Nov. 18, 2008
Q. Can you describe the impact Derrick Williams has made on the field and off the field, in terms of recruiting, during his time at Penn State?
As I said several years ago, when Derrick was in high school and people were questioning where the program was going, I said, "We're so close to being a good football team; we just need a couple of people." And Derrick came to the front and was one of them. He came in here and brought some other people with him, I think, who felt if he had that kind of confidence in the program then there's got to be something up there that's good.
He has played so well for us even just starting out. It was too bad he broke his arm early. I think he's had a tremendous impact. When he practices, he carries people with him on the practice field. He goes out there, works hard, and does everything well. He can just about do anything you want him to do on the football field. If I want to make him a corner, he might be as good a corner there is around. He is just a great athlete and a great football player.
Q. Daryll Clark was very hard on himself after the Iowa game and the he lost two fumbles against Indiana. Is it any kind of concern to you he might be pressing going into a big game against Michigan State?
I'm going talk to him a little bit. I didn't talk to him yesterday. But, I think he's being unfair to himself. He's had, what, three interceptions? I would be critical of him for his carelessness with the football at times, but I think that's his anxiety to make every inch when he runs with the football. I think he's being too tough on himself. I think you guys are being too tough on him, to be frank with you, at times.
I think Daryll's played really well. This is a guy that came in here and started for the first time and we're 10 1. We've lost one football game, which was not his fault. He keeps thinking it was his fault and that he could have won it. Yeah, he could have won it. I could have won it. Fifteen other guys could have won it.
I think he's played really well, and I don't think there's any reason for him to feel anything but good about what he's done and look forward to this week.
Q. You said after Saturday's game that you might need surgery after this week's game. Has anything been set on that definitively now?
Somebody said they want to get inside my head and see what's going on. (Laughter.) No. When the time comes, they'll make a decision. I talked to them, and they watch me, and we're going to, when it's appropriate, sit down and make a decision on what we want to do and when we're going to do it, and what's best for the program, what's best for this football team, and what's best for the football staff.
But right now I don't even want to talk to anybody about it. This is a big game for us. This is a big football game for us. We win this, we can win the Big Ten Championship. And it's an "if."
Michigan State is playing really well. So, for me to get involved in anything else except concentrating and trying to help the staff as best I can in my limited physical ability to just keep pushing on. We've done well. We've been very close to where we wanted to be. We're a couple plays away from being there but we've got a chance to have a heck of a year. Let's just concentrate on that because it's not going to be easy.
Q. Can you talk about Javon Ringer? He is not the biggest running back, but they use him an awful lot like a power back.
I think he's a great football player. I mean, great. Maybe I overstate and use the term "great" sometimes, but I tell you what, he is so durable. He's so tough. He makes yards you don't even think he can make. He's really a top notch football player. He's a coaches player. No showboating. Just give him the football and he gets every inch he can for you. He blocks. He keeps his mouth shut. He's a leader.
I mean, as an opposing coach, you have to admire the kid. How many times did he carry the ball this year? He must have carried it 400 times or something like that. I don't know how big he is. He doesn't look very big. Is he 200 pounds? He doesn't even look like he's 200 pounds, but he's so strong. And you look up and you think he's got two yards and it ends up, it's second and three. I think he's a heck of a football player.
Q. The guys that are playing their last home game on Saturday are players you who chose Penn State after one or two tough seasons. What does it mean to you that those same guys who chose Penn State when you were struggling have a chance to win two Big Ten titles and play in the Rose Bowl?
I think that was a credit to, not only to the kids who came in, but the kids who were here who had struggled, who were confident and believed in the program. And when the kids came up, when we tried to recruit one of them, they were very positive. I think there was a belief that Penn State's a good place to play football. I think there was a belief in the coaching staff. Not necessarily in me.
I think the relationship that our assistant coaches have been able to establish with people that we recruit and the people that they coach has had a lot to do with the continuity. And, hopefully, that will stay that way. Hopefully, when a kid comes up to Penn State to look it over, he's not only going to look at the buildings and the facilities and the commitment to our football tradition, but he's also going to take a look around and see the kind of people he's going to be working with and his teammates and have a commitment to making sure he gets an education. So that's a recruiting spiel I just gave. I didn't mean to do it that way.
But I think it is a credit to the kids that were here as well as the ones coming in.
Q: One more question about Javon Ringer. First of all, how does a guy his size get to be so durable and how then difficult are they to hem in, in the third and fourth quarters when your defenses are tired?
The second part, that's up to us. We've got to keep them fresh. That's a big offensive line. Michigan State wears a lot of people down. Fortunately, I think we have some depth up front.
When you started out saying Ringer is "durable," that's absolutely right. He's a very unusual guy. I go back to Marcus Allen, maybe, or a couple of kids like that that we've played against. You look at tapes of them and in the fourth quarter they look like they're just starting the game and everybody else is hanging on. And he's that kind of a back.
I remember talking to John McKay, and John Robinson, about some of the great backs that they have had at Southern Cal, and he said, "those guys know how to take care of themselves. They're great off the field. They're great on the field. And when they come to practice, they know how to get the things done they have to get done and they're ready to play on Saturday."
This kid reminds me an awful lot of those some of those great backs they've had.
Q: Is there anything about your offense that maybe you are not 100 percent happy with, that doesn't seem to be working quite as smoothly the last three, four games as it was earlier?
Again, I think you guys are too critical. I think that we've done well. I think the people we're playing are playing us well. We're playing people that are doing a good job. We've faced some different blitz schemes that have handicapped us a little bit early in the football game until we got organized, but when we had to get it done, we got it done.
Outside of Iowa, when I felt we really just wasted too many opportunities and we thought we had it won and didn't pressure more at the end of the game, I think otherwise we've done a pretty good job offensively.
Q. if you do have hip replacement surgery just after the season, how do think the rehab will affect your involvement with the team over the next month and whether you'll be back in time for a bowl game?
I'm going to be back. But how it's going to affect me, I don't have an M.D. after my name yet. Maybe when I retire I'll go back to medical school or some place. But, no, I don't know.
As I tried to say earlier, I'm pretty sure we're going to get something done. When we're going to get it done and what's going to be done, we'll probably make a decision late this week or early next week. But I am certainly going to be involved one way or the other even if I have to walk around again with a cane for a month.
Q. Jared Odrick drew three holding penalties on Saturday. He seems to be getting better and better every week. How important has he been all season to what you guys have done, especially when you have the depth problems on the line. Can you talk about his development a little bit?
Odrick's a fine football player. I think he's played really well all year. He's a real good athlete. He is a big man. He can move. He's smart, plays with a lot of intensity, and he is a tough guy to handle one on one. I think he's done very, very well.
Q. When you address the seniors and when you talk to the team before the game on Saturday what goes through your mind and how emotional does the locker room get before you guys go out there?
I'm not sure. I think that will depend on how practice goes.
I don't think that far ahead right now. Right now, I'm worried about whether we've got the right practice schedule for today and whether we're going to get the things done today that we have to get done today. Then tomorrow, I'll worry about or look back on Monday and Tuesday and say, "Hey, we've got to get this done today" and so forth.
On Friday night, I'll sit down in my den and I'll start thinking about where are we, what would be appropriate, what should we talk about, who should we talk about. I really haven't thought about that yet.
Q. Last week you said that in the Iowa game, part of the game plan was to use Derrick Williams the way you did because you were concerned about Clark still having had the concussion. Is that still an issue in your game planning at all?
No, I don't think so. I think we saw how many times we ran him in tough situations on Saturday and how hard he ran. No, I think our concern with that was just what you said. I didn't want to put him in there a little bit too soon and get him banged up a little bit.
We put Derrick Williams in there because Derrick could do some things that Clark could do a little bit better than maybe (Pat) Devlin could do. Devlin can do a lot of things. Devlin is a fine quarterback. But if you want to do some of the things that we did where the quarterback's faking a play and running off tackle and things like that, Williams would probably be a little stronger runner. So we felt that would be an easy switch and that's why we did it.
Q. Michigan State likes to control the football and limit the possessions. Can you talk about the importance specifically this weekend of getting your defense off the field?
Well, obviously it's important, if you can do it, but it won't be easy to do it.
They're a very solid, sound football team. They hang on to the ball most of the time. They had a couple of problems in a couple games, but most of the time they hang on to the football. The tailback, I don't know whether he's had three or four fumbles all year, out of 400 carries.
Now that's not going to be easy. But I do think we have some depth, and I think that we might be able to do it with our depth and to stay in there in the fourth quarter.
Q. Senior Day is a very emotional time for a lot of people, yourself included. It's my understanding that you are going to have a lot of players from past teams that are coming in for this game. About how many of those are coming in and what does it mean to you whenever you have these sort of reunions with your past players?
To be frank with you, I don't even know if they're coming back. I don't know who is coming back or how many. You ought to talk to Jeff and Guido about that. I don't know. I know we try to get as many back each week as we can. I think it's great that they come back and it's good to see a lot of them and get a chance to have a semi reunion with them, but I couldn't tell you how many are coming back. I really can't.
I wish I had the time to focus on some of the other things. I'm just trying to focus on this football team doing as well as they can against a really good Michigan State team.
Fran Ganter does an awful lot of that work with our alumni and he would have a better idea of the numbers of people coming back, who is coming back, and what classes are coming back. I haven't even thought about it yet. It's Tuesday of a game week and I'm trying to make sure we make it as productive as we can.
Q. There are people who are going to come to this game this weekend thinking this might be your last game at home. Is there a message you can send out to those folks?
Come to the game and enjoy it. It's a big football game. It's a big football game for this football team. A big football game for Penn State. If we win it, a lot of good things can happen to us. We don't know how good, but we know a lot of good things. Maybe there's bigger things than we think. You can't tell what's going to happen. But I don't think they should be coming because they think it's my last game.
Q. Has the success you've had this season as well as your health issues affected your outlook for the future?
Please, let's get off that. I haven't even thought about any of that. I know you've got to figure out who is going to get a jump on some kind of a story. I don't know what kind of a story you are looking for, but I have not even thought about any of that stuff. I really haven't. I'm not trying to be cute. I'm not trying to be dishonest about it. I really haven't even thought about it.
Q. Royster only had 12 carries on Saturday. Was he banged up or were you just trying to get him some rest to keep him fresh?
No, that's the way the ball game was played out. The play calling just didn't call for him to have to carry the ball that many times. Didn't he get about 60 to 70 yards anyway?
Royster was okay. My problem is I'm trying to get (Stephfon) Green more carries. I want to get Green caught up. You get in there and have some good young players that you can't get them in the game. So, maybe if it was a choice between Royster and Green some place in the ball game, the score what it is and the situation what it is, we probably would have played Green more. I don't even know how many times Green carried the ball (10).
Q. In a game like this, with Michigan State's rush defense is eighth in the conference, will there be more of an emphasis on running this week?
I honestly can't tell you. We're going to go out and play the football game, try to have a balanced attack, try to react to what they give us. If we're running the football, we'll try to keep running it. Michigan State is a very, very sound defensive football team. I'm surprised to hear you say they're eighth. I don't even look at that stuff. I look at people.
I think that Michigan State has got a tremendous blitz package. I think they do that really well. If you look at the Purdue game, they took Purdue almost out of the game early. It was 21 0 in the first half.
I think they're very solid defensively and we're going to go in there and play our game and see what happens.
Q. Do you get the sense that Mark Dantonio has his team playing with more discipline maybe than more Michigan State teams in the past?
I don't think that's up to me to make that decision.
I think they're playing really well. We've played against Michigan State teams who were pretty darn good. When (Nick) Saban was there, they were a pretty darn good football team. We had to beat them on a little screen pass at the end of the game one year (1995).
I think Dantonio's a really good football coach and he is very solid, sound. And they're playing hard and they're playing well. And they're playing disciplined. Whether they're playing more disciplined under this guy or that guy, I don't think that's fair.
They're playing very well. I said that after the game Saturday in the press conference, without having looked at a lot of tapes, I thought Michigan State may be playing as well as anybody in the Big Ten right now and I've not seen anything to change my mind about that.
Q. Once you get your hip surgery, is it a goal to get back on the sidelines for the bowl game? Beyond that, do you anticipate staying in the press box?
I want to get back on the field. I expect to be back on the field. The second part you suggested hasn't even ever occurred to me.
Q. Being in the press box, when you're not game planning during the timeouts, do you have a different perspective outlook on the stadium and the atmosphere? Do you look at anything like that with any kind of appreciation or are you just trying to figure out the next play?
I make notes and I look at the notes. I might write a note to Galen (Hall) and Jay (Paterno). I may be talking and Ron (Vanderlinden) is talking to Tom Bradley, and I may write a note saying, "don't forget this, I think we ought to be doing that." I try to be in the football game. But, no, I don't do that.
Q. When Stephfon Green came in here, you made a decision to redshirt him. What went into that decision?
He wasn't ready to play. Plus, he got hurt early. He came in to Penn State hurt. He only played a couple games his senior year in high school.
Q. How have you seen him develop this season?
I think he's coming along well. We've got to get him more experience. We've got to get him in a ball game. Earlier in the year, I was nervous about him hanging on to the football; he had a couple fumbles early. But he's coming along. I think he's going to be a really good back one day.
Q. Is he picking things up better?
That only comes with experience. He thought he could out run everybody all the time, but right now he is staying in there behind his blockers and waiting for a little crack and then he's going. And he'll get better and better.
That's why I said earlier that, when we run Royster this many times or that many times, you don't run Green. You'd like to be able to bring both of them along. And then there is the other kid who got hurt, (Brent) Carter. I like Carter too.
Q. Has the maturity and the business like attitude of this team made it easier for you to maybe back away because of your physical limitations? You don't necessarily have to be around these guys as much as maybe a younger, more inexperienced team.
I don't think there's any question about that. But I would not only give it to the maturity of the team, I'd give it to the coaching staff.
Sometimes it's hard, I think, for people who have not been in it to realize just how important it is to have a coaching staff that's all on the same page. I don't have to be there for every meeting and everything else. In fact, sometimes I meet with them on the phone in a conference call, and we talk a little bit about "here's what I think we ought to do, what did you think about practice yesterday?" and that kind of stuff, and they can relate to each other.
So I think that, I've been fortunate and, I've said that so many times, and I know you're tired of hearing me say it, but the coaching staff are the guys that are really getting it done for you. Now, I can get them on a Monday or I can get them after a practice. But if you've not had a good practice, I can get them on the phone and say "you guys have to push harder, we've got to do this or that, I didn't like a couple things we were doing" and so forth.
But, I think it's obviously the determination of the squad to be a good football team, the leadership there, and their relationship with the assistant coaches. And it's always been that way even when I was healthy. I would go down on the field, horse around with them, push them a little bit, scream at them and all that kind of stuff, which I still do from a motor cart; it's no different, that part of it on the practice field. The only difference is my ability to be on the field and when a kid comes in and he is a little down and be able to pat him on the back or if a kid comes in and he's hot dogging it tell him to calm down or we have a long ball game to go or something like that.
But, basically it's the assistant coaches and the staff. I mean the assistant coaches are the leaders on the squad.
Q. To clarify, you do expect to be back on the field for the bowl game if all goes well with surgery?
I haven't got the slightest idea yet. I'm just trying to tell you I don't know.
We're going to play this football game and when this football game's over or maybe sometime prior to the football game we'll do something. I don't know. I just don't know. I am not interested in what's going to happen until after Michigan State game's over, all right? And I'm trying to zero in on that.
Now having said that, Friday there may be a decision made maybe this is the best way to do something. Or maybe Saturday they may say after the game we've got this thing set up. I don't know. I'm leaving it in the hands of the people who know a little bit more about it than I do; that's the medical people.
Q. To follow up on your earlier answer, can you just expand a little more of the job your senior leaders have done this season?
Not only senior leaders, there's a lot of kids out there who have done a really good job. I think the three wideouts have been great. I think Clark is not getting enough credit. I think of a kid like Royster, who is only a sophomore football-wise. Some of the offensive linemen - (A.Q.) Shipley has done a really good job and (Gerald) Cadogan. I think on the defensive side of the football, the whole secondary has kind of developed. We only have one senior linebacker and only one senior down guy in (Josh) Gaines and (Tyrell) Sales.
So, I think there's underclassmen and there's upperclassmen; a bunch of kids who have gotten together and said we want to have a good football team. And they've worked hard, and they've been good and they've been easy to work with. They've been fun to coach, and I think we have a good situation.
Q. Kerry Collins has had a pretty good year with the Tennessee Titans. Have you gotten a chance to kind of see what he's been doing and what are your thoughts on his success?
I haven't seen him play at all. I don't see much pro football. I guess they're doing well, right? Kerry's a great guy, a great football player. He's been pretty good everywhere he's been. He wasn't bad with us in '94. (laughter). He wasn't bad with the Giants. One year he took them to the Super Bowl, didn't he? Didn't he take the Carolina Panthers there? Kerry is a big timer.
Kerry got in a little bit of a situation where he didn't quite know how to handle the whole different lifestyle. He was used to having friends around him and all that kind of stuff, and not very rich and having a big house and some things. He and I have talked about it at times. I'm glad he got married. He has a lovely wife and he's got a little baby girl, who is maybe three or four. I mean, he's a big time person.
Q. What's the status of Josh Gaines for this week and will he be available?
I think he will. We thought he could go last week, and he was going to try, and then he wasn't comfortable with it. But he practiced yesterday a little bit so I think he'll be okay.
Q. What does the Land Grant Trophy mean to you?
It means a win. (Laughter.) It's funny, when we first got in the Big Ten, George Perles, who was the assistant coach of the Steelers, took the head job with Michigan State. And I had known George and George's kids had played high school ball in western Pennsylvania. George and my brother (George) had been on the coaching staff at Michigan State for four, five, six years and he was an assistant coach when Duffy was out there and he and George were friends.
When we got in the Big Ten, George was out, I think in the Hawaii, coaching the Hula Bowl or one of those things. He called me up and said, "Hey, the Big Ten has one game that everybody has locked in at the end of the season." He said, "why don't we lock our game in?" And I said, "George, I think that would be great" because Michigan State has a great Pennsylvania background. Some of the best players they've ever had were Pennsylvania kids. And I said that's fine with me.
I think George may have been the athletic director so he could call the shots. I don't know whether I was or not. But we decided we would make it the end of the year game every year. And I think the presidents or the governors came up with the governor's trophy thing.
I think it's nice. I think Michigan State is very similar. We both started as land grant colleges the first year. We're the oldest land grant colleges in the country. Both started in 1855, and so I think it's appropriate. And we've had some good football games.
Q. A lot of people around town have been thinking a lot about Fran Fisher and his family (his wife Charlotte passed away last week) the past week. What have they meant to your experience here at Penn State?
Fran and Charlotte have been great people. Fran has been one of those guys that is always a delight to be around. He and my brother were like this. In fact, I think Fran probably got my brother out of jail more times than anybody (laughter).
And Charlotte was young. It's tough. It's tough to lose good friends. We were so taken up with trying to get this thing right and with all of the other things, I didn't even get over to some of the services for Charlotte and I felt bad about that. But, they're just a great couple. And I feel bad about that. I have to spend a little time with Fran. It's going be tough for Fran; Charlotte and he were so close.