Koa Farmer | Linebacker | Gr./Sr.
Q. What have these past two games done to your team's confidence overall and what can be done to restore any of it that's been lost?
KF: I don't think we lost any confidence. I just think ultimately, we've got to look at each other in the eye and look at the film and get better at all of it.
I don't think losing games destroys our confidence. That's not who we are necessarily. I just think we've got to take it one day at a time, look at the film, look at the corrections each and every practice and get better. That's the only thing we can do.
Q. Coach Franklin said he watched the game from Michigan State, he said it was the first time this year he didn't think you guys got better through the course of that game. What did you see when you rewatched it, regarding your own play and then of course the linebackers as a whole?
KF: Good question. I think as far as the defense, I think we did -- I think we played well. I think the last few games we did play well. Just ultimately, our defense has to take it to the next step as far as getting off the field, like when it's third-and-long or third and short or third and medium, whatever it is, we have to get off the field. We can't drop interceptions. We have to make that tackle to get off the field.
There's so many times where we get teams to the third down marker and we need to make a big play and make that play and get off the field.
As far as the linebacker group, we had our best game, actually. Everyone graded out a winner. I actually had my best game. Actually everyone had their best game to be honest.
But as far as defensively as a whole, I just think the big message this week is, we have to do everything in our power to not drop those interceptions, miss those tackles, to get off the field.
Q. Koa, you're one of the older guys who obviously was around last year and around 2016. But do you sense any similarities or differences between the team's tone and mood this week, as compared to last year after the two losses?
KF: Losing those two games, the same tone, you don't like to lose, especially as far as our unit.
But the tone is that we have to just get better. I mean, I think it sucks that we lost, two home games in a row, but ultimately, we've got to get better. I mean, we can't live in the past. I mean, we can't -- things need to be corrected from the last two games, and I just think we have to get better from here on out.
Q. We just found out Fred Hansard is out for the season. How was he playing for the first half of this year, first college action this year and what do you anticipate from that defensive tackle position? Who are you thinking is maybe ready to take a step forward?
KF: Yeah, I think Fred [Hansard] does a great job in holding his gap. He's a bigger dude. I think he does a great job. I think being his first year of playing, he does what the expectation is, what the standard is.
And as far as some guys that need to step up, we've been here before. I think two years ago, we had every linebacker hurt. We've been here before. It's not the worst-case scenario. It's just guys getting an opportunity to get better and we need them right now.
As far as, you know, Rob [Windsor] is going to keep doing his thing. Kevin [Givens] is going to keep doing his thing. I think we need to get some other guys involved. I'm not sure what [defensive coordinator] Coach [Brent] Pry is going to do when we go to practice today, as one of the leaders of the defense, I have to get those guys going and get them better so we can depend on them on Saturday.
Q. Curious, how do you attribute some of the lack of turnovers? Teams have put the ball on the ground a lot this year and you guys haven't come up with that many fumble recoveries or dropped interceptions. Is that a confidence thing or how do you put your finger on that?
KF: Preseason and during camp and what we do at practice, we really work on getting -- like catching the football, picking up the football when it's a fumble. We did a great job in that. We just need to do what we do at practice and translate it to the game.
I mean, honestly, the best thing we can do is just keep doing what we're doing at practice because we're doing those things at practice. Guys just need to do it in the game.
Q. How you grade out, how is that information transferred to you guys? I assume they don't post a list of grades that everybody sees, or do they?
KF: In the team meeting room, Coach [James] Franklin gives a list of guys that had winning grades, and then he marks it each and every week. You know, there's 12 guys ahead this week; 36 guys ahead this week and ultimately we want guys that have -- we want to get better, so more guys need to get winning grades.
When we go to our individual meeting rooms, our position meeting rooms, for us, at least, Coach [Brent] Pry gives us a sheet that we pass around, it's a production chart, so how many tackles you had, assisted tackles, big hits, interceptions, etc., and you get points for all those things and that's how you get winning grades. So he literally looks at every single play, obviously, individually, and you get zeros, ones and twos.
So zeros are obviously you didn't do your job. One is you did your job and two is you did the extra effort to do your job. So you want to get ones and twos to get a winning grade, if that makes sense.
Q. The defense is playing great. Kind of a switchover the past couple years as far as the offense not putting up the points as they have been. Does that change your mindset?
KF: No. I think as a defensive unit, we need to get our offense the best opportunities and best field position as possible so they can go down and score.
Q. Garrett Taylor had a pretty good game against Michigan State, and as a former safety yourself, how do you think he stepped into that role this season and as a leader? How have you seen him grow?
KF: Yeah, Garrett's doing a great job. I think he was a guy that went from corner to safety, and I don't know how hard that position was for him but he's doing his thing out there. I think these last two games were his best games and he's going to continually improve. He's a leader. He's vocal. He's one of the more vocal guys on our defense and he's going to keep doing his thing out there.
Q. Coach Pry mentioned last week there's a benchmark for third downs. There's some kind of barometer that I don't know if it's just the coach's judge or they relay that to you guys, as well. Do you know a certain amount of like percentages that you want to hold teams on third down conversions?
KF: I mean, we want win 50 percent of our third downs or higher. I mean, for us, if we get to third down, that means we're doing a good job, but depends on if it's like third-and-short, third-and-long. If we do our work on first and second do you know, then we can put guys -- put an extra corner in, more safeties in the game to make a play.
I think third down, as Coach Pry says, that's where the magic happens. That's when the wild dogs come in or where the wild package comes in. That's when it gets really fun. That's what they always say, that's when the magic happens.
As far as that aspect, third downs are big. We want to have a high percentage as much as possible.
Q. Looking ahead a little bit here, well, actually looking backward, with James Franklin, we talked a lot about the veteran receivers, Juwan [Johnson], DeAndre [Thompkins], and there's been a lot of focus on the lack of productivity out of those two in particular because of their track record coming in. You've spent a lot of time with those guys where do you see their confidence level now and how do they continue to be leaders, even when their play isn't necessarily up to where expectations were as Franklin told us today?
KF: Yeah, I was with Juwan yesterday and we were talking about that. I asked him how many receptions he had and he said three. I was like, "How do you feel? Is everything okay? What's going on?"
He's like, "Koa, honestly, I'm just going to keep doing my thing. I'm going to embrace my role and do whatever I can to help this team." So that's crazy how you just asked me that.
Q. Can you talk about the challenges Indiana brings to you guys defensively?
KF: Yeah, they have a dual-threat quarterback. He's a dual-threat. So he can run the ball. He can pass the ball. He's getting better each and every week. Watched a couple games and he's actually really getting good. He does a great job leading their offense.
I think ultimately, we have to make him uncomfortable, whether that's blitzing, getting the wild dogs in, just doing everything we can to make him not set his feet and hopefully win the game.
Q. How would you assess your ability as a blitzer so far? How do you think you've done on that? Because they have sent you and Cam [Brown] quite a bit.
KF: I mean, blitzing's hard because sometimes the quarterback can see it pre snap and they get the ball off faster. I think that's why I'm trying to disguise the blitz or Cam [Brown] is trying to disguise me blitzing, but it's been hard because we play against some great quarterbacks and they can see it sometimes and they get the ball off quick.
Ultimately, I haven't got close to a quarterback as far as like blitzing, but when he gets off the pocket, I'm chasing him down and I'm getting pressure on him, so it's making him be uncomfortable in the pocket, so hopefully that's doing a good job.
Q. Coach Pry said last week and we've seen it on the field that you and Micah [Parsons] are essentially sharing a position. For someone with that starting experience coming in, how have you handled that and having to take these series on the sidelines and see him in there and how would you say Micah is different going into Game 7 than he was going into Game 1 of this year?
KF: Micah [Parsons], like I told you guys before, he's a freak athlete. He's a great pass rusher. He's fast on the football. Ultimately, from Game 7 to -- the difference between Micah Game 1 to Game 7 is he's a smarter football player. He's got experience and he's not making the same mistakes he was making in Game 1 and he's just going to keep doing a great job out there for us.
Q. What's Trace's demeanor like on Saturday night after a game like that? You guys leave the stadium. How does he kind of regroup in those moments away from everything?
KF: Yeah, I came home. He was watching film, getting the corrections made. It's not like he was mad or happy. He's just -- I don't know, it's hard to explain Trace's demeanor to be honest. I talked to him after the game. We were hanging out after the game and seems like everything is good and in spirits.
I think the important thing for Trace is a lot of guys look up to him, so he can't show too much emotion or too much anger because people are going to feed off that kind of energy.
I think what he does is doing a great job of holding that energy and rallying the troops back so we can get better.
Connor McGovern | Offensive Line | Jr./Jr.
Q. Let me just start by asking about Indiana's defense. They have had a tough run defense against you guys the last two years. What do you see from them and why do you think that this time might be a little bit different?
CM: Definitely Indiana prides itself on stopping the run. They like to load the box. They are always constantly blitzing, moving guys around. So it makes it a little bit challenging, especially seeing the fronts that they are going to give us because they like to constantly stunt and move around.
I like the challenge this year because we are always communicating up front and I think no matter what look they give us, we'll be able to run the ball any time during the game.
Q. Damion Barber was mentioned by James Franklin just shortly ago about a guy who is going to need to step up with Fred [Hansard] out for the season. You've worked with him on the scout team week-to-week. How has he worked on his game since he got to campus? Where is he? Do you think he's ready to contribute?
CM: I definitely think he's ready to contribute. Since he's got here, he's dramatically improved, constantly working with hand placement and getting off the ball. I think that's one of his strong suits.
Q. Have the past two games had any impact on the team's confidence in general, and how do you try to restore some of the confidence that could have been lost?
CM: I don't think we lost any confidence as a team. Right now, sticking together, coming out every day, especially this week, focus on ourselves and just come out prepared against Indiana this week.
Q. Trace [McSorley] shouldered a lot of the blame for the offense's lack of success against Michigan State. How has the team rallied around him? He seemed defeated after the game and was pretty hard on himself for his performance.
CM: Definitely he took it real hard, but it affected all of us, that loss. No one wants to lose, especially two in a row at home. This week we just have to come out and keep working harder.
I know Trace is going to step up, be a big-time leader and be very vocal and that's how we all have to be this week to prepare against Indiana.
Q. Who beyond Trace are the real leaders that people look up to on this team?
CM: Definitely offensively, Trace [McSorley], then Miles [Sanders], Mark Allen is always helpful throughout everything.
I think every position has their guys that are more vocal than others but then you have other smaller people that maybe don't communicate as much vocally but through their actions, do all the right things people look up to. There's a lot of those throughout the entire time.
Defensively, the same way, Nick Scott is a vocal leader but there are a lot of other smaller guys, that might not say anything, but everyone looks up to them as how they are playing.
Q. A couple examples of those guys?
CM: Just for example, I think the whole offensive line. We are not very vocal people but we always do your jobs and I think people look up to us and try to copy us, how we do, same mindset we do, just come out every day and try to get better and stuff like that.
Q. Tom Allen, the Indiana coach, joked Monday that sometimes he forgets that it's not Saquon Barkley back there; that he feels like Barkley just switched jerseys with [Miles] Sanders. As someone who is able to watch Sanders, do you ever forget that Barkley isn't back there? How do you think he compares, and what kind of season do you feel like Sanders is having so far?
CM: I think Miles is doing a wonderful job. You've seen the past two years, the sparks he's had and now he's finally being able to show what he truly is, and he's just able to ignite the field.
Saquon is a phenomenal player, but Miles in his own right is a great football player, too, and he's finally being able to show that.
Q. You talked about losing a couple games at home here. What was the open date like? Were you feeling sorry for yourselves? James mentioned this might have been the first time you haven't improved as a team the last game. Just seems like, not to take anything away from Michigan State, but seems like things were missing.
CM: I don't think things were missing. I don't feel like we weren't firing on all cylinders. Communication definitely lacked a little bit, but I just think we have to really focus on this week and coming back and just preparing against Indiana and make sure we get things done this week.
Q. Going into last week, were you surprised at all that you guys went in against the top-ranked rush defense and wanted to run the ball as much as you did?
CM: I was not surprised at all. That was one of the things we talked about in the offensive line room, taking that more personal. We wanted to show that we were able to run the ball against the best in the country and we were able to.
Q. What does that maybe do for you guys moving forward, knowing that the ground game had success against them?
CM: Definitely shows that we can -- against the best of defenses, we're able to move the ball how we want to and up front we can come out and dominate people.
Q. Shane Simmons, maybe you've faced him in practice on stunts, but what were you seeing out of him before the season, before his injury and I guess were you able to see how he did on Saturday?
CM: Definitely Shane has a very high motor, always constantly moving, fast foot at the edge and speed to power guy. Hurt not having him a little bit but he's back to where he was, very confident in him and I know he's able to get his job done.
Q. Koa was talking about grades and being graded. Did anybody in the offensive line grade out as a winner last week?
CM: Overall we had a couple guys grade out as winners, but talk to Coach [Matt] Limegrover more about that. He'll have more of the details about that.
Q. The offensive line has made a lot of improvement since last season but where do you think the biggest stride has been made?
CM: I definitely think in our communication the past two years, that kind of had been slacking. This year, most of us have played together for so long, and just more natural and a lot more comfortable with each other, and I think that's where we were lacking the past two years, just the comfortability.
Q. Was there a game or a play this season where it came together?
CM: I feel like definitely against Pitt it came together. Week one against Appalachian State, we were still working out some of the things, like obviously during camp you feel comfortable. But then getting live reps that will challenge, you, but then week two game and I know we were all solid together and ready to play.
Q. You're one of the few guys starting back in 2016 on this team. You were 4-2, unranked. Had not been ranked in about five years. You're 4-2 this year, ranked, but it has a much different feel about the program. What does that say about expectation and how do you think internally the team is handling that, and is it fair to hold this team to a high standard?
CM: I think it's always great to have very high expectations. Two years ago, no one believed in us at all and we were the only ones in that room that truly believed in what we could do, and we kind of kept pushing that and now expectations are really high; that we should always be at that same standard and we just have to keep pushing that every week, basically. Just come out and prove that we're improving every week and it's going to start this week with Indiana, just focus on that.
Two years ago, it was a little bit different circumstances, just because no one really truly believed in us, and now we have these high expectations.
Q. Is the locker room comfortable with the great-to-elite and pushing for that, and to follow that with a loss to Michigan State, does that create tension or walking on eggshells?
CM: I don't think there's any like doubts or anything like that. We're all just believing in each other and just going to come out and work harder this week.
