NC State elects football captains

N.C. State has elected team captains for the first time in Dave Doeren’s four-year tenure.

Senior running back Matt Dayes, senior cornerback Jack Tocho, junior tight end Cole Cook and junior defensive end Bradley Chubb were voted by their teammates to be the captains. A fifth player will be chosen each week as a game captain.

In Doeren’s first three seasons, N.C. State had used only game captains and the team had relied on a “leadership council.”

Tocho said even if the team didn’t have permanent captains before, the leaders of the team were easy to find. This just adds a public recognition of the leadership.

“Even if it’s not on paper, we know who the leaders of the team are,” Tocho said.

Tocho said he was humbled to be recognized by his teammates.

“I’m just hoping to be the role model that they believe I am and help the team do whatever it takes to win,” Tocho said.

For Chubb, it continues a family streak. His brother Brandon, a linebacker at Wake Forest last year, was a team captain for the Demon Deacons.

One of the first people Chubb called when he got the news was his brother, who is trying to make the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent.

“He was happy for me,” Chubb said. “It’s good that in back-to-back years the Chubb brothers are captains.”

Tocho and Chubb are more vocal leaders than either Dayes or Cook. The bigger variety of leadership styles, Tocho said, the better.

“We don’t need excess words and rah, rah kind of stuff and make believe,” Tocho said. “We just need what it is, straight forward and do what we need to do.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 9:22 AM.