Oct. 26, 2016 Brandon Bell | Sr. | LB
Q. What did it mean to you personally to finally be able to play on Saturday and play next to Jason Cabinda, and what kind of impact do you think that had on the team?
BB: It was everything, honestly. Just to be out there and back up your teammates. My teammates are the only thing that kept me sane the last few weeks.
Obviously, it was big for the team, seeing both leaders [back on the field]. We were out in the locker room, guys were always asking, "when are you coming back, when are you coming back," and it was like five weeks. It was an awfully big deal.
Q. I know from talking to you before that you're a guy that likes playing on the road and embracing the role as the bad guy. What do you like about getting into some of these opposing Big Ten towns, and why haven't you had as much success on the road lately?
BB: Kind of just the fans usually bugging at you. Some teams and some towns are usually a little bit more nasty than others. The fans are kind of bucking at you and kind of the only way to answer them is how you go out and play. You can't try to get in a barking match with them, but try to impress the your play.
As far as the team, we just have to bring our own energy each time we go on the road, for those same reasons, usually we're the underdog and the atmosphere might not be in our hands, so just bring our own energy and make sure we focus.
Q. The last couple teams you played didn't run heavy -- statistically, Purdue is much more passing oriented. Is there a different mentality that you have to have going into a game like that?
BB: Definitely if it's a run-heavy, bring the big boy pads team.
With pass oriented types of teams, they pass it to open up the run. So you still have to be ready to clap your pads together, but at the same time you have to be more read-oriented on your reads and the wide receivers and the tight ends.
They are going to try to make you look this way to throw it back that way. We definitely have to keep our heads on a swivel.
Q. All the time that you were out, what did you learn about yourself throughout the process and what was it like being kind of a coach to the younger guys?
BB: I said it after the game, I realize now that nothing really affects me the way football does. Nothing makes me more sad. Nothing makes me more happy. I think I said even like with the ladies and other things, that it kind of gets me in trouble because I don't have the same emotions towards everything else as I do football. I definitely realized that.
As far as coaching, I got to kind of see it more from [the coaches] point of view and I was just proud of all the young guys that stepped up, no matter the circumstances, especially in the linebacker room. We were dropping like flies for a little bit and guys stepped up and that's all that matters. I was proud to see that.
Q. What does it mean to be in the Top-25 at Penn State, and have you done the math on what has to happen for you guys to win the division?
BB: I'm not smart enough to do that math, but I hear guys talking about it. The only thing we can do is control what we can control, and that's handle our business each week and each day and hope for the best.
Q. And the Top-25?
BB: It is definitely cool. I haven't seen it yet. I have more people outside of football at home texting me before I even noticed it. My friends, group chat, "Oh, you're Top-25," and I was just like, "Cool, cool."
Q. When Nyeem Wartman-White got hurt, Franklin said you went with him to a doctor's appointment for support. Why did you feel like you should do that for him?
BB: Nyeem's my boy. I was just talking to Mark [Brumbaugh], and Nyeem was kind of the guy that I looked to when I was a freshman. So as my world grew bigger here, we obviously became more close-knit and more tight.
Yeah, I took him back to the locker room after the doctor. I don't know if he had told me or thanked for being a friend to him, being a shoulder that he could lay on. I knew it was an emotional time for him. If it was going to happen to anybody, it was going to happen to him because he's going to bounce back with his mind-set and his positivity. I just really wanted to be there for a friend, really.
Q. Going back to your injury, what's going through your mind, because you said you felt you could be out longer?
BB: I didn't really know exactly what it was. It was something different. Obviously the doctors and trainers did the tests and told me that I could still play...but it might not be a good idea, though. At the time, I'm just thinking, try to finish the game and try to win. That's the only thing you're worried about at the time. After, I realized it was kind of bad.
Q. The team said they were shocked that you and DaeSean talked on Friday night. Why was it important for you to say something? Were you thinking about this beforehand?
BB: I've always had things that I wanted to express to the team, things like that. This year I am king of in more of a leadership role; I felt more comfortable doing it. I expressed that to them and making sure our minds are right before the game and continue to do that in practice and on Saturdays.
Q. Was that part of your mind-set or is that you?
BB: It's kind of me and kind of because I was dead-beat tired.
Q. Where did that message come from? You said you had things that you wanted to say to the team.
BB: Definitely that's kind of my own mind-set, and then being out for a while and kind of just seeing the team come together and kind of where I felt our team was at the time, with the players and how things were going. I felt it would have pushed us in the right direction. Like I said…my speech wasn't to get everyone hyped and riled up, because hype doesn't win games. I always feel that way. You wanted to make sure the team kind of felt my message.
Q. Brent Pry has been through a lot this year trying to sub guys in and figure out who is healthy. Is there a moment that stands out to you at practice when you were like, man, this guy is not backing down; how would you describe what pride has been like this year?
BB: Pry's been great. Honestly in every situation, he's kind of come to me or I can go to him with an idea. If a guy gets hurt, just saying, "should Jimmy play will or whatever." He's kind of relayed it to me, "I'm thinking about putting him here, putting him there." If I agree with him, we come together and think about it all the time. Obviously this year, we're dropping like flies and kind of had more of those conversations -- taking into consideration beyond the players, but understanding where a player might fit in if put in that situation or who can we win with on a Saturday.
Q. Going back to Mike's question, when you signed with Penn State, the bulk of the sanctions were still in place. Did you realistically think there would be a time this program would be in the top 25 in your career here?
BB: I probably say I wouldn't -- to be honest. Even looking throughout colleges when I was going through the recruiting process, I wasn't looking like, oh, I want to go to the highest-ranked team type thing.
When I saw Penn State, and obviously those things that happened, I personally wasn't thinking like, oh, I'm going to be there [in the Top-25].
If you ask my dad, he wasn't shy in saying it. He told everybody we were going to make it to a bowl game, and going to make it into the rankings. My dad doesn't know football like that but he had that mind-set in his head that Penn State would make it back.
Q. What does it mean for the program, knowing you can become bowl eligible again, for all these things to be happening for you?
BB: It's great. It's definitely not over, though. I think it is just the tip of the iceberg. We have to keep pushing. We can't be satisfied.
Jason Cabinda | Jr. | LB
Q. Where you are right now in terms of health? How did you feel after Saturday's game and what does it mean to you to be back?
JC: I feel good. Obviously playing with the [cast], but besides that, I feel really good. I think the team played really well and we got a lot of guys back which was great.
In terms of how we are right now, we're just looking at Purdue. Went in on Sunday and put Ohio State film on and made the corrections we needed to make. I think that's something that gets lost in big wins is that mistakes were still made and there were a lot made during that game. We got better off that film and then put that Purdue film on and moved on. Our goal is just to be 1-0 this week.
Q. Was it difficult playing with the club at all? Some of the players after the game said it was kind of funny that after every big tackle you gave the thumbs up.
JC: The thumbs up was funny. I actually just thought about that about ten minutes before the game. Jake Cooper suggested that I do it, so it was fun.
What was the first part of your question, from a playing perspective? It can be kind of tough -- the club can be tough at times, but just can't think about it. You just kind of have to play and see what happens.
Q. Coach Franklin said you were only going to play 25-30 plays vs. Ohio State. What was your mentality going into the game knowing you might have a shot to play more?
JC: For me, it is about taking advantage of the snaps that you're given and that can be because of anything. In football, injuries obviously happen, but when you [go into the game thinking] you only have 10 or 20 snaps because of injury, then all of a sudden you are playing 50 or 60 snaps. I think you've just have to make the most of your snaps every single game and make the most of your opportunities. That's what I try to do, go out and play full speed, and if I'm going to make a mistake, hopefully I am making up for it with effort.
Q. When did you know you guys were going to play Saturday? And, can you give us a time line of your expectations from after you got hurt to coming back for the Ohio State game?
JC: Obviously it was tough. I was out for about a month, and that was about what I was looking. I was looking to come back against Maryland, but had a little bit of a setback and ended up not coming back until Ohio State.
For me, I just couldn't wait to get back out there, and seeing the young guys making the kind of plays they were making, and seeing Brandon Smith do what he did was huge. Jake Cooper stepped up. Cam Brown and Manny Bowen were both tough on [the opposition].
All of those guys were so willing to learn and so willing to step up and make big plays. I think that's the biggest thing about the linebacker room is the pride of the linebackers is just so great.
We all know that the expectation doesn't change regardless of who is in there, if it's a first-string guy or a second-stringer, it doesn't matter. The expectations stay the same on how you need to play and it's going to stay the same. It's how it needs to be here at Penn State.
For us I wouldn't say it was a special night, I maybe wouldn't put it that way. I think we entered with the mind-set that we expected to win that game. That's how it was. It was no fluke or anything like that for us. Week-in and week-out, we expect to win the game as long as we execute. They [Ohio State] came up with some big plays early and were down, I think it was 12-0, and Godwin had that big catch before the half, and that was huge because it kept us in the game.
I think the biggest thing for us was that you could kind of feel a confidence as the games went on, and when the defense is playing well and then the offense started picking things up.
For us, it wasn't necessarily a specific play that led to the so-called special night, but just the fact that we all expected to win and that was really the mind-set. We expected to win. We played hard and we made enough plays to win the game and that's what's most important.
Q. What has been the biggest difference you've seen playing with the younger guys from the beginning of the season to you coming back this past week?
JC: I think for me it's got to be their confidence. It's tough, being in there as a young guy and not getting a whole lot of reps [in camp] so that you can find your confidence. From high school, you kind of go from being that guy and making a ton of plays -- once you get to college you kind of start over again. When you're young, you don't have a lot of reps on the field and it's hard to get that same confidence that you had high school.
You kind of saw that in a lot of guys. Manny Bowen started coming into his own at beginning of the season. Jake Cooper and Brandon Smith both started coming into their own, as well. But you grow from a confidence aspect and even along the defensive line with Kevin Givens and Rob Windsor and those guys, you start to see a whole lot of guys being more confident and getting back that confidence they had in high school.
I think it was just a matter of having that veteran presence back. That gives us a lot of confidence, as well. I was able to be back and put guys where they need to be and command our defense again, which felt awesome.
Q. First time since you've been here that Penn State's ranked in the Top-25. What is the significance of that and how do you find that out?
JC: I just found out from Twitter that the pole had come out and ranked us at 24. For me, it just reminds me of why I came here. I wanted to help the team get back to where it needed to be.
We're not there yet; taking this thing one week at a time. But for me, I think it's huge and it's good to see and know kind of where this program is going and what direction we're heading in.
Q. I was wondering about Brandon Bell we had heard some things after the game about him pep talking guys, but being nervous himself. Is that who he is; has a ton of faith in you guys but can get nervous about his own performance sometimes?
JC: I think that's human nature in a lot of guys. Brandon was out there for a minute pregame, and seeing him and how he was on the field by himself thinking about how he was going to play, but also expressing his confidence in all his teammates.
That's what it's all about. We play for each other. And when you do that, and when you go through adversity like we have gone through ââ'¬" from a workout standpoint ââ'¬" and everything that this program has been through, you get so closer.
To me it makes it so much easier to play with confidence knowing that your brother has your back and I think that's really what he's trying to express there.
And the comments with the emotional stuff and all that kind of stuff is kind of what I was trying to reiterate, we were in the mind-set that we were going to win that game. To a lot of people, it may have been a shock. To us, that was our expectation; that was what was supposed to happen.
Q. I wanted to ask you about the one week at a time line. A lot of fans and media are the exact opposite, where they look at the full schedule and a lot of times when we hear one game at a time, we tend to look past it.
JC: Cliché. No doubt about it. It's cliché but it's so necessary, because you can't look beyond [the next game]. It's as simple as that.
Right now, all the focus is on Purdue and for us. It's a Super Bowl every single week because the next game is our Super Bowl, it's as simple as that. I think for us, taking that mentality and knowing that whatever you did the week before kind of isn't enough.
Whatever amount of film you watched last week or extra work you may have put in last week isn't enough for this week because we have to grow as a team and get better every single week.
We put that Ohio State win behind us, and now we are moving on to Purdue. Now it's putting in even more work than we did against Ohio State to be 1-0 this week. That's kind of the mantra and the mind-set that we take each week.
Q. What did you learn about yourself during the time you were out? We saw you on the headset but what was the lowest point of that time and what did you learn about yourself?
JC: For me, luckily I haven't had to deal with a whole lot of injuries in my career, so for me it was tough sitting out. There's no doubt about it. You want to be out there and you want to be making plays alongside your brothers.
At the same time, being able to sit back, you get put into coach mode and you get to see how offenses are attacking you and you get to help out the young guys and try to be as available as you can, try to be around as much as you can.
Being at practice, being right there next to Manny and Coop and those guys as soon as they have a question in practice and trying to help those guys out as much as you can is what I went through during that time and what I learned about myself, is about going into coach mode.
Q. Would you want to coach?
JC: I've thought about it. No doubt about it. But we'll see where football takes me.
Q. I know you said Saturday that you had talked to Manny Bowen about what was in store. Curious, did you and Brandon Bell have any sort of conversation before the game or immediately after?
JC: Brandon and I had been talking all week, especially before the game, that we needed to just go out there and lead. Go out there and lead and make plays. Set an example. He won defensive Player of the Week, and he really went out there and embodied that. He was all over the field making a ton of plays. It was awesome.
With Manny, we were actually sitting in the hotel room and we had College GameDay on. They ran the preview for our game and said there's no way they should win this game and all that kind of stuff.
Obviously you look at that, and it's like that's bulletin board material for us and that's kind of the mind-set I took. You don't worry about those things and what people say or what the media says. For us, you rarely hear it live, it's hard not to take it personally and we did and we went out there and executed and it was awesome.
Q. Coach said he had like 350 text messages after the game. How many did you have and was there anyone who reached out to you who really meant a lot to you?
JC: Yeah, my phone blew up after the game. Twitter, Snapchat and texts from home. I actually had a couple of my former high school teammates reach out to me. Guys that were seniors when I was a sophomore in high school, and hearing from those guys, because they are really the guys who I got my football approach from,
Blake Searfoss, he plays quarterback over at Lafayette, hearing from him was just huge, because that's a guy I haven't talked to in a long time. He was a guy that was one of the captains of my football team when I was a sophomore and took me under their wing when I was a sophomore playing varsity. It kind of reminded me who I used to look up to as leaders; him and Vinny Catrell, who was another seniors that year. Hearing from those guys kind of meant a lot to me. Those are guys that I looked up to when I was a young guy.
Q. What did they say?
JC: Blake just said congratulations, you're really doing a good job representing Hunterdon Central, which is my high school. That meant a lot to me.
Q. Going back like ten steps here, but how did you actually get hurt, because we saw you play, and was it a practice or game?
JC: It happened during the game, the second play of the game. It kind of just happened. I didn't think it was as bad as it was. I went on the sideline and had [the trainers] tape it up until I couldn't move it and played the rest of the game and then we X-rayed it.
Q. Can you describe Brandon Bell to us? I think maybe we see one side and you see another.
JC: B-Bell is a calm dude, laid back. He is more of a chill guy in the room. Seeing him get in front of us before the game, and he's not much of a big rah-rah-hype guy.
I think the talk they had about fighting and that kind of stuff, really put guys in the right mind-set and the right mood for what we were about to step into: a heavyweight fight. A 12-round type of heavyweight fight, it was as simple as that. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game and we knew it was going to be a fight and we came through.
With the way he's playing, he could do anything he wants if he puts his mind to it.