Oct. 12, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; -
VIDEO: Tuesday Q&A with DeOn'tae Pannell & Nick Sukay
No. 50 - DeOn'tae Pannell, Senior, Guard
Q: How much do you guys spend on working on scoring in the red zone?
A: Every day as a part of practice we have a special kind of little period set up, mixed in with our run game kind of practice. We practice all of our red zone plays and passes and runs and everything. So, it's a pretty big focus every week even though we haven't seen much success with us, but definitely we're looking to improve on it or it is going to come back to bite us pretty soon.
Q: Does having two quarterbacks affect that at all?
A: No, not at all. It just comes down to execution and making mistakes. Another big thing is penalties. We've had so many penalties in the red zone the last couple weeks and that has really stalled out a lot of our drives.
Q: What has led to the emergence of the running game?
A: Honestly, everything just came together at the right time. We've been working on it for so long. It was a big focus in spring ball. In the weight room, guys are talking about it as we're conditioning and stuff like that. It hasn't been great the first couple weeks and it just kind of came together. Guys really took it upon themselves, took it personally, that people didn't think we could run the ball really well. We all put it on our backs and we were able to have success with it.
Q: Why have there been such struggles on the offensive line?
A: It's hard to say. Mostly, what the coaches told us and what we've seen from the film is we're making too many mistakes. Guys weren't paying enough attention to detail and coming out and finishing and coming out to play every play. All of those things kind of came together and got taken care of last week.
Q: Is it hard for the average fans to understand that you can have three returning starters on the offensive line and still not be able to move the ball?
A: Yeah, it is. We have guys with a lot of experience but there's always going to be a learning curve every year, no matter what. You always have to start from square one and that's kind of what we had to do again no matter what. It took us until week five to get there, but we got there.
Q: Is there a difference in blocking for Silas Redd or Curtis Dukes?
A: Not that we notice. We don't really pay attention to it. You've got to get after it every play. You can't worry about who's in the backfield.
Q: What have you seen from Curtis Dukes?
A: He's just been getting better every week since the pre-season. He was a kind of shy guy when he first got here and every year he has gotten stronger and he has gotten faster. He's a lot leaner than he used to be. He has really shown himself when he got an opportunity. Since Brandon Beachum has been hurt, he is taking the opportunity and running with it.
Q: Is there a different personality on the offense depending on which quarterback is in?
A: As an offense as a whole, no, not really. We don't really pay attention to who does what. We just kind of go with the flow. Like I said before with the running backs, it doesn't matter whose in the backfield up front. With the receivers and the running backs, we all have a job to do and we can't worry about who's doing what and who's not doing what.
Q: How beneficial has Quinn Barham been as a leader and a captain?
A: It's been great. Quinn has been around here for a long time. He has been through everything, all of the ups and downs. Him coming in and being one of our leaders has just been great. He keeps everybody going through practice. He's a funny guy. Saturday at the game, guys were really uptight and I think a lot of that (leadership) was true. He did a great job of loosening guys up on Saturday.
Q: How far has offensive tackle Chima Okoli come at the position and what is he like off of the field?
A: He's getting really good. For him to come in and play as many games as he did last year with such little practice was a thing that's almost unheard of. This year, I think he kind of got off to a rough start when he hurt his ankle but I think he's starting to come into his own as an offensive player. I think we're going to reap the benefits of having such an athletic guy out there. He's one of my closest friends on the team. He's a real good guy and the personality on the offensive line is we're a tight group. We've got four guys that are seniors this year and going to be graduating. We've been around each other for a long time. Then (Matt Stankiewitch) is also a (fourth)-year senior. So, we've all been around each other for a long time. It's a great chemistry with the group.
Q: What do you think about how Andrew Szczerba played through a tough time?
A: I was very surprised at how well he played with the heavy heart that he did. But, that's kind of how Szczerba is. Off the field is one thing; on the field is another thing. He's a completely different person on the field. That's just kind of how Szczerba has always been. He always brings it every time we step on the field, whether it's practice or a game. That's really, I believe, how he was able to separate that and play so well.
No. 1 - Nick Sukay, Senior, Safety
Q: Can you talk about the comfort level you guys have in the secondary with a group of guys that have played so much football together?
A: There's definitely a level of comfort we've developed over the years. Obviously, playing together, this is our third year together for most of us. Then you have Chaz (Powell) and (Adrian) Amos and people coming in here and there. They just blend in real easily. So we know where we're going to be, what we want to do. There's not a whole lot of talk about what we have to do to figure something out or correct something. There's definitely an advantage.
Q: Nick, a year ago you got hurt at homecoming. Just talk about the process you went through to get back?
A: It was a real long process. It was more just patiently waiting for it to heal, correctly heal to the bone as far as the muscle goes. It was frustrating to sit back and watch the team play and not be out there trying to help your team win. I just had to keep a positive mindset about it and go through camp and hope everything's okay. Everything's fine right now.
Q: Are you back playing better than you were last year?
A: I wouldn't say so. There's definitely room for improvement, but I wouldn't say I'm playing at a level I'm capable of playing at. As far as not being tentative and worrying about the injury, I'm not out there tentatively worrying about that and not trying to hit someone like that.
Q: How is D'Anton (Lynn) doing? Is he really itching to get back? Is he upset or frustrated that he hasn't been able to get back on the field yet?
A: He definitely wants to be out there just like anyone who gets injured. They definitely want to be out there helping the team and everything. He was really itching to play last week. He'll be ready to go this week, I think. He did everything in practice yesterday and he felt fine. He'll be ready to go and I know he wants to be out there just as bad as anyone else.
Q: You mentioned that you really didn't have to talk much in the secondary. Is it hand-signals or looks or just knowing innately where everyone will be?
A: It's having an innate feeling where people will be. At the same time, we're all on the same page. We know where our check-downs are and things like that. You don't have to worry about someone not knowing something. It's a quick hand-signal or just knowing where people will be. You have trust in your teammates that they'll be in the right place. You don't have to worry about compensating for someone else or covering for someone else. You have faith in them doing their job.
Q: What has impressed you about (Adrian) Amos? It's rare for a freshman to get on the field.
A: Even when we saw him in the summer, we would do drill 6, 7-on-7. You could tell in his back pedal, just real fluid, and his break on the ball, having good awareness and everything. We knew that he could be a contributor. It was just us, players out there watching him. He had a real good camp and some people went down and we had nothing but confidence and faith in him that he could get the job done. That's what he's done in practice and he's a real confident player.
Q: How much did it change to have him in there instead of Lynn? There's obviously a difference right? Is there a certain comfort level with Lynn?
A: Just as far as we've never played together obviously. There's a certain comfort level, but you have to have confidence in your teammates and we have confidence in him. We've seen what he's done in practice and he's played some in games already this year. There was no difference in confidence levels. I guess you could say maybe just not knowing what exactly might happen, but we have confidence in him regardless. It was just different without Lynn in there, but he's a tremendous player and he played awesome in the game the other day.
Q: When you have your tackles playing as well as they are right now in (Devon) Still and (Jordan) Hill, how much of an impact does that have on the rest of the defense? Can you take more risks than you normally would?
A: I think it makes our jobs easier, because they're making plays in the backfield, tackles for loss all the time. Creating pressure on the quarterback helps us out in the secondary as far as anyone from the D-line goes or linebackers on the blitz. When the quarterback's under pressure they tend to make more errors in their throwing. So it makes our jobs easier, but they definitely wreak havoc. They're probably the best D-Tackle tandem in the Big Ten. I haven't seen a whole lot of others that would be better than them.
Q: What was your impression of Drew Astorino when he came in here? He was a small-school guy, maybe not have played against the best competition, but did you get a sense early that this kid is a player?
A: From day one, I've been close with Drew. It was me, him and Chaz (Powell) at safety when we first came in. You could definitely tell he was just a tremendous athlete to begin with. He was very under-recruited as far as the recruiting process goes. He was under the radar and some teams missed out on him. He's obviously had some injuries and stuff here over the years, but he's shown you what he can do this year. He's played well over the other years as well. He's just a tremendous athlete, he's real smart out there, a real leader on the defense. He definitely helps our team.
Q: How much flack did he take over dropping what looked like a potential pick-6? When you guys watched that in film, what did you say?
A: He was a little mad because he dropped a pick the week before against Indiana. He made a nice play against them and came back and tried to make a diving catch. He missed, but it would've been a tough catch regardless. That was a little easier of a catch, so you know he was a little upset in the game, so we didn't give him too much hassle. He played great in the game, so you couldn't take anything away from him.
Q: With the exception of Amos, because you guys have known each other so long, what do you do differently in practice and games because of that experience and knowledge?
A: I wouldn't say there's a whole lot we do differently. Defensive Coordinator Tom Bradley might have more confidence in running different defenses against teams or maybe manning up on the outside, letting the corners press up and stuff like that. I'd say that'd be the only thing we do differently than over the past years. There's a different level of confidence, I'd say.
Q: Do you practice any different? Do you do things differently because you've been together so many years?
A: If something comes up in practice or games, we can quickly correct those mistakes. If we've done something in a certain game over the past, we can say we're going to play this like we played against so-and-so last year or two years ago. It's something we can register together pretty quickly just from playing together and knowing what they're talking about exactly.
Q: Can you talk about what you see from Purdue offensively?
A: I haven't gotten to watch a whole lot of them yet. We reviewed the film from the Iowa game yesterday (Monday) and watched a little bit of Purdue. As far as what I've seen, they're real quick on offense. Real fast at the skill positions. They'll definitely create some problems and mismatches for us that way.
Q: There was a lot of talk after the game about how much you went after Iowa with blitzes. Was there a lot of excitement going into the game? It seemed like you blitzed a lot more than previous games this year.
A: We had a game plan and blitzing was just a part of that. We did that for a couple of different reasons. Coming into the game, we knew we were going to blitz more, we didn't know how much we were actually going to blitz. It ended up being a good amount. It was exciting to be out there, us blitzing, coming off the edge, getting some sacks, getting the crowd behind us. It was an exciting time to be on defense and playing out there.
Q: Would you have played against Purdue in 2008 when Curtis Painter was there?
A: No, I was injured that year.
Q: When you look at them, they've had a lot of success sending guys to the NFL. When you look at they're quarterbacks on film, do you see certain things that they teach certain fundamentals to their quarterbacks to help them have pro careers?
A: Definitely. Over the years, they've had great quarterbacks. As I said, I haven't watched a whole lot of them yet. I'll have watched more of them throughout the week. Watching a little of the quarterbacks yesterday, they're definitely great quarterbacks. You can tell they've been coached well over the years, because they've had so many great quarterbacks coming through the system.
Q: Is Joe coaching from the cart or is he on the field in practice?
A: He's on the field most of the time. I'd understand that his leg would get a little sore here and there, just like in the games. For the most part, he's trying to walk around and not be on the cart. He's trying to gradually progress off the cart. He's still very active in practice, yelling off the cart, even if he's not on the field. There's really no difference.