Month‑Out Preview: Is 2025 NC State the ACC’s Sleeper Team? I TUFFY TALK LIVE SHOW

July 28, 2025·1 hr 26 min·8 clips

The crew dissects NC State coach Dave Doeren's blunt statement about wanting to 'beat the sh*t out of' ECU in the season opener.

The show opens one month before the NC State football season with hosts Lane Smith, Carson, and Greg Legg. The first topic is the transfer portal additions for NC State baseball, headlined by Dalton Bargo, a Tennessee national championship winner who started his career at Missouri. Legg profiles Bargo's career statistics: 25 home runs over three seasons, 14 in the SEC this year, a .270-.275 career average, and a strikeout rate around 26-27%. He draws a comparison to Alex Makarevich, noting Bargo arrives with higher expectations than Makarevich did. The second transfer, Wiggins, is described as a former top-34 prospect in the Perfect Game rankings with good speed who needs to be more aggressive at the plate. Both players provide positional versatility, with Bargo having played left field, third base, and catcher. The panel discusses the open roster spots at short, third, and left field and projects NC State as a potential top-20 team. DK Kaufman's signing with the Seattle Seahawks as a running back is the next topic, with the hosts noting his 469 kick return yards at NC State averaging 31.3 yards per return and calling him a swiss-army-knife athlete who can make plays in space. Greg Legg shares that Kaufman's mother is a Facebook friend and describes him as a model teammate. Coach Dave Doran's quote about wanting to 'beat the shih tzu' out of ECU — a paraphrase of stronger language — is analyzed for its motivation purposes: Legg clarifies the comment was directed at his own players disappointed with how the previous ECU game ended. The panel agrees 'salty Dave' is a more effective version of the coach and that NC State should have no excuse for losing the opener. A debate about the ECU rivalry dynamic follows, with the hosts noting it is a no-win situation for NC State because national viewers have little interest. Four-star wide receiver Jonathan Paler, who redshirted in the fall, is discussed as a creative deployment option in the new offense; he played significant time at running back in high school. New offensive coordinator comments about keeping the offense more simplistic are described positively, and the coordinator is praised by Greg Legg for his enthusiasm in a zoom call. Ryan Nielsen is mentioned as a comparable 'coach's coach' personality.

As heard by us

Loose live-show energy carries a preseason update that starts with baseball and lands on football questions.

Tuffy Talk settles into the kind of live-show looseness that makes the first real stir of football season feel close. It moves from baseball chatter into ACC Media Day reactions, then into early football talk, including a creative plan for getting Jonathan Paylor the football.

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Why you'd press play

You want Wolfpack football buzz a month before camp starts.

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