm sure he had 15 job offers. People who know Manny, that have worked with Manny, that have seen his teams play, have great respect for him. And I think he's a guy that does things right. He's ethical and smart and hard-working."
Diaz didn't have to wait long to again become a head coach, taking over the Blue Devils when Mike Elko turned a quick-rise two-year run in Durham into the Texas A&M job. And he almost immediately went about holding a chain of one-on-one meetings with players to start building trust.
Duke offensive lineman Justin Pickett said he went in eager to hear Diaz's vision for the Blue Devils but also described Diaz as listening to what he thought had worked well and what could be better.
Safety Jaylen Stinson went from being "a little nervous" going in to feeling reassured that Diaz "was the right coach for the job."
"It meant a lot to me because at that time, we were all confused," Stinson said. "We just needed somebody to talk to. And he was there. ... And we talked about everything."
Diaz said he was eager to listen to his players' observations to learn about Duke as much as share his ideas.
"As a leader, people always think that you take the podium and it's waving the finger: 'We'll do this, we'll do that,'" Diaz said. "And what I wanted is: 'I want to hear from you,' because great leaders listen. ... 'So, what's working? What can we do even better to be better?'"
Still, Duke lost roughly a half-dozen transfers to other power conference programs, including quarterback Riley Leonard, to highlight part of the evolving college world since his Miami days.
"What changed from when I was head coach just a few years ago: your players all have the right to leave in a way that they just wouldn't have thought about four or five years ago," Diaz said. "So you have to quickly connect."
The Associated Press contributed.
