Miles Sanders | Running Back | Jr./Jr.
Q. One start and you're on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I'm sure you've heard the news. I don't know if you have a copy yet, but just your general reactions, it's gotta be pretty cool.
MS: Like I told everybody else, I didn't really know I was going to be on the cover. Everybody was texting me, saying that I was on the cover. Like I said, I'm speechless and blessed, and it's interesting, but right now focused on Pitt.
Q. How many guys on that Pitt team would you say you're good friends with? Does that make it any more difficult to work up a good hatred, for lack of a better term, for an opponent when you are familiar with so many?
MS: I know a pretty good amount of people on the team, but it doesn't change. It's just another opponent. And it's a friendly game, so not really. I don't look at it as a rivalry or nothing, but it's a special game just playing against my friends that I know back at home.
Q. I think you were going to strangle the next person who brought up Saquon Barkley this off season, but then on your very first carry you proceeded to jump over somebody, which really didn't help your cause very much. How nice was it just to get that first game out of the way to play the way you did?
MS: It felt good just being the guy for the offense, being the running back, but I was just doing whatever I could to help my team win. That's all that matters every week.
Q. With where you're from, can you kind of encapsulate, how big is this game to that community and to the kids that you grew up playing with?
MS: It's exciting, but we treat every game like the same every week. We treat it like the Super Bowl. So just ready to be 1-0 each week. That's how we approach it.
Q. You treat it the same, but fans don't. Do you get that sense when you're around campus? Is it easy to understand how big of a game -- you know, for you guys it's the Super Bowl? For other people this is a date they have circled on their calendars.
MS: Yeah, I mean the fans like to hype it up as a rivalry and stuff with Penn State students and Pitt students. They have that, I guess, little rivalry, but it's just another game for us. It's just like the Super Bowl every week, and we're just ready to be 1-0 this week.
Q. What do you remember playing at Heinz Field as a kid? Do you have any recollection of that?
MS: I remember losing. [Laughs]. That was for a WPIAL championship game. Played there twice.
Q. How many friends and family, any idea, that you'll have there this weekend?
MS: I don't know. I'm trying to get as many tickets as I can for the game.
Q. What did you know about this rivalry growing up? I think there's kind of a generational gap with younger people who didn't grow up watching it and that kind of thing. Did you know much about Pitt-Penn State as a kid?
MS: I actually didn't. I never grew up as a Penn State fan or a Pitt fan actually, but I never really knew about the rivalry that much. I know they didn't really play each other a lot, so I didn't really see it as a rivalry or hear about it as a rivalry.
Q. What do you remember about two years ago as far as just the fans?
MS: I mean, the fans hype it up as a rivalry. We know we're going into a hornet's nest. It's going to be a real hostile environment: night game, ABC network, primetime. I don't know, just ready to come out of there 1-0.
Q. You guys are pretty good with the 1-0 thing, but at some point in your life you probably like sports and look forward to your favorite team playing someone else. Is it an adjustment to come in and take the emotion out of every week and have everything be the same? Does that take time to get to that point?
MS: No, not really. We just like to treat every game; our goal is to win every game each week, so every game is important. We don't see it as, we're playing Pitt this week or we're playing App State like last week. We're just focused on getting better each week and becoming 1-0 each week.
Q. You were a freshman when Lamont Wade was a high school senior. What was your perception of him in high school? Did you get to know him when he came for recruiting trips? Did you know him in high school? How do you think he has kind of elevated his game since being here the past couple years?
MS: Yeah, I knew him since high school. We're kind of from, not kind of from the same area, but played teams from his area, like McKeesport, Clairton near McKeesport. I was his host on his official visit. I know him pretty well. He's my roommate now, and he's just got that dog mentality since he's been here. That's just the way we grew up over there.
Q. What can you tell us about Ricky Slade that maybe we don't know? Can you talk a little bit about his game and what he brings to the field?
MS: He's real goofy. In the running back room, he's real goofy. What he brings, he's explosive. He's fast. He's very smart. He picks up the offense really well, faster than probably than I say I picked up the offense. He just brings that competitive nature in our room. All the running backs in the room are just competitive and we make each other better.
Q. How is he goofy?
MS: He just cracks jokes and he just does little weird stuff sometimes.
Q. Following up on Lamont, what's he like as a roommate? What's he like kind of off the field?
MS: Real cool, laid back. I mean similar to me. Don't really do too much.
Q. You mentioned on Saturday night that Trace McSorley is a pretty quiet, calm leader. How does he handle Sunday when you're all in the film room and evaluating and trying to correct? What kind of role does he take in those corrections?
MS: Sundays, I don't really get to be in the film room with Trace until unit meetings, but Coach does most of the talking. But, if you want to know how he is on the field, he just likes to lead by example, and then when he has to be vocal, he is vocal. He just brings that competitive; like you said, everybody says he's a winner and we're all following him because he's the leader of our offense. As he goes, we go in. Like on the touchdown drive before regulation was over, we all knew that we had to go down and score and that's just what we did. There was no ifs, ands or buts about it, just we went down and scored.
Q. K.J. Hamler is also somewhere in the roommate mixture. He said that you're much more funny, outgoing around them. What's K.J. like when he's not around us, because he seems pretty forward?
MS: Oh, man, K.J. Well, you all know how Marcus Allen was last year. I compare him similar to Marcus. He just brings that energy like Marcus did, I would say.
Q. What do you remember about that photo from you and Lamont at Pitt's facilities? What was the back story with that?
MS: That picture wasn't; social media hyped it up more than it was. It was just a picture. Just us working out, after a workout.
Q. Do you train or have you trained with guys like Damar [Hamlin] and that kind of thing in the past?
MS: Yeah. We have training with DeWayne Brown back in Pittsburgh, and all the local Pittsburgh athletes train there.
Q. Is there smack talk about this game that comes up during those training sessions?
MS: No, not really. We always just focus on getting our work done.
Q. Before he left, Saquon asked you to save some records for him. Did you hear from him after the game, even a text in the past 48 hours? Has he reached out in any way?
MS: Yeah. He just said good game. He critiqued me, what he saw and what he thinks I can do better. He liked the way I handled myself. With all the chatter about me filling big shoes and stuff, he just told me, like everybody else told me, just be me.
Q. How quickly did he get in touch with you?
MS: I actually called him. It was like just right after the game, just to see what he thought.
Lamont Wade | Safety | So./So.
Q. Lamont, who on the Pitt team are you particularly good friends with? Does that change or affect the way you prepare for a game at all when you know so many guys on the other side?
LW: Aaron Mathews, that's my brother. We played high school together, grew up together, played little league, but no, that doesn't change anything at all. Same preparation every week, same mentality every week.
Q. First, what's your initial thoughts on Miles Sanders being on the Sports Illustrated cover?
LW: That's amazing. I've been cool with Miles since high school, and just to see how patient he's been for these two years, controlling what he could control, and now it's finally his time. That's amazing to see.
Q. He told us that you guys are roommates. Do you think that magazine is going to find somewhere on the wall in your room?
LW: Yeah, I hope so. K.J. Hamler is one of our roommates, too.
Q. For you personally, how far do you think you've come in your development as a safety since switching over to the position?
LW: I switched in spring ball, and since then it's been, it's not really a lot on the physical standpoint or running around or anything, but the most important thing is from the mental standpoint. At cornerback, you're kind of isolated, just doing your job, worrying about you. At safety, you have to know what the cornerback is doing, have to know what the safety is doing, the linebacker is doing. So, I'm ready to just try to take strides on the mental aspect of the game, and that's something I've been working on a lot.
Q. You were a recruit last time Penn State played at Pitt. What is it going to mean to you to be able to be on Heinz Field on Saturday night?
LW: I grew up playing on Heinz Field, championship games on Heinz Field. I'm familiar with the environment. It's just going to be real good to get back out there and play the game.
Q. I know you guys take it every game at a time, but for fans, obviously this is a little bit bigger. I'm just curious how aware are you and the rest of this team is about how big other people look at this game and if you have any friendly trash talk with any people back home?
LW: We really don't see it how other people see it. It's hard for us to see it how other people see it. We see it as week-by-week. We take the same preparation, the same mentality, the same focus as if this game was a championship game because every game is a championship game. That's just how we see it. That's just how it is for us.
Q. There were a lot of eyes on Micah Parsons going into that game. From a player perspective, what was it like watching him? Was he amped up? Can you just take us through what he was like on the sideline and then when he finally got out there?
LW: Seeing Micah kind of reminded me of me last year, just being a big recruit and going through the process, going through winter workouts, going through summer workouts and just finally getting out there and being able to play. It was real good to see him out there. He's an athlete. He's a freak and he's only going to continue to get better throughout the season.
Q. When you first sat down to watch film this week, what were your first impressions when you put on the film and you saw Pitt's quarterback?
LW: He's real elusive. He's a little bit more elusive than their past few quarterbacks and that's something that really stood out. He has really good arm strength. So, we just plan on looking at his strengths and just trying to prepare on what he has so we can be better as the secondary.
Q. You were pretty socially outspoken this off season, and I saw that you saw the [Colin] Kaepernick news yesterday with Nike. What does that mean to you to know that a business, like Nike, is going to stand behind athletes that have those sorts of opinions and thoughts and social stances?
LW: That's huge. That's real good on Nike's side. That just shows that they're open. They're open minded, and they know what they're doing. It's real good to see that.
Q. Jason [Cabinda] was a guy last year, and throughout his entire career, who wasn't shy about saying what he thought. Did he help you kind of feel comfortable having a voice, because it can be difficult to be an athlete and have opinions and have people come back to you with their own opinions. Where did you kind of get that strength really from?
LW: Yeah, I've known Jason is one of those people on the team as well. We've had our talks. But that's just kind of the person I am. That's just kind of who I grew up to be.
Q. Years ago when Penn State played at Pitt, you were a recruit. Were you at the game, and if so, what were your feelings kind of just watching it?
LW: Yeah, I was at the game sitting in the front row in the recruit tickets for Pitt. It was a real good environment, it was a real loud environment. It's good to actually be playing in it now.
Q. At that point were you feeling any way each way because you weren't committed and you were with the Pitt recruits? Were you feeling any way at that point?
LW: Not really. I mean at the time I was, 'oh, gosh', Pitt won this game. But that's not the end-all, be-all for me. It's a process. I realized that and you see where I'm at today.
Q. Miles was kind of instrumental in your recruitment, and kind of Penn State as a whole, getting more into Western PA. What stood out to you about meeting Miles and how far back does your relationship with him go?
LW: I've known Miles since his sophomore, my freshman year, of high school. We've been pretty good, traveling on 707's and doing all these, when Clairton played Woodland Hills for 707's and stuff like that. We go back for a minute.
Q. Way back, Justin King was a big-time prospect in Western PA. What did you know about Justin when you got here? Was he somebody that you can kind of go to or anything like that?
LW: I didn't know a whole lot about Justin, but as Coach Terry Smith started recruiting me, I learned more and more about him, about how good he actually was. Justin is also a very good resource I can go to. I can talk to him whenever I need him.
Q. Growing up in Western PA, did you have much of an understanding of Pitt-Penn State?
LW: I had more of an understanding probably about the Pitt-West Virginia thing more growing up and less of the Pitt-Penn State theme. It's good to see they brought it back.
Q. Franklin said Sunday was a good correction day for you guys. Defensively, after you give up four touchdowns in a fourth quarter, what is that day of corrections like? Were fingers fiction being pointed? How did you guys handle an adverse moment?
LW: We never point fingers. This is a team sport. It's some good things we got from that game and there's also some corrections, like he said. Up until the fourth quarter, I think they had like three points, scored three points on our defense off like 75 yards or 125 yards or something like that, in the second and third quarters. That's the good thing. And fourth quarter, we just have to stand strong, play football all four quarters, and we saw some adjustments we have to make and corrections we have to make. We already handled that, so now we're looking to improve from that.
Q. Do you think the guys across the board, especially younger guys, grew up from that experience and kind of getting knocked down a little bit?
LW: Yeah, for sure, because I remember my first game last year, there's some stuff that you have to kind of go through to learn, and just them getting out on the field, running around and making the mistakes they made, doing the good stuff they did. It's all a part of the game. It just helps the development.
Q. On the on-side kick that you guys had, was that planned? What was the story behind that?
LW: That definitely was not planned at all. It was supposed to be a squib kick and Rafael Checa just had a real good kick, and we actually got it back.
Q. Just looking at the front line for you, being without [Kevin] Givens, not having Shane Simmons available, obviously so much starts up front, and Franklin said that. Where do you think the evaluation is with the defensive line right now?
LW: Our defensive line is one of our strongest units on our defense. Those guys are real strong up front. We have a lot of elusive, strong defensive ends. Then we got guys who could stuff the run at D tackle. I feel like we're real good. Like I said, game by game, we'll just continue to get better.
Q. K.J. is your other roommate. How do you think he did on Saturday? What was it like for you to kind of just watch him blow up like that?
LW: Man, K.J. did phenomenal. Same thing with him. He came here off of his injury when he came back, and just seeing him be patient, just seeing him grinding, going out in the field in the summer, working out with him, trying to help him get his balance back and his strength back and everything, it was amazing to see what he was able to do on Saturday.