KC Concepcion Can Do It All - Including Punt Return?! | NC State Football Podcast

it's no secret that KC concepion was the most electrifying player on the NC State wolf pack last season this season he may be taking on an additional role how do we feel about this you are locked on Wolfpack your daily podcast on the NC State Wolfpack part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's up Wolfpack Nation it's time to get locked in with locked on thanks for making locked on Wolfpack your first listen each and every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase as always terms apply happy Thursday to all as always I'm Grayson Boone joined by former Wolfpack defensive tackle Kenton Gibbs Kenton on Thursday accet aired the ACC road trip for their visit to Raleigh and NC State football now we're going to talk about the rest of that in just a bit I want to start here with what we heard out of Casey con when he joined the crew uh on set now Casey talked about some of the lofty goals he set for himself in 24 but he also said that he may be working out on punt return in 24 I this caught me by surprise when he said it I'd be lying to you if my first initial reaction was like okay I'm totally in on this it sounds great I'll be honest here it worries me just a little bit you know my Mis reaction was that worry for this reason when I think about punt return kick return and all that I think okay this is a guy that's Dynamic playmaker you know he can do things with the ball in his hands does Casey fit that criteria yes absolutely but then there's a second silent criteria that we don't really talk about out loud often because some players violate this some don't it's the are you important enough to the offense or defense where we feel like it's not it's potentially not worth it to have you back there because we've seen plenty of guys who could do really really great things with the ball in their hands as a returner who were told all right nope that's enough shut it down as a returner because you mean that much in terms of what you can do offensively defensively and the production that you give offensively or defensively is much tough to replace than your production on special teams and when I think about some of the guys that we have coming in in particular some of the young guys um I'm looking at a situation where I think you have multiple guys who should be really good on kick return pump return right away you have multiple guys who should be able to do that very well right away I think that we have a very good receiver class coming in I don't think we have a single player that can beat KC's level of Receiver right away in this class I I hope I'm wrong I would love to see all of these guys showing up and showing out in the way that I'm like oh man like I I was wrong we got five KC's in this or four KC's I believe we took four receivers whichever number it is we got that many KC's in this class I would love to see that I just I again it's it's a little bit like uh I mean hey I trust the coaches you know better than me but also are we sure we got a play at kick return pun return are we sure about that it's definitely a little bit of a difficult scale to balance because like you're talking about him being so electrifying on this team you want to find as many ways as you possibly can to get him the rock whether it's on offense potentially on special teams you want to find ways to get him into open space because last year as we saw that's when the magic happens but again going back to my initial reaction here throwing arguably one of your most valuable pieces to your offense on punt return and I'm not saying this in a sense like returners frequently get injured if he were to get injured on punt return and I I pray that this does not happen don't come for me if this happens it's not me speaking this to an existence I would feel so horribly bad for Casey in that scenario he would be getting injured in something that's not his main function not exactly doing something that provides the most value to this team at least in my opinion and so I look around at these other guys maybe even some young guys that I would feel a little bit more comfortable in sliding into that position Jonathan paylor's name has been getting tossed around a lot I've heard him potentially working out with a kick return team potentially sliding into some offense early Jonathan Paylor is a guy that for me I thought of okay maybe you could see Jonathan Paylor at punt return early this season you also have Jaylen KO who handled all the punt return duties last year he is very much still on the roster which makes him more than capable of doing it again here in 24 I certainly appreciate the coaching staff wanting to Tinker a little bit with their best offensive player from a year ago I'm not exactly sold on the idea that the risk is worth the reward I think there's several other players on the roster that are more than capable of doing this and at a very high level as well we've also mentioned Hollywood Smothers has been spotted taking the kickoffs Hollywood Smothers could also I would presume handle the punt return Duty another guy with electrifying Breakaway speed that can make a difference on special teams this is going to be an insane comparison but stick with me here Devon Hester when you think about Devon Hester he one of the best returners in probably the history of football the way he was able to change a game when kick return and also punt return both in college and in the NFL is really something we've never seen before but Devin Hester was a specialist in that sense if you look up his statistics as a wide receiver they're very underwhelming that's not his main function and as a corner which he played in college exactly his bread and butter cut and dry was being a returner both Punt and kickoff that was his function I think way back then Miami did a really good job at designating him for that you are the guy for this purpose we're going to throw you in there and you're going to change the game and then he went in there and did it I'd also have to assume that Miami felt more than comfortable with who they had at the wide receiver position and it was certainly not the same scenario that we're looking at now a piece that was electrifying on offense and they wanted to try him out in a different position this was not that so different scenario and I know that's and that's why it's a little bit of a lengthy comparison here but specialists at least in my mind are called Specialists for a reason it's because they specialize in that particular area and just for my own comfortability I think I would prefer to see Kevin concepion stay in the offense instead yeah and and you know I'm sure that this is just to you know get them live reps and and get or not live but get them reps of Fielding punts and whatnot but I want you to think about something for for a second right you took it to the pro comparison of Deon Hester I want to take it to the pro comparison of an entire position the running back Market overnight became one of the valuable how did that happen true not because running backs stopped being good I mean we we have not seen a ton of guys who are like saquon Barkley when he's healthy um and and just like that's something you see every day it's not it's not a guy with that much power that much quickness that much straight line speed all in one but it became less valuable because more guys could do it at a really good level there were more of these backs that were coming out of nowhere in terms of a te Coleman who was n a super high pick a Matt breida who wasn't a super high pick yes having Christian mcaffrey who was a picked in the first round and the Heisman finals expected to be all those things is great was great but you also have a lot of other players that you know objectively speaking they did their thing as well and they weren't taken in that slot so what am I saying when I say that I'm saying that I think that other players could do to that position what you know these undrafted guys and Philip lindsy and whatnot did to the running back position Austin Eckler is another one that comes to mind did to the running back position in terms of you were not selected super high the whole world wasn't in on you whatever the case may be but you were good enough to be that to a level where people said you know what the replacement for you I don't have to draft a guy very high to get a good one it's the same deal here I'm not sure you want to spend a ton of teams capital on this position and in terms of capital I just mean a guy taxing his body potentially being in one of the most dangerous plays in football of we again I'm knocking on wood here but the reality is you know you want a situation where if you can keep him off of that you know you will and again I'm not against of just Fielding punts just to stay active in it and practice and whatnot when it's not like hey these guys are trying to take your head off dude but you know in the game is like uh that's tough you know and even if you are going to use him in that way make him your break in case of emergency guy which I've seen before where there's like a player that's like hey the offense is dead we need to spark going back there going back there and make it happen instead of like you're back there every time I wouldn't hate the idea of possibly in a game maybe the offense is stalling their tires are stuck in the mud on know one of these possessions we getting the ball back you need something electrifying to happen on the field maybe you stick casy in in that scenario as like a home run attempt if he runs a punt back and it changes the trajectory of a game that's an absolute win for all parties in involved so again I appreciate the creativity I appreciate tossing the idea around one of your best players putting him in a spot where he can change the game in a blink of an eye but just my own comfortability I feel like it'd be just doing a little too much I think he's so good in what he's already doing in this Robert and I offense I think you stick with what you got and you don't take the risk potentially doing too much with him let us know what you think if you think Kevin concepion should be returning punts or maybe you're a little bit apprehensive about it here in 24 let us know down in the comments coming up next we're talking about another electrifying piece of this offense there was a clip that went out on social media on Thursday of our freshman transfer wide receiver Noah Rogers I might spend the rest of this episode just talking about what I saw it is unbelievable coming right up after a quick word from our sponsors our first sponsor of the day is game time game time is an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League 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locked on College for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed middle portion of our Thursday show it's time to talk about Noah Rogers we all know his backstory he was a five-star wide receiver coming out of high school chose to go to Ohio State over NC State goes up to a Columbus doesn't play returns home and we are thrilled about the idea of what he could be here at the wolf pack looked great in the spring game was really progressing over the summer and then we see this clip shout out to a guy Drew he turned us on to it on Thursday a practice rep Noah Rogers against Aiden white unfortunately we couldn't see who the quarterback was but being that it was a battle of ones I would hope it was Grayson Mall slinging the rock this ball is so perfectly placed over not Noah Rogers back shoulder but Aiden White's back shoulder and Noah Rogers basically climbs the ladder goes up over Aiden's turned head balances in the air it comes down with it and then probably goes on to score if it were a live rep that type of play is something that we have not had out of a wide receiver since probably like Kelvin Harmon Kelvin Harmon was a beast when it came to those 50-50 balls and keeping that body balanced in air and then coming down with it what I saw in just that short clip I'll bring it up on here for those of you who have not seen it yet so here's here's the clip but I know it's fast I'm going to keep it on Loop I could honestly sit here and watch this clip for the remainder of this show the way he climbs the ladder just very quickly at the last second snatches this ball out of the air behind the turned head of Aiden white and make no mistake about it we talk about Aiden white on this show a ton that's one of the best cornerbacks in the country and I know you're saying all right slow down it's day two of fall camp this is a three second clip from practice and a practice rep I got all that look at this clip and tell me it does not get you fired up to kick this season off it doesn't doesn't get you fired up to think about what this offense could actually be when they hit the grass here at the end of the month we were all in on Noah Rogers way back in January we're in on him in the spring game in April we are more in than we have ever been here at the beginning of August and this ties perfectly into what we were talking about earlier in the show with KC having to do too much uh because when you think about why KC had to do so much again this is no disrespect to the players around him it just the the production just was not there do you know who our leading receiver was on the team last year KC of course you know who had our longest reception of the year last year KC of course that makes sense right do you want to know who was our leading rusher outside of Brennan Armstrong last year KC do you want to know who had our longest Rush of the year last year KC so I'm I'm saying all this not to say like oh everybody around them is the Island of Misfit Toys and they're terrible and all this and all that no no no I'm not saying that what I am saying is a player like Noah Rogers being not just a a pressure release valve for a great guy being the guy in and of himself that you're like who do we double it's no longer a situation of okay we'll figure it out will adjust we'll basically go box in one around Kevin concepion we'll run a Zone but leave somebody man on him and we'll we'll be okay with our zones being stressed in because these guys couldn't get open in a Month of Sundays when no Rogers can separate from you both with his route running and vertically you throw that ball up in the right space he can separate from you even if you're right up under him so having a guy like that that's a baller in his own right that can devastate defenses in his own right that to me will take this offense over the edge into the next level because again you're no longer counting on KC has to be the guy he has to be the guy through the air he has to be the guy on the ground he has to be the guy on p return he has to be the guy it it's no longer that situation our backfield with uh Jordan Waters and Company it's no longer that situation are why receiving core where you're looking at all of these guys all of these weapons I mean there's too many to really name in the words of of uh of of ker Lamar how many options you really got I mean it's too many options you know what I mean like that's it's it's too many options there's only one ball and that's a great problem to have instead of looking around like and again this is not to be disrespectful and I know some of y'all are like please stop saying that we get it you're not trying to disrespect anybody but the reality is last year Grayson and I talked about how we were in the day eight or nine of Camp before we heard a a positive peep about any wide receiver not named Kevin cpon so you know this is this is Big Time Norah Rogers doing what he's doing against not just anybody yeah not just a a guy not just a random like hey this is some um walk on that's never going to dress out that mayy a little bit of time on one kickoff on senior night no no no no this is a Bonafide stud that we haven't seen guys go up and snatch one over like that virtually in his career and Noah Rogers is doing it to him day two of Camp that's big time he did that over an all ACC preseason cornerback selection shout out to Aiden white that was announced also on Thursday he's First Team all ACC in the preseason that's who he went up in Moss in practice we've talked a good deal about some of the X factors and the potential for X factors in this offense make no mistake about it if Noah Rogers pops the way that we've all been dreaming that he could be in this offense he is one of the few guys on this team that takes this whole thing to another level if you can take the top off a defense or really any parts of the defense the way he can run routes that makes us so much more Dynamic than a lot of us can really even conceptualize here at this moment I can't wait to see at the end of the month but until then we still have to think about it and then turn on the PS5 and do it in the game because that's all we can do right now this and practice clips that are only three seconds but you start to look up uh championship game tickets because of how ridiculous that catch was and again just to reiterate I know it's just a practice rep I know it means nothing it's competitive but it's not you know it's not game speed I got all that the level of wide receiver play has been lacking to to be honest here it has been lacking for quite some time I I know we've had the EMA mzes and the Kelvin harmans we've never seen somebody like Noah Rogers this is the number one wide receiver in the state of North Carolina in 2022 NC state has not had somebody like Noah Rogers before and for him to put this on tape as early as day one and day two of fall Camp it just gets that hype train and you drive it in a couple more gears because it's it's getting scary it's scary hours and real quick reverting back to your point on KC when you have to worry so much about KC as a defense based on what he did to teams last year there's going to be times where maybe you put a little too much attention on him and then boom Noah Rogers is going to take the top off your defense or then boom you have Justin Jolie busting through the seam he's going for six Keenan Jackson on the outside trell Anderson on the outside Wesley Grimes on the outside darari Collins on the outside there's so many ways that this team will be able to defeat you it is terrifying it feels like it's going to turn into Russian Roulette for a lot of these defense they're going to have to pick and choose their battles and as soon as they choose is wrong it's six and then not to mention our Run game to supplement all these weapons we have through the past game so the offense is maybe more promising that we've had here in a long time and I mean a long time and we can't wait to see what it looks like when we kick this thing off coming up next we're going to get into more of the commentary that we heard from the ACC road trip in Raleigh ACC Network had really interesting interviews with both Tony Gibson and Robert and I we're going to dive into them after quick word from our sponsors our second sponsor of the day is eBay Motors passion drive and patience that's the formula for winning championships but it's also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay motors do everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from superchargers to roof racks exhaust kits and LED headlights whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay's guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back that's because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber and not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply rounding out our Thursday show wanted to spend some time talking about that ACC road trip that visited Raleigh this week for the opening of fall camp now ACC network does this every year what they do is they take a team of hosts and they travel to all I was about to say 14 members now it's 17 members of the ACC conference and they sit down with key players the coach just kind of like an extension from ACC kickoff a week ago just kind of an inside look to what they're looking at at practice what they're feeling about the beginning of the Season it just supplements all the media Buzz here before we get going two of the guys on this football team that I love hearing from are Tony Gibson and Robert and I we hear from them in limited capacity over the course of the season they have their weekly time with the media but it's never really as much as you hope it could be these two are some of the most fascinating figures we've had at NC State for quite some time and I remember last summer we ran an episode asking if they could be the best coordinating Duo that we've seen at NC State how do we feel about that now I think we're certainly on the right track but we'll start here with Tony Gibson I could listen to Tony Gibson talk about defense for hours on end I'm going to say the same thing about both of these coordinators but Tony Gibson is exactly how you want your defensive coordinator to sound he's exactly how you want him to talk about the concept of playing defense and he was saying he feels really good about this Bunch he's very uncompromising on his standard he makes it known from day one of the new season that looking at some of these defenses he's had these last couple years they have placed the standard for all these teams afterward to still uphold as the year goes on and he was saying despite pton Wilson leaving and several other key pieces leaving he expects this new bunch here in 24 to still maintain that level of dominance on the defensive end one of the quotes that stuck with me immediately uh Mark herlick was asking about how he feels about the transfer portal and basically Tony Gibson said it as bluntly as you could say it he said if guys aren't tough enough to play for NC State to play for me in this defensive system I'll escort them out the door into the parking lot he had no problem saying if you're not tough enough to play for me you can jump in that portal that's the exact mindset I want my defensive coordinator to have uncompromising does not settle for anything less than Elite play that's exactly what bleeds into this defense and makes them go yeah there's a difference between proactivity and reactivity the best defenses are proactive instead of reactive and that's they as the old saying goes the players take on the temperament of the coach the players take on the attitude of the coach what do I mean by that Tony Gibson does not say oh man this team they run the ball so well we've got to play with two defensive tackles on the field all game no well oh they they run the ball well that's fine I'm gonna play with my three Don Lan I'mma play with my three backers I'mma play with my nickel we gonna be just fine ain't that right boys and that's just what it is he's that kind of guy that's like there's the thermometer guys who tell you what the the temperature of everything around that's all they do and then there's the thermostat guys who they can change the temperature to they'll say listen this we this how to do it Tony Gibson's one of those guys and again it bleeds through it bleeds through because I really don't think people understand how good of a job he did the year that Peyton Wilson and Isaiah Moore both got hurt yeah and the defense didn't miss a beat it didn't miss a beat we went from this is going to be the most dominant Tre of linebacker that we may have ever seen here to there's one of them left and he's the guy that you know he he's not the guy there by looked that like hey he's the leader he's the guy he's the one and yet they still showed up and showed out you know so I think that Tony Gibson in his words it definitely matches up with his personality uh bit forbit and the other part I want to talk about that Tony Gibson was talking about we've said it on here before but there was a report that freshman linebacker Ali Groves had put on 18 pounds this summer working with Coach Thunder herlick was asking Gibson about him and he said he's a creature if that doesn't get you fired up about the prospects of Elijah Groves here in the near future I don't know what else to tell you he didn't compare him to pton Wilson but he said framewise already as just a freshman he looked physically similar to how pton Wilson was that's terrifying to try and conceptualize a true freshman who ENT who just entered the program over the summer in immediately goes into the lab with Coach Thunder and comes out looking like Payton Wilson Gibson kind of alluded to the fact that he doesn't quite know yet about how much run that Groves will get here in 24 but he said if it if it's not this season it'll be very shortly after sounds like Tony Gibson's got a monster cooking up in the lab again folks us guys from locked on Wolfpack we watch the film we do the work I promise you I promise you the amount of film that Grayson and I break down down and and like watch of high school guys now of now I'm not going to lie and say I got the all 22 of high school guys like I do in college mostly it's their huddles it's other players that they played against huddle because I'm like how did he play when he was playing against this fourar fivar from over here but in all seriousness it that young man you know it's Peyton Wilson set a standard to the point where you know how every quarterback that can throw off platform every quarterback that can make awkward throw angles now gets labeled as momes or oh he's it's a Patrick Mahomes like throw Payton Wilson has kind of set that standard and I'm gonna tell you a guy being thrown in that conversation in any regard any regard on day one or two of being in the program seriously um Alexa play Dez because some hitters are indeed in trouble and then jumping over to the comments made by offensive coordinator Robert and I I said this a couple times last year but Robert and I embodies a mad scientist and he puts out some of my favorite sound clips of the season I remember last year was about being explosive and somebody asked him how exactly is his team going to change that and he says by being explosive and he's just I love how blunt he is I think I've even compared him to Mike Leech in some ways just very quirky unusual answers still gets the point across but you're like okay there's maybe a little bit of a screw loose and that's who I want to be running my offense and they're asking Robert and I about the early days of fall camp and he was basically just saying well you know we got to work on throwing the ball to the open guy and when the ball comes to you you catch it and it was kind of funny because the interviewers didn't really know how to handle him then he went on to talk about some of the young wide receivers that he's been thoroughly impressed with so far he named Keenan Jackson and Terrell Anderson he said they have sparked early for a guy that talks so much about being explosive last year he's talking about two young freshmen sparking right out of the gate hello Dynamite offense now he also talked about Duke Scott so the buzz continues to rise about freshman running back Duke Scott keeps bringing up his name and if Robert and I is Thoroughly impressed with him perhaps we'll also see Duke Scott gets some run on the field he mentioned Paylor has been kind of working out in some KC type roles hello that's what we said when he first committed basically KC 2.0 and then the main tagline that we heard out of Robert and I talking about Grayson McCall and he said quote in all my years and all my guys and breaking in first year quarterbacks Grayson Mcall is the best I've had he said he's mastering it at a higher level and I look forward to keeping him healthy this goes back to what McCall was talking about at ACC kickoff saying that he is comfortable in any type of offense to get that reiteration from Robert and I just a week later I don't I don't know how much more excited I can get about the thought of this offense this year if if Robert and I's excited about it already Grayson McCall's supposedly the best first year quarterback he's had in this system all the pieces are around him we might end up breaking a couple scoreboards this year hey Grayson who was the wide receiver that I said was the best true receiver out of all the young guys that we bought in you said it was Keenan Jackson this is all right enough of two my own horn here but very seriously um you know Keenan Jackson is a guy that watching him he was so developed in high school I'm like when he gets with Joker Phillips when he gets with an I when he gets in this office and they teach him the ins and outs about separating from college DBS he has the physical ability to do it and that's not a doubt in my mind at all I just think that he's more of a football player than a camp guy so maybe that's why he didn't get the fivar love and all that but that young man I'm telling you right now I am telling you right now by the stock early buy it buy it right now buy it the minute that he converted from the dirty foot Club to us the minute he flipped and made the best decision one could ever make with their life let's just be honest leaving a dirty foot Club alone is absolutely one of the best decisions the minute he made that decision I said all right let me get in the lab let me focus on this kid and I just came away so thoroughly impressed and lo and behold I am not the only one won it it's it's phenomenal to see that he's he's doing everything that he's doing at a high level Anderson is another name that you know you expected to hear because he I believe was the highest rated out of all of the uh pure receivers um that were that were bought in NC St so you were expecting that out of him and of course Paylor in the KC roles again I think that that's a role that is tailored to a guy like him if we don't want to call it the KC roles the nahem Hans freshman year role where you get it to him on jet sweeps you get it to him on screens you get it to him on uh drag routes across the mdle you get it to him in ways that it's like hey there's you there's space there's the ball there's Defenders figure it out and I'm sure he will because he has that Natural Instinct as a runner when that ball is under his right arm I'm worried I'm worried if I'm a defensive coordinator in terms of Jonathan Paylor so all the things that we're hearing align with the things that we believe already and this isn't just a confirmation by his thing where we're like well we think it and they're telling us something close so we these are virtually the exact same things that we were saying about these players coming to pass so it's exciting to see and hopefully our exact predictions for this team come to pass as well uh when the season actually hits I'm giving an i the spatula the chef hat and I'm getting the hell out of the kitchen let him cook he has all the pieces around him that he needs to cook he has the quarterback to run the whole system it's starting to smell good already we're only one day into August I can't even use the little Uzi vert meme I've only been here about three days what do you say yeah I only been out here about three days or so yeah I can't even say that because of how short that they've been in Fall Camp here let them cook man it's everything you want to be hearing this early in the cycle out of both your defensive coordinator and your offensive coordinator we just can't wait to put the ball down that'll do it for us here on Thursday as always thank you all so much for joining us be sure to hit that like button drop a comment down in the comment box tell us what you think about KC potentially returning punts in 24 tell us about the impact that you think Noah Rogers is going to have on this offense in 24 and tell us what you thought if you actually if you happen to watch the road trip tell us any additional thoughts you had from maybe some of the players coach Doran or the two coordinators we talked about here on this program be sure to mash that subscribe button if you have not already and we will see you all back here on Friday to close out the week until then go pack go pack