April 26, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., -
Coach Paterno: Blue-White Game News Conference
Q. What is your timetable on deciding on a starting quarterback?
...Some kids surprise you, some don't. I don't know, really. I think the two kids (Matt McGloin and Kevin Newsome) that are...right now that would be ahead of the pack are pretty even, and I'm anxious to see what they do today before a crowd. Neither one of them have been in a game, really. I've let the assistant coaches pretty much decide how they want to break it up. But I think they both will have a chance to work with both teams. And we'll see what happens. But I think we've made progress, I really do. We're not there yet. We've got a long ways to go. But, they're making progress, and they're working at it, and there's certainly some potential there, and we'll see what happens. But if you said to me, "who's going to be starting quarterback in the fall?" I couldn't tell you.
Q. In the past, along what kind of lines have you made judgments like this when you have really no one (returning with experience) and you're looking at two or three guys?
I think you've got to tie it in with what the rest of the football team can do on the offense. I think we've got a if the offensive line comes along in all fairness, we've moved guys around all over the place trying to get the right combination. But once you settle on your offensive line, if you feel comfortable, your wideouts, do you want to spend more time with the tight ends, then you kind of adjust. Both these two quarterbacks are not I mean, they do some things one does some things better than the other one and so forth. So what I, right now I've been, I've spent an awful lot of time trying to work through this, and then you look at the schedule, and what are you going to have to do to beat a couple of teams we have to beat. So you try to say, "well, if we do this with this one and we do that, well, we can't handle this team and..."
Q. That sounds like if the offensive line is good, it's the guy who's not as mobile. If the offensive line is not so good--
It might end up that way.
Q. Is that accurate?
It might end up that way. Again, it depends on how much they can handle. You look at some of the people we have to play against, when you get where there has to be a lot of reads on the line of scrimmage, then you've got to pick a guy that maybe is a little bit further along that way.
Q. Have you ever made one of these decisions based mostly on leadership values?
Sometimes. Yeah, John Shaffer would have been one, (Chuck) Burkhart would have been one. John Shaffer was not a great thrower.
Q. Who was the second one?
Chuck Burkhart, before you were born. (Laughter.)
Q. What are some of the areas you feel Kevin Newsome has progressed pretty well in?
Well, I think his presence has improved so much. He's really, he's much more aware of some things, and I think he's got a little more poise in the huddle, things of that sort, and he's more accurate throwing the football. We always knew he could run. He's a big strong kid. He'd be a heck of a tailback. But he's just kind of gotten a little better feel for what's going on and a little bit more serious about things, a little better in the huddle.
Q. A lot of the Penn State fan base seemed generally surprised when they learned that Evan Royster is only about 500 yards away from the all time rushing (yardage) record at Penn State. What do you make of that? Do you think maybe he doesn't get some of the credit for having such a great year....
Evan is a heck of an athlete. When Evan came out of Virginia, he was really rated the best lacrosse player in the state of Virginia, which is a pretty darned good state for high school lacrosse. He comes from a family where they have athletes. His older brother went to Stanford, was an athlete. He's smart. He's not quite as quick as some of the tailbacks we've had, but he's been durable. He does all the things you'd want a tailback to do. He's a good pass protector, and he's a fine receiver. So when he's in there, sometimes we flank him out and the whole bit. But he's a good, solid back. Now, whether he's got more yards than somebody else, I don't you know what I mean, you guys know more about those statistics than I do. You've got to remember we're playing more games. Somebody asked me at a meeting I had with some of our fundraisers this morning over at the Bryce Jordan Center, how would I compare Curt Warner, who just went in the college Hall of Fame, with Royster, because Royster was going to probably pass his record. And I didn't think of it at the time, but after thinking about it and after you asked the question, you know, Warner these kids are playing a lot more football games. We're playing 12, 13 games now. So I don't think the stats really are significant in comparing one against the other. I think Royster is a good tailback, and I think he, if he stays healthy, he'll have a big year.
Q. As spring practice has progressed, have you made progress with the linebacker situation?
The linebacker position? I think we'll be good at the linebacker position. That's not one of my concerns. I think defensively we've had a good spring. I'm a little concerned about some depth but not at the linebacker spot. I think the linebackers have done well. I think we'll have four or five linebackers that we can play with and compete with.
Q. What's the punting situation; how is that shaping up?
Well, the punting is a problem. We had a little setback. (Anthony) Fera got in a little bit of a jam, and I'm holding him out, because we were trying him rather than to be the second placekicker to see if he could be the first punter. You know, that's something...that's a concern of mine, because if I talk to you about being a good defensive football team, so much of it depends on field position, and without the punter...now, we're trying (Graham) Zug as a punter, and Zug has looked pretty good.
Q. And what about your role today? You're usually on the radio. Now that it's a national (TV) event, what will you do?
Did you talk to my grandfather, Mr. Guido D'Elia? He turns me this way. I don't know where I'm going to be honest with you. Where am I going? Am I going to be on the field for a quarter? Well, what am I going to do on the field? I'm not going to do anything on the field. For crying out loud, all I'm going to do is screw up everybody.
Q. Is it a different dynamic because it's on a national network?
I don't know. This is a kids' game. This is for the squad. This is a bunch of kids out there that have never played before this many people. I just hope that...I hope we have a...we argue and debate in the staff meetings as to how we want to play the game, how we want to divide up the squad. We had a couple of tough not tough, but we had a couple of meetings where we were trying to figure out what was best, and then you want to take into consideration the fans. You want to make sure that they can walk away saying, "ooh, ooh," talk about this guy and this guy. So it's showmanship, really. I don't know. I'm amazed to think about how college football and I told this to Brent (Musburger) and Matt Millen and Kirk (Herbstreit) and the other kid (Desmond Howard) that's doing the game, I said, "you know, it's amazing to think of the interest there is in college football today, because I obviously am"...I had a shot at watching the Alabama game. I didn't watch all of it, their spring game; what did they have, 90,000 people there? You know what I mean? You say to yourself, holy smokes, what do we have, 60,000, 70,000 out here? I know the traffic is tough on it. I don't know. That's a lousy answer to a question, but I haven't got any answer.
Q. Can you talk about the move Quinn Barham made from guard to tackle and what you've seen from him in the spring so far?
Again, we're trying different combinations and trying to get the best five guys in there. The tackles are a concern for us because the way the game is played in this day. When we're not sure what we're going to do with the quarterbacks and we have good wideouts and you'd like to be able to use them in the ballgame, spread them out a little bit, when you do that, you put those tackles on an island because you're one back most of the time. That can help one side or the other but not both sides. We're really not sure who our tackles are going to be, so we moved both (Lou) Eliades from guard to tackle and Barham from guard to tackle because they're both good athletes and would appear to be able to do the tough job, the pass protection, on those good, quick rush ends that you've got to play against. So I think Barham, he's not been here long enough for me to tell you I know exactly how he's going to do. But he's a great kid. He works hard. He'll get better. He's got enough athletic ability, and I think he might end up being a good left tackle for us.
Q. Mike Zordich was recently charged with underage drinking for the second time in seven months. Can you update his status for the team?
Well, I'm going to let him dress today. He's not going to play. I'm not happy with him. He comes from...his dad (Michael Zordich) was a heck of a player for us and then played pro ball for 12 years, and he's now an assistant coach down at the (Philadelphia) Eagles. I would have thought he'd have a little bit more responsibility than that. But the world today is a little different than it was 25 years ago. Twenty-five years ago if something happened to a kid like that, he wasn't interfering with anybody, he wasn't interfering, he just obviously stumbled a little bit and one of the policemen saw him and tested him. I can't tell you how many times I got calls from the police years ago, "hey, come up here and pick up so and so," and I'd take them home, put them to bed and get them up in the morning and run his rear end for a couple weeks. And then nobody would know anything about it. And I'm talking about some pretty good football players that you guys would know if I mentioned their names. So it's just wrong, and he's got to understand that. He's got an obligation to...his dad is a great guy, and his grandparents are wonderful people, and he's got a chance to be a really good football player. But if I let him get away with it then somebody else gets away with it. He hasn't practiced with us since that thing came up, but I'm going to let a couple of kids...there's another kid out there that's not going to play who's been cutting classes. When we get spring practice over, we'll have a real prayer meeting and decide what we're going to do in the fall. There will be three kids out there that won't play. Fera is one, Zordich is another one, and I'm not going to tell you who the third one is.
Q. You moved Chaz Powell from wideout to defensive back to start the spring. How has that transition gone, and how do you feel about the move in general?
I think it's worked out wonderfully. Chaz has wanted to play defense. Chaz, when we recruited him, was a safety, and we recruited him as a safety. And I think that's worked out well. He's had a lot of enthusiasm, and I think our secondary right now is going to be pretty good. The other kid that's come along is the (D'Anton) Lynn kid, who's been up and down and wasn't real happy for a while there. He's had a really good spring. So I think we're pretty good in the secondary. I think we're pretty good.
Q. You said he wasn't happy, was he unhappy with --
Lynn?
Q. Yeah.
Well, we were talking about playing him at safety, playing him at corner, playing him at nickel and the whole bit. But we had a good session, and his dad, as you know, is an assistant coach with the (New York) Jets, and we talked, and he's fine. He's really had a good spring...had an outstanding spring. So I think the secondary is in pretty good shape.
Q. You're replacing (Andrew) Quarless and (Mickey) Shuler at tight end this year. Who are some of the young tight ends that have been seeing reps, and how have they done especially with the blocking?
Well, (Andrew) Szczerba is going to be fine. He doesn't have quite the speed that either Mickey or Quarless had, but he's going to be fine. And then we have a young kid, (Garry) Gilliam, who I like. He's going to be okay. So I think we'll be all right. And we're using (Brett) Brackett as a guy...Brackett is 235 pounds. He's a guy we can put in the slot, put him in motion, be half a tight end, half a wideout, that kind of thing. And all those things are will evolve in what we decide we're going to do offensively relative to what the quarterbacks can do, because honest to goodness, I know you may think I'm trying to be cute, but honestly if you said to me, "how are you going to line up in the fall?" I don't know yet, I really don't.
Q. I realize you don't always like to discuss true freshmen. Paul Jones enrolled early. Can you describe what you saw from him the first couple months here?
Well, I think he's going to be...he's got talent. But there's an awful lot, particularly when we're in the process, as I said, of trying to establish what we want to do with two kids ahead of him. So he's got to jump in there and he's got to do some things he's good at and some things he's not so good at. But he's a good kid, works hard, and I think he's eventually going to be pretty good.
Q. You switched (Stefen) Wisniewski to guard. Is he going to be staying there or is he going back to center? Is that a permanent switch?
I don't know. Depends on whether (Doug) Klopacz -- I kind of like Klopacz -- and that's why we moved Wisniewski is to give Klopacz a chance. He's a backup center, and he's a senior, and I felt that we want to get a little bit more stability on the offensive line and get another guy in there, so now we have three seniors in there. We have Klopacz, Wisniewski and (Lou) Eliades. Whether that holds up or not, I don't know. I really don't know. Wisniewski can play center or he can play guard or he can play tackle if we get into...Wisniewski will play guard today.
Q. What's the latest you've heard on Big Ten expansion?
Nobody is calling me up or giving me a rundown. I don't really know. What I've been trying to tell people is...the people that I talk to in the Big Ten, particularly some of the coaches and the athletic directors, is the Pac 10 is going to go (expand). My gut feeling is that the Pac 10 is going to expand, and they're going to take a couple good football teams in there.
Q. Colorado?
I would think they're talking to Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, maybe even Boise State, I don't know. I'm talking about the Pac 10. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing I keep preaching is the Big Ten is going to have to go to 12, I think. I think we have to go to at least 12 because of the fact of the television and the championship game. We're sitting around at home November 28th or whatever it is, and we're watching everybody else play. I've been pushing that for several years, but I haven't really gotten much response. But now it almost looks like if you had your -- if I had my choice, and that doesn't mean that anybody agrees with me, I'm just telling you my opinion -- I would like us to get two teams from the east and a team from the west, and so we'd be 14. Now, is that the consensus of the presidents or the athletic directors? I don't know.
Q. It seems like they're more amenable to expansion than they were this time last year.
Well, I think that at least they're talking about it. And in all fairness to them, I've talked this over with the Big Ten coaches a couple of times at our Big Ten meetings, and we're going to meet in May again, and I think something will come up there. But Jim Delany, who I think is really working hard to try to figure out what's the best arrangement, and working with the presidents, Jim said the day when we made some suggestions to him, he said, "hey, you guys do me a favor, don't go around talking too much. Give me a chance to get some information. Give me a chance to make this not a knee jerk decision. " And I think he's doing it. I think Jim is working hard on it. What's going to come out of what he finds out and what have you is, I'm reluctant to...I think in deference, we're the new people on the block in the Big Ten, and in deference to the people who have been there, I'm reluctant to be critical of anybody, particularly since by the time we get expansion, I've only got 10 more years as a head coach (laughter.) But I think it's going to happen. I'd be surprised if we don't come up with some kind of an expansion.
Q. Coming up in May or June?
I don't know if it'll come up this year or not. I could not...I haven't got the slightest idea on that. But I do think that, I think that there's a lot of people talking about it, and I think that they're earnest in trying to do what's going to be best for the conference as a whole. And as I've told people, I said, when we went in the Big Ten, we went in the Big Ten because I couldn't...when I was the athletic director and the football coach, I couldn't get, I couldn't overcome Dave Gavitt and Jake Crouthamel. They were roommates as freshmen as Dartmouth, and they were protecting the Big East basketball thing, and I couldn't get them. And they wanted Penn State to...I had a big meeting in Hartford, Connecticut, with Gavitt and a couple people, and they wanted us, they wanted us to come in as a basketball, just basketball, and I didn't think that was the best thing for Penn State. I thought Penn State sports, I think we owed it to all of our sports to get into a conference that way. But anyway, we were fortunate enough that the president of Illinois, Stan Ikenberry had been a provost here, so it worked. So we went in the Big Ten, and when we went in the Big Ten, I was only looking at it from the athletic part of it, but it was amazing what it did for our faculty because of the research. All of a sudden they had colleagues at some of the better universities in the country. They can compare things, they did things, and it really, you know, it really turned out to be a great thing for Penn State, not just the athletic part of it. And having experienced that, that's where I'm coming from all the time, is when we bring one school, two schools, three schools in, it ought to be with the idea that these are, that they're similar institutions. And that's all. I don't think we should bring somebody in because they're a good football school or we don't want to bring somebody in because they're a good basketball school. We want to bring in the same kind of institution that we are and the great schools of the Big Ten. And that's why I think the Pac 10 is going to have a little problem, because as good as their institutions are, they've got to find people that have comparable faculties, comparable research incentives, and a lot of different things, otherwise I think they'll make a mistake. So I think the Pac 10 is working towards the schools I mentioned if I know what I'm talking about. But I'm not sure. I get that from some friends. I have not talked to anybody at Texas or Texas A&M or to the commissioner at the Pac 10. So I think what we're looking at is a couple schools, one school, two schools, three schools that are going to excite our faculty as well as...when I say our faculty, I mean the Big Ten faculty, as well as I think our faculty got excited about going in the Big Ten.
Q. Adding on that, would you be opposed if it's not an AAU school?
I don't think that's my call. I think the presidents ought to know, they ought to be able to evaluate the schools. All I've tried to do is just just as I'm trying to do with you guys and people, I shouldn't keep thinking I'm in a locker room, is what happened to us at Penn State. And without my knowing it was going to happen, because I was only interested in the athletic part of it, hey, take a look at the impact. A University comes into the Big Ten, what's it going to mean to the whole conference, what's it going to mean not only athletically but what's it going to mean as far as what we're able to do? I don't mean to preach to you guys, but God, this country in the next 30 years is going to be the toughest 30 years this country has ever had since we started the country, since we couldn't make up our minds whether France was our friend and England was our enemy or what. We've got to be a world... we've got to train kids out and we've got to have the faculty that does that kind of research. Everybody is talking about "do this, do that, green this, global warming," all that kind of stuff. We've got to somehow make sure that this country is not going to fall behind. Athletics is obviously...they get 60,000, 70,000 out here, they're excited about coming back, we're going to go out and try to raise $2 billion (Penn State's For the Future campaign). You know how much we raised when I first came here? We had an Indiana, Pa. (car dealer) by the name of Spadafore who used to give us a car at cost and we raffled it off for 15,000 bucks. That was a big year. Colonial Motors. I can still...I think we raffled off an Oldsmobile. Do they still make Oldsmobiles? You know, it's all...somebody said to me one time, or something I read a little while ago, "don't ever forget tradition, but remember, without change you're going to lose tradition." So we've got to...we'll see what happens. Boy oh boy, have I put you to sleep? I usually get paid a couple hundred bucks for that lecture. (Laughter.)
Q. How do you feel about the receivers and how they have performed this spring?
I think we have very talented receivers, and they've done a lot of good things, but they haven't caught the ball consistently. Now, I think part of that is some of the defensive backs are knocking them around a little bit. But, I think we've got to do a better job catching the ball, and that's one of the things I'm looking forward to today. I think they're going to have to make some catches from the quarterbacks. The quarterbacks are not putting the ball here all the time, and they're struggling a little bit, but if it's here, you've got to catch it. We haven't done that; we really haven't done that. But there's a lot of talent out there. There's a lot of talent on this football team, we just don't know where we're going yet, and we need some -- obviously the question about leadership came up -- leadership, and we've got to get a couple of quarterbacks that can go in there and put a drive together. I keep teasing them a little bit, and you guys remember '94, Illinois has got us licked, Kerry Collins takes us 95 yards down the field in four minutes, and we ended up beating Illinois (35-31 after trailing 21-0). I mean, we're not...we don't have that yet.