Aug. 4, 2016
Penn State Football
Coordinators Press Conference ââ'¬" Media Day Transcripts
August 4, 2016
Joe Moorhead
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Opening Statement
My opening statement is, I'm not much for opening statements. I hope everyone's enjoying their summer. It is great to see everyone, and I am excited for camp.
Q. When you and James Franklin sit down and talk about the offense, what are some of the the differences that you've noticed?
JM: I think our philosophical beliefs in offensive football are definitely on the same page. Throughout the interview process James talked to me a lot about his vision of where he wanted the offense to go and it was compatible with what we did before at my prior stops, so I think it's gone very well throughout spring and during the summer in our installation meetings prior to camp and heading into practice today. So I think we're one-hundred percent on the same page.
Q. You're obviously going to be asked a lot about your starting quarterback competition. But if you were to build a quarterback and say the ideal mold for your quarterback, where does it start for you?
JM: I think you're looking for someone who can beat you with his brains, beat you with his arm and beat you with his legs. When you have a quarterback who is a threat to run the football successfully, either by design or when the play breaks down. I think that makes it that much more difficult to defend your offense. If you're asking or leaning one way or the other, we're looking for someone who can do both.
But you want a passer who can run rather than a runner who can pass. Simply because what we ask our quarterback to do in our passing game from a drop back perspective. But it becomes a point where if a guy's not athletic enough, it really doesn't matter how good of a passer he is, if he can't function some of the things we're asking him to do in the run game, then it's just not a guy who would be a great fit for our system.
Q. What do you see as the strengths of both of the candidates we have? McSorley and Stevens?
JM: I think quite honestly they're both very similar in their skillset; both smart guys, both understand the game and have a great foundation of offensive football. They both come with strong arms and can make all the necessary throws, and are both guys who are a threat to run the ball. Like I said, either by design or when the play breaks down and either of them can make a play when it's not there. I would say really the qualities and similarities of them are very equal, so to speak.
Obviously Tommy's a little bit taller, Trace is a little bit faster. But from a skillset perspective, they're incredibly similar.
Q. Saquon Barkley, what have you seen from him since he arrived here? How do his skills fit the offense you'll be running?
JM: I think you see a guy that has all the tools necessary to be a superstar. He has small back skills in a big back body. He can run by you, he can make you miss, he can run over you. He can hurdle you. He's good in pass protection. I think the thing we've seen from Saquon in the spring and heading into camp is a maturity and an ability to handle the leadership role that is incumbent upon guys that are as good as him. So I think he's a great fit for what we're going to do offensively and has all the tools to be a special, special player.
Q. Thinking back to when you got here this winter, what would you say has been the most difficult challenge of getting this offense together and getting it installed from then until now?
JM: I have to say time more than anything. There were a ton of things we want to get done in the 15 opportunities we had in the spring and the meetings and things like that were a great opportunity to install the offense - the foundation - and get repetitions of it through practice and the spring game.
You're not around the guys a ton of time in the summer and you're doing different things; travel camps, vacation, so you've got a lot, some of the time as an offensive staff to get prepared for camp in the season. So I'd say the big thing is you're always looking for more time.
I wouldn't say from an installation perspective or anything it's been a hindrance. It's just been making sure we have ample time to do the things necessary to be successful.
Q. What are some of the benchmarks you look for in a first camp after installing an offense?
JM: I think the things that we're looking for throughout camp are to build off of the foundation that was established in spring ball. We talked to the guys about it. We want to come out with the opportunities that we have in camp and prior to the Kent State game, we just want to see incremental improvements. Come out every day, pick something and get a little bit better at it.
I don't think there is a hard and fast guideline or we say, "Hey, we're at this practice in camp and we're not here yet." We're just looking for steady gains throughout camp. If we continue to make those gains like we did in spring ball and heading into the first game, we just can't take a step back. I think that's going to be the big focus throughout camp.
Q. It seems like you have a lot of options at receiver with this group. How do you feel about that group? What are you looking for from those guys? And specifically Saeed Blacknall who has shown some real flashes in the past, what can he add to the mix this year?
JM: I think Coach Gattis does a tremendous job with the receiving corps. We don't just have talent, but we have depth and talent, not just looking at the guys who are penciled in to be starters but their back-ups, as well. That's part of the thing, as Jourdan [Rodrigue] mentioned earlier, when coach hired me for the position that's where he wanted to go with the offense and what we will run, it's a good match.
So we have outside receivers with Saeed and Chris [Godwin], and then our slot receivers with DaeSean [Hamilton] and some of the other guys. They're just prototypes for the system, so certainly with their athletic ability, playmaking skill, we're looking for big things from the receiving corps this year.
Q. We've heard a lot about Trace and Tommy's similarities on the field. But what can you say about their personalities off the field? Are they as similar there or even what is their relationship like because we've heard they're pretty good friends?
JM: That's a good question. We talked about it this morning in our meeting that having been a quarterback and been embroiled in a quarterback competition and having seen them [competitions] throughout my years as coaches, there are two ways it can go. It can be a healthy competition that the guys are working and know what they're fighting for and they make each other better and understand ultimately a decision has to be made on who is a starter, or it becomes a situation where the guys don't get along and they're fighting to win the job and it's not healthy for the team.
I think that's the thing with Tommy and Trace, and a credit to those guys. is that they've been able to have a healthy competition and know what's at stake and remain amicable and know that what they're doing is in the best interest of the team.
Q. Could you get Saquon and another back on the field at the same time? Would that fit in without tweaking your system much and what would that look like?
JM: Without tweaking the system? Absolutely. We have the ability to run our scheme because we don't create a new offense by personnel groupings, so essentially you take out the tight end, you put in another running back and we have a similar set of plays that we're able to run from either of those personnel groupings.
Ultimately aside from the quarterback you look at who your next best five skill players are and who gives you a chance to move the ball and be successful. So certainly a two-running back, three-wide receiver set is something that we can do…It's something we've done in the past. Really I think that's what part of -- we did a little bit of it in the spring, and I think that's part of what fall camp is about, not just the implementation and improvement of the offense, but a little experimentation where you get some groupings in there and really see what you're good at and what you're best at. But certainly if we are a team who can move the ball successfully and score points out of that personnel grouping, it's certainly something that we'll implement.
Q. What are your expectations for Mark Allen this season and how do you think he complements Barkley?
JM: I think Mark has a different style. More of a scatback kind of player, but Mark- although he is a little smaller in stature - is a good of a pass protector and is good at running behind his pads. Some of those guys who are little guys kind of get knocked back in pass protection or aren't guys that fall forward. Mark is a guy that's very physical and a very tough guy. He kind of complements Saquon and some of the other guys that we have. Mark is a different style of running back, but certainly not one because of his stature that can't run everything we have in our package.
Q. If I could follow up on that a little further. Having a back like Saquon, do you look at it as giving him a certain number of carries per game or per season? How do you go about balancing when you have some talented backs behind him as well?
JM: Looking back, [at Fordham] our starting tailback the past four years has been in the 250 to 300 carry per season, and that's not certainly something that we said, "Hey, we're going to get him this many carries." It just happened organically so to speak.
But certainly when you have a talent of Saquon's caliber, you want to give him the opportunities to touch the ball as many times as possible, but not at the expense of wearing him down throughout the course of the season. So when we have as many options as we have at tailback with the returning guys and Miles [Sanders] coming in, I think that can benefit Saquon where it's taking some of those carries off of him, but we're not losing any production with the other guys that you could put in there and be successful.
Charles Huff
Special Teams Coordinator/Running Backs
Opening Statement
I'm happy to see everybody and glad everybody's here. Thank you for coming out. We are excited about where we're going as a team. Excited about where we're going as special teams. I think Coach Franklin and the rest of the administration has done an unbelievable job of building something special, and I kind of feel like a parent at Christmas that knows what's in the box that the kids are going to get a chance to open. So we're excited.
Q. What are your first impressions on Alex Barbir and Blake Gillikin, and do you think those are two guys that could compete for the job and possibly win it from day one?
CH: I think both those guys are competitors. They're not your typical kickers. Both of those guys were multi-sport athletes in high school, so they are competitors. We described it when we were putting our model together, we wanted athletes and competitors who happened to kick, and that's what those two guys are.
Both of them have done well this summer as far as blending with the team. The team likes those guys. They've got some personality. A little bit extreme. Blake's a little bit more kind of laid back, kind of open. Alex Barbir's a little more rigid and detailed and he wants to know every six-inch step. So they're a little bit different as far as their approach, but both of them are similar as far as competitors and athletes.
Q. You mentioned that parent at Christmas feeling. So what are some of those things that have you excited now that you have some of the scholarship guys, or is it more in the return game?
CH: I think it's all over. I think as a program as a whole we've got more depth. We've gotten some younger guys who played early, years one and two. We've seen them improve. We've seen them get better over the summer in their academics and in the weight room. We've seen guys who red-shirted who are now starting to come on a little bit. Of course, having the scholarships and adding depth at the specialist position.
I was talking to [Chris] Gulla last night after we had our meeting and he said this is probably the most depth in competition they've had since his freshman year, and I wasn't here, but naming some of those guys that were in that class and that brings excitement. Because to me, with depth brings consistency, and with consistency brings success.
So having all those pieces together, being around the guys, the guys feel stronger, the guys feel more confident. Seeing those guys last night, seeing the look in their eyes brings excitement.
Q. You have a plethora of skill players that can take back kicks, take back punts. I know the talk's been about Saquon Barkley, but what have you seen from Koa Farmer from last year to this year?
CH: I think Koa, and a couple other guys have the ability. Koa's a big kid that runs a sub-4.5, a strong runner. I think when you're looking at a kick returner, I think you're looking for a guy that's a stronger runner, a straight line guy. For punt returner's more of a shifty guy. I think Koa has some of those traits.
What we're looking for now and we talked about it a little bit last night, we're looking to make those big plays. If you look at last year, we had some opportunities, and we've got to be able to make some big plays. A 58-yard return is great; I'm not upset about it, but when we get an opportunity to get a one-on-one with a kicker, we've got to be able to do that. Those are the things that Koa and the rest of that group going into the summer have been working on and going into camp are some of the things that we're stressing. You guys have the ability to do it, you need to take advantage.
Q. How much of an impact does that make in the level of player that you're able to use in the coverage units and return game? And how much better do you think you can be from last year and the previous year?
CH: It kind of goes back to having more depth. I think you have more options. You're not limited as the season goes on with guys who are injury-wise or reps-wise not able to do it, and it allows the guys who are hitting the field to be fresh. It allows that to happen. And because of that, once again, it creates competition.
These guys that are on the punt team want to be starters, as well as the guys on the offense. So when you have competition and you have guys behind them pushing them, I think it creates a culture of improved talent, improved level of confidence, improved skillsets. That allows us to bring those younger guys who may or may not be ready right now along slower and not have to force them into roles that they may or may not be ready for.
Q. What as special teams coordinator, are your thoughts on Saquon Barkley returning kicks and as running backs coach, what are your thoughts on Saquon Barkley returning kicks?
CH: I think one, this is something that we've discussed all summer moving in. I think whenever you have a player who has his play making ability, whatever position he is, you've got to look at multiple ways to put the ball in his hand. You look around the country and there are other teams doing it. You look at the conference and there are teams that have guys playing offense and defense. If you do a history lesson there was a really good running back here that returned kicks and he was pretty good at it.
I think like Coach [Franklin] said, it's risk-reward. You've got to be mindful of the fact that, yeah, there is another opportunity. There is another rep. But whenever you can help the team win by putting the ball in the hands of a play maker, I think you've got to look at that option. That's something that we'll look at moving forward in camp and throughout the season. That also depends on how some of the other guys do in camp.
As running back coach, to me, it's about winning. So whether it's winning with the running back, whoever he may be, getting 300 yards rushing or whether it's winning, having the kick returner return two kicks for touchdowns, to me it's about winning. However that is, that's fine with me.
Q. Joe [Moorhead] mentioned using multiple running backs in the same system in different packages. Also there is a lot of excitement about Miles Sanders, it sounds like he's making an impact right away, What do you see from him and will he be expected to make an impact immediately?
CH: Well, 365 days today somebody asked me that exact same question out on the field about some kid that wears 26 here. Like I told them with Saquon, it's going to be what he's able to handle. From a physical standpoint, he's probably good enough to play, but that's not even half the battle. We've got classes. He's got the playbook. He's got the season to be able to handle maturity-wise. There are a lot of things.
He is a freshman, so he's away from home for the first time. So there are a lot of things that we've got to kind of see how he handles it all. Up to this point he's done an unbelievable job with all those things, and throughout camp, we'll see how he handles it. If he's able to handle those things and he gives us the best opportunity to be successful, then we're going to play him.
I don't want to get into a position where, yeah, he's playing and then you guys look out there in camp and he's not. We've told him the same thing. If you want to play, it's going to be up to you. You've got to handle it from a playbook standpoint. You've got to handle it from an academic standpoint. You've got to handle it from a social standpoint.
His followers are going to go up on Twitter if he's playing. So there are a lot of things that go into it outside of his natural, physical ability if that makes sense.
Q. There's been talk recently in all levels of football about maybe eliminating the kickoff all together because of the concussive impact potential. Realizing that you have to deal with the rules that you have now, how do you feel about it?
CH: Whatever rules they give us, we'll adjust. I have heard talk of that. I know it's starting in the NFL, adjusting the kickoff. My arms don't reach that high. If they decide that's the direction they want to go, we'll adjust. But right now, we're going to prepare and try to be the best kickoff coverage team in the country.
Brent Pry
Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Q. With three of your defensive linemen heading to the NFL, what kind of adjustments do you have to make with that? And how important has Garrett Sickels been in trying to adjust from those three guys moving on?
BP: This isn't the first time in my career that we've been in a situation where we've lost some good football players that were all-conference-type guys. Not always to the NFL, but that's one of the challenges as coaches.
I think you look at it two ways: to me, we've got some guys in that room that trained and worked day-to-day with some really good defensive linemen, learned some quality skills. As good as we want to be as coaches, those guys, those other guys in the room, the veterans, those guys learned from them as well.
I think we've got great depth. It's unproven depth, but the roster in that unit right now looks better than it has since we've been here.
There's talent. There's just not a lot of experience. There are young guys, highly recruited. There are old heads that just haven't played a lot because they've played behind those [NFL] guys. So there are some challenges, but we're excited about where we can go this camp.
Several of those guys have asterisks by their name on my depth chart with some notes that this is what needs to happen in camp. This is where they need to grow as a player. This is what they need to get better at. This is what we need to see from them. So when you have some young guys and you might need those guys, you've got to push the envelope a little bit until it becomes a negative. You want to push it and see where you can get with them.
Q. Can you talk about Garrett Sickels progress this summer?
BP: Garrett's had a monster summer. He's a guy that's battle tested. I think he played in the shadow a little bit last year, but Garrett has gained a lot of maturity this summer. He's gained size and strength, and he's a very good pass-rusher. If you go back and watch film from last year, he's a step away before [Carl] Nassib gets him or Austin [Johnson] or [Anthony] Zettel. He was right there.
I think he's improved his skills. He's one of our, if not the hardest worker, which is a great quality to have. He's a good leader in that [defensive line] room. Very excited for his year.
Q. With Nyeem Wartmna-White back in the mix, is there an actual competition at the inside linebacker spot, or is Jason [Cabinda] just going to stay there? And what do you need to see from the guys behind all three of them to kind of get you the depth that you need this year?
BP: I told those guys this morning in a meeting we're very fortunate that we have multiple guys in the room that have extensive experience at both spots. You can look at Brandon Bell, Brandon's played SAM and he's played Will. Jake Cooper for a young guy has played a lot at Mike and a lot at Will over the course of the fall and spring. I think that there's competition in that room because everybody wants to be the starter, and everybody wants to be the guy.
We've got the versatility. Those guys are going to roll through multiple spots through camp. They're in a place that we can do that with them. We're going to train Manny Bowen some at the Will. He's been strictly a SAM to this point. Brandon Bell's going to play some at Mike. We're going to roll those guys through.
We've got some experience and some maturity in the room that we feel like even though potentially the numbers aren't there, the versatility allows us to create the depth we need. We've got some sub-packages that allow us to do that. So we feel really good about it. Jason's an outstanding leader, and he's got great command of the defense.
Nyeem's recovery has gone really well. I'm anxious to see those guys out there together. That's going to be a really good thing for Penn State defense.
Q. Kevin Givens is a guy that took the world by storm in the weight room. What are you expecting of him and what are you expecting of a guy like Torrence Brown who showed us what he can do against Michigan?
BP: Let me say this first about Kevin. We told Kevin this morning in front of the unit, that he has a lot of work to do. He had some splash plays this spring, and we were very proud of the adjustment he made. He embraced moving inside to defensive tackle.
But, he's got a lot of work to do. He's still very raw as an inside player. He's got some great qualities; his strength, his leverage, his instincts, but he's still growing. We're still trying to get him a little bigger. He's got to gain better understanding of the defense and playing in the framework of things. But we're excited about him. He's just got some work to do.
He's one of those guys that has an asterisk by his name. He's got some things he's got to handle this camp to feel better about lining up and winning with him.
Torrence Brown is a little bit of an older guy. If you know Torrence at all, he's like a 30-year-old guy sitting in the room. I've known Torrence for a long time. He's an Alabama guy that we got to know in our days at Vanderbilt, and Torrence has just -- he's an old head. He's a guy that doesn't get rattled. He's very confident. He's very steady. He's very talented.
Torrence was a tremendous basketball player in high school. He is healthy. He's at a better weight. We talk so much about guys getting bigger and bigger on the defensive line, but he needed to lose a few pounds to really be at his optimal weight to play the way he can play. He's one of those guys that hasn't played a whole lot. Had a splash play or two that we're looking potentially to have a good year.
Q. During the spring one of the things we noticed was the defense was more vocal, a little more trash talking. Does that come from you? Is that their identity? How much of that is important to building an identity to a defense?
BP: I don't know. I'm not going to say trash talking. We wanted those guys to have fun this spring. I do believe practice is an opportunity where you can make mistakes, where you test the limits. We wanted to challenge more routes this spring. We kept force feeding the guys to do that. But sometimes they're going to be wrong.
We wanted create an environment where they had fun, where they were loose, where they could play with their abilities and every play didn't have to be the perfect play as long as we learned from our mistakes and grow from them. The guys had fun this spring.
We did take the handcuffs off a little bit and give them some freedoms. I think they kind of ran with it. We're going to be very competitive as always under Coach Franklin. And we try and create an environment that's highly competitive, and sometimes there's some talk that goes along with it. We do emphasize on the defense communication is a big-time fundamental for us, so we want them talking, not necessarily some of that, but.
Q. James mentioned earlier that yourself, Moorhead and Charles kind of run respective units as head coaches would and operate as such. Could you take us through what that mentality is like and also what kind of environment that creates in a meeting room?
BP: I keep getting asked the question what's changed for me, what's different? I've always operated - whether I've been a coordinator or a position coach ââ'¬"if it was coaching the defensive line, defensive backs or linebackers, it's always been the same: you're the leader of that group. What changed for me when I became the coordinator, some leadership things in that staff room with the defensive staff, some decisions that ultimately rest with me. There is some planning that takes place that is initiated by me. Probably the biggest adjustment is instead of 12 or 13 guys that I'm leading, it's 45.
I think under Coach Franklin, that's the climate he promotes: be the head coach at your position, whether that's linebacker, whether that's receivers, whether that's the entire defense or entire offense or teams. Leadership is such an important component and I think that's a big part of our jobs as coaches is to lead those guys.
Q. James talked about how a lot of players have lobbied for your promotion to defensive coordinator. What does that personally mean to you?
BP: That's a really easy question to answer. That's why I do it. That's why so many of the guys I know in this business do it. It's the relationships with these guys. It's the relationships with the rest of the staff. I tried to not just be the linebacker coach. I tried to have relationships with all the guys, not just on defense, and I think that's important to their overall experience in the program.
So I'm flattered that those guys felt that way. That's not always a good thing. Sometimes if you're too likeable it means you're not hard enough on those guys. But we try to find a balance. I love the relationships. It's certainly an awesome part of this profession, getting to know these young guys.
Q. How much difference does it make where Jason and Nyeem lineup? And how will you determine that?
BP: I've mentioned a lot it's so great, the versatility, but it is going to ultimately be an important decision who lines up at Mike and commands the defense. You go back to 2014 and the job that Mike Hull did, and that's what we're looking for. That's kind of the model. A guy that can do what Mike [Hull] did for us.
Each year it's a little bit different. Guys bring different qualities to the table as far as strengths. Jason's got some strengths that you just don't find everywhere in his leadership, his command, his confidence, his knowledge of the game. The awesome thing in the room is that Nyeem's got a lot of those same qualities. So it is an important decision. I think there will be some separation, some delineation between those guys in what takes place.
I want to say this; to me there are some other guys in that room that are going to roll through that spot. Jake Cooper, is someone I am really excited about. It's a good group. And it will be, as a coaching staff, working through putting those guys in the best position, that's part of what we get paid for.
Q. How would you assess the secondary? Where does it have to get better in your mind?
BP: I think we're in a pretty good place. We're trying to still find a guy or two from a depth perspective, but we've got great candidates. We've got a large pool that there's four or five guys that we're trying to find a fourth corner. There are four or five guys we're trying to find a third and fourth safety. There's a lot of good competition that's going to take place in camp. I feel very good about our secondary.
The way we challenged routes in the spring, we are far more aggressive. I think those guys are playing with some real confidence back there. Marcus [Allen] and Malik [Golden] have played a lot of football. Grant Haley's played a lot of football. Christian Campbell's played a fair amount. John Reid's played a fair amount. You know, there is some quality depth there, there are some guys there.
A big part of playing in the secondary to me is confidence, and we've got a confident group. We wanted to challenge more. We wanted hands on more balls. That was the area we thought we needed to improve on, and at least in the spring. We feel like we've made some progress there. We've got to continue it through camp and into the season obviously.