Back To Bowl Media Day Coverage
Dec. 11, 2009; UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
Senior Linebacker Sean Lee
Q: With the bowl match-up you've got going can you talk about what you guys may have to prove the way you see it for Penn State?
A: Well first, we haven't beaten anyone in the top 25 this year. So that's kind of a big thing. I think it's a theme we've taken. We have something to prove no matter what. LSU is a great program. It's going to be a tough game with a ton of athletes that are coached really well. They're going to have a ton of fans. We're going to have a ton of fans. So we're kind of taking this whole bowl game as a big challenge for us, seeing it as a huge game for us.
Q: Have you seen any film of LSU to be able to make a judgment on what kind of game you expect from them?
A: I've watched some, I'll probably watch more the next week. I actually just finished my last test yesterday so I'm really going to start pushing the film now, but what I've seen is that they're an athletic team who's probably going to spread the ball out. They do a good job- at least their offensive line- of getting to the second level, so as a linebacker they seem athletic. We're going to have to do a good job of getting off blocks. Their quarterback can make plays. He's athletic. All around they seem to have really good skills to begin with so we're going to have to tackle well in space, especially negative plays, if we want to win this game.
Q: I was wondering, your story is a little bit different than everyone else on the team. You're a senior. You've been injured, last year, part of this year. This is your last game at Penn State. Can you talk about personally what this game means to you?
A: You know, I've been truly blessed to finish this season out, to have a senior day at Penn State and to be able to play in this bowl game. Last year, I felt helpless on the sideline when we were playing against USC in the Rose Bowl and the first three years we had won all the bowl games. So, I'm going to be extremely excited to be out, to try to help our team win this game and go out on a good note for my career.
Q: I know you guys have a great matchup, but obviously there was a lot of talk about going to the BCS. You guys didn't get picked and a lot of people across the country feel that 'they (Penn State) shouldn't have gotten picked.' Is that motivation at all (to prove that you're worthy of a BCS game)?
A: I think that just playing LSU alone is motivation. We kind of took the theme that we didn't care where we were playing or what bowl it was as long as we got a good opponent. That was going to be our top concern and that's what we got with LSU, a really tough team, and that's what's going to be our motivating factor in beating a great program.
Q: I'm doing a story on Josh [Josh Hull] and how his career's evolved as a linebacker for you guys. What have you seen him do through the years to go from a walk-on to a guy who is in the middle of your defense?
A: First thing for him, it's a testament to hard work for a guy. He's a guy who came in every single day and worked extremely hard. He's never missed a workout. He's never backed off a workout. He's always trying to push to get better and if you see the progression from two years ago (when he first started playing), from last year (when he was a starter) to now, it's an amazing progression because he's gotten so much better at taking advantage of every opportunity he has and that's a testament to his character.
Q: For players of your age, how do you put into perspective playing for a guy like Joe Paterno?
A: Well. First you've got to respect it. For a guy who is soon to be 83 years old, someone who in the last few years has gone through two major surgeries and has come back better than I have from my surgeries, you have to respect how long he's been a head coach and been at Penn State- from before my parents were born, which is just crazy to me and an unbelievable accomplishment. And for him to be as passionate as he is now, at his age, and to still be coaching with as much integrity as he has, I don't think there will be anyone ever like him again in college football.
Q: I guess the obvious thing that people might think is that he's not as plugged in, but how do think he is as far as being plugged in to his players?
A: Have you seen him? You haven't seen him. I mean if you get around him, you will understand how plugged in he really his. How witty he is, how much he knows about you, how much he remembers just from my recruiting visit, which was five years ago, and he's gone on a ton of them over his career. He's an incredible guy and if you come to one of our practices you will realize how plugged in he is, how much passion he has and how much he is really doing for this program.
Q: Sean, can you talk about how you want to be remembered in your career? It's been a long 5 years.
A: I just want to be remembered as a guy who from the day he got here, has worked extremely hard to try to help this program improve, to win football games and not only improve on the field, but improve off the field. You know, try to be a leader off the field who has kind of passed his leadership down to younger guys to try and improve this program.
Q: What were the highlights of your career?
A: First would be the Orange Bowl. I mean, I went my freshman year. In camp I tore my MCL and was out for three weeks. I was expecting to redshirt that year. I ended up playing, become a back up, playing some special teams, playing a little more as the year went on and then by the Orange Bowl, in a certain package, I was the only linebacker on the field with a ton of great linebackers. So that whole year was great for me and then playing against all the great teams in the Big Ten, playing in great bowl games like Tennessee, Texas A&M-all those will be great highlights for me.
Q: Do you regret the Rose Bowl?
A: Yeah, the Rose Bowl, you know, losing at home sometimes. Stuff like that I think about pretty consistently, but it just fuels you to get better.
Q: Sean what are your initial impressions of LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson as a quarterback?
A: I think he's a really good athlete. He's a playmaker, he's a guy we're going to have to keep contained. If we let him go, I really think their offense goes as far as he takes them.
Q: Sean you mentioned that you didn't care what bowl game you went to, as long as you played a good opponent. Was this something you talked about with you and Daryll [Clark] as a team as a whole?
A: It's actually something Coach Paterno told us and being that he has won so many bowl games and played so many it was good advice. Because the bowl games, the names are great, everything around it, but when it comes down to it, the bowl is about that game. What you're going to remember is the game, who you are playing, and how well you play, and I think that's what he was trying to emphasize.
Q: The last bowl game you played in you were the MVP. That was a long time ago. I was just wondering how you feel you're playing right now.
A: How do I feel I'm playing right now? I feel I've gotten a lot better as the year went on. I think when I came back from my injury I wasn't physically where I was at the beginning of the year, but if you watch me from each game going on, I had gotten better and better and better, and I hope to just make that step and play even better in the bowl game.
Q: Was there any disappointment even for 10 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute when you found out you weren't in a BCS bowl?
A: No. I was just excited to play LSU. I mean, that's the way I really look at it is playing against a great program. You know, I'm going to play in my years here Florida State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC [Trojans], and LSU. How can you beat that for a career? And that's what my top concern was and a lot of the guys when they heard we were playing LSU, they were extremely excited and were ready to play.
Q: How did you guys kill time from the Michigan State game until you found out where you were playing?
A: We had Thanksgiving, so a lot of guys just probably slept and ate turkey all week and then when we got back we jumped right into workouts trying to get back into shape and we had practice. This time between Michigan State has gone by really fast and the bowl season will go by really fast so we haven't had much time to sit around and think about it.
Q: What do you think the next couple of weeks will be like for you knowing that it is your last game?
A: I think it will be more once I'm done here and I won't be coming back to State College, I won't be back and coming back to my locker. Right now, I got rid of my lease. I lived off campus. So now I'm kind of homeless. I'm sleeping on Mickey Shuler's futon and living out of my car, so, I've started to realize it right now that I'm starting to move out of this place.
Q: Where do you plan to train for the draft?
A: I'm not sure yet. I'm going to go through that process in the next few weeks. Early in January I'm going to figure out where I'm going to train.
Q: Are you still going to wear a brace in the bowl game?
A: Yes, I'm going to wear the knee brace.
Q: Are you going to have doctors look at your knee after the bowl game so that you don't have to worry about that for the NFL Combine?
A: I'll have them. Right now what I'm expecting out of the knee is that after the season I won't be wearing a brace. I'll just be rehabbing. I'll be really able to workout full go as if there is really nothing wrong with it. I'll think it's just the doctor as a precautionary thing. He wants to keep the knee brace on and I agree with him.
Q: In regards to A.J. Wallace being injured and if he will play in the bowl game.
A: A.J. is practicing full go and he's fine. I think that everybody from the season who is not out for us this year is going full go.
Q: When you look at Navarro Bowman's progression since he got here. How would you analyze him from the first day back here to now?
A: I always thought back, several seasons, it was a matter of time for him to really take over as that third starter. The problem was he had gotten into a little bit of trouble and he sprained his ankle really bad at the Illinois game in '07 and the combination of that really knocked him back. He didn't end up going to the bowl game that year. So that's why I think he was under the radar. Had he been able to play full go that whole season-had not gotten in trouble and had not hurt his ankle, I think he would have gone into that year as people knowing how good of a player he was. You see him, each year he's just kind of gotten better and better. The thing with him is he is so athletic that he can do a lot of things and he has a combination of instincts and athleticism that not a lot of people have and that's why he's such a good player.
Q: Sean, along those same lines, can you talk a little about Jared Odrick and how good of a player he is?
A: Yeah, I mean Jared, two years ago in '07; I thought he was our best defensive lineman and ended up also getting hurt at Indiana and has made that progression. Each year he has gotten better and better to this year where he was so dominant that they [other teams] put double teams on him every time and was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Ten and it is really because coach has so much respect for him. He is an extremely hard worker. He is a guy who watches film consistently; looks at what he needs to get better at and really takes it outside in Holuba Hall, really working on pass rush; working on everything he can do and I think that's why he has been so good.
Q: What did you say to him when he won all of those awards?
A: Congratulations. He deserved it. I mean, if you watch the film, other teams made a consistent effort in their game plan to stop Jared. Whether it was with the run, the type of runs they were doing, where they put their pass protection. A lot of that was passed on where he was and that's just because of what a good player he is.
Q: Sean looking at the LSU offense, is there anything you can compare to Big Ten offenses you've seen?
A: I think there's some similar stuff that Ohio State does. They have a good athletic quarterback. I mean, it's all stuff we've seen. The combination of stuff we do. I don't think there will be anything too surprising that we'll see that will be different, so I think that will give us a little bit of an advantage.