Steven Gonzalez | Offensive Line | Sr/Jr.
Q. Steven, you guys have gone through quite a meat grinder of a schedule probably going back to the Ohio State game. How do you avoid, after facing that quality of competition for so long, having a let-down against a team like Rutgers that's obviously struggling?
SG: I think our focus is to just try to keep playing hard every week. Every game's important, just like Coach Franklin preaches, every game is the Super Bowl.
We've got to treat them like any other opponent and they're just as tough and physical as the other teams and they're going to play hard.
Q. So the switch between tackles [Ryan] Bates and [Will] Fries moving. [Michal Menet] said that wasn't something that you were aware was going to happen until early last week. Does that require the whole offensive line to adapt, or is it really on those two guys and what they were comfortable with?
SG: Honestly, it's just kind of flipping plays for them. Bates having to get used to right-side plays and Fries having to get used to left-side plays.
At the end of the day it wasn't much of an adaptation. I think we're a very cohesive offensive line. We've played with each other for a while. It's just something we expect from our guys.
Q. When you've been next to the same guy for nine games and you switch, is there a tendency thing, do you have to go over notes before you get on the field where it becomes almost instinct in how you react and play off of each other?
SG: A little bit. You have to get used to the other guys, the way he pass protects or run protects or any one of the two. But, like you said, I played with [Will] Fries before, Fiesta Bowl and all last year at the end of the last year, and I'm used to them and they're both great players.
Q. As an offensive lineman, when you look at a defense like Rutgers, I think the bottom 10 of FBS in rushing defense, offensive linemen like to run the football. Is this the kind of game you guys like as a group are licking your chops to pound the rock?
SG: Every game we try to -- every game we try to establish a run game. So doesn't matter what opponent it is, we're always going to try to establish the run first and then obviously build off of it with the passing game. So it's just going to be a great challenge for us.
Q. Coach Franklin is really happy you guys collectively have eliminated tackles for loss, and a big point of pride of the running backs and focal point of the offseason, why do you think it is? Is it guys trying to tend to do too much or improvement with you guys or what?
SG: I think we just improved as an offensive line. I think we needed to gain a little bit more chemistry and cohesiveness with each other, and that's what we got through winter and through spring and through the summer workouts, summer camp. And then obviously through 10 games this year.
I'm thinking it's a little bit more cohesiveness and getting used to each other and the scheme and we feel really comfortable where we are at right now.
Q. How do you think you guys as a unit have held up in pass protection this year?
SG: I think we've done pretty well compared to years past. We've had our rough moments, obviously. No game's going to be perfect. So especially the Big Ten with the amount of talent that we have, and that we face. But I think we've done really well.
Q. [Head coach] James Franklin, when he's in here, or after games, or on Twitter, how much do you guys pay attention to what he has to say?
SG: We pay attention to a good amount. What he preaches to us is very important and it resonates throughout the entire program.
Q. I'm saying publicly as well as behind closed doors.
SG: Yep.
Q. It's usually the same thing?
SG: Yeah, everything's the same. No matter what, behind closed doors, publicly, it's all the same, we all get the same message.
Q. What's the first time in your career where you were impressed by running back Miles Sanders, where you knew that some day he was going to be something special?
SG: I think it was a series of moments. It was a little tough especially with obviously Saquon [Barkley] here. He wasn't getting as much time in games. But we could tell throughout practices and things like that especially in his first summer camp where he was making plays even behind Saquon. And he's just a really impressive guy. He's an awesome, funny guy, and he works his tail off every day.
Q. You're one of several New Jersey guys on this roster. A few more in the freshman class that came in. When Jersey guys get to campus for recruiting visits, are you typically putting a little extra time in that, especially when maybe you can spend more time with recruits, do you typically assign yourself and spend more time with New Jersey recruits?
SG: Normally the recruiting people they do a good job with pairing us with New Jersey guys, especially guys from our area. Whenever New Jersey guys come, we normally typically say 'hey' to them and 'what's up with the campus and football team' and things like that. So just really depends who they tell us to really talk to. New Jersey guys normally know who is getting recruited from where and things like that.
Q. You faced several good defensive lines in games this year. But how would you evaluate the kind of test that Penn State's defensive line currently provides for whatever offensive line it's going against?
SG: They're a really good unit, and we knew that since summer camp. They always gave us a challenge every single day we went on the field. Now they're just proving it. And they're a heck of a unit.
Q. James Franklin mentioned after the game the reason Jahan Dotson was able to get a lot of first team reps was because he learned a new position as an X receiver. Is that something as an offensive lineman and you guys are conscious of when that's happening in practice?
SG: Not necessarily. We really don't notice things like that unless we're told it. But I didn't even know he had to learn a new position. But it's just the fact that he stepped up and we didn't even notice that he moved positions is a big attribute of his. And he's a heck of a player as well.
Q. James talked a lot about the freshman wide receivers and all the hype around them. What have you seen from the freshmen, pass-catch?
SG: I felt like they've played really well. Especially [tight end] Pat [Freiermuth]. Pat's stepped up in really big moments, made big plays. Jahan [Dotson] has been getting in a lot more recently, has been making a lot more plays. Justin has also made a couple of plays as well. So just the impact that these freshmen are having especially in game is really important to our offense.
Q. Can you tell me about some of the scout team "D" linemen that people may not know about yet but should be keeping an eye out looking forward?
SG: Yeah, Nick Tarburton would be a really good defensive linemen, a little undersized right now obviously because he had to make the transition from linebacker to D-end. But once he finishes out throughout the year and goes through winter and goes through spring, I think he's going to be really good. He plays really well and plays really hard. Judd also going to be really good but he just needs time, but he's a big guy and very powerful, very physical. So I think those are two guys to watch out for.
Antonio Shelton | Defensive Tackle | Jr./So.
Q. Coach Franklin just told us he thinks the guy maybe a little overlooked now is Kevin Givens. He said he's killing it. Not necessarily showing up on the stat sheet. Can you give us insight sharing the position what he's doing that's helping the rest of the defensive line?
AS: Kevin [Givens] is one of the most athletic people I've ever seen. It's kind of scary. You don't expect someone to be that big and strong and at the same time be athletic. But a lot of things that Kevin does, he sets other guys up to be successful.
Like last week, there's this play where the backside, he's on the left side. The right guard pulled and he knocked his guard into the pulling guard and it completely messed the play up, ended up going for a TFL. Little things like that Kevin does he's always in the right position doing his job that allows the defense to play how we play.
Q. Feel like right now more than ever across the board everyone's doing their job up front?
AS: The majority of the time, yeah. I mean most of the time -- like you're never going to be 100 percent right during a game. But definitely I think over the course of the season we've definitely cut down on [missed assignments] and everybody's a lot more accountable.
Q. Seems the pass defense has found its stride over the past few games, how does the defensive line and secondary work together to get to that point?
AS: Well, the longer that they can cover for, the longer we have to get to the quarterback. So we kind of work hand in hand, but the energy and the defense we always say it starts with us. We try to bring it every single Saturday, because we know it goes back through the linebackers and through the secondary. The secondary has been playing great all season. So you know they give us time to do our job and we make their job a lot easier if we can get to the quarterback.
Q. Last week Jan Johnson said that Micah [Parsons' has been growing at linebacker and getting his fits better. Getting into the gaps, his responsibilities. As a defensive lineman, can you kind of feel that a guy is comfortable back there at linebacker?
AS: Yeah, definitely. You can kind of just see it just like -- we get a play call, somebody doesn't get the call, we ask Micah what the call is. You can kind of just sense that he's a lot more comfortable back there just from playing in games and just gaining experience through more film study or getting with the older guys in the linebacker room, just following the example really. He's just getting a lot more comfortable on the field.
When he's more comfortable he can play better. I don't want to say necessarily better, but he can play how he's playing without thinking about things, because when you think about things on the field, most of the time you kind of slow down. You don't do your job as much. But when he's able to do that, it allows everybody else to play great.
Q. When do you think that clicks for him, when you can go to him and say, hey, what's the play and he's got it. Was there a game or whatever that you think it really clicked for him?
AS: I couldn't necessarily point to a singular moment. But I think it's just collectively over time [defensive coordinator Brent] Pry is always hammering on everybody. You've got to be accountable. Gotta know your job. That's the number one thing. If you don't know your job, on offense or defense, you can't play. So not to say that Micah never knew his job, but I think it's just collectively just seeing things over and over again, start to recognize this is just gaining experience.
Q. Your retweet of Audrey's bobsled [picture, saying] "Cool Runnings," that was very funny.
AS: The receivers, they're funny. Especially KJ [Hamler], I've known KJ for a little while. He went to IMG with one of my best friends. That's how I got to know him. But the receivers, they're a funny group.
Q. How much help or guidelines do you guys get as far as your social media use and do you follow Coach Franklin?
AS: Yeah, I follow Coach Franklin, obviously. But standard, be cautious, there's things that we've seen just from guys, specifically in college football, like you go to the pros and all of a sudden somebody digs up a tweet that you tweeted from like 2012.
Somebody can make the excuse like however old, but still going to be held accountable for those things. And [Assistant AD for Strategic Communications] Kris [Petersen] does a great job. Coach Franklin does a great job. Everybody always says just be careful on social media because like what's the point really of being negative on the Internet? Just things like that. We always listen to it.
Q. When you look at Rutgers' offensive line, they've surrendered only 12 sacks, second lowest in the conference. What do you see from them on film and what do you guys have to do to kind of get home this week the way you did with Wisconsin?
AS: I know they get the ball out quick. They tend to get the ball out quick. They've got a great running back as well. So they tend to use him a lot. He's real dynamic. Put him anywhere he can be in the slot, be in the backfield. I think as far as the "D" line, if we just do our job within the framework of defense, the plays will just have them, you just gotta trust it.
Q. When asked about two teammates, Franklin says PJ Mustipher played by far his best game of the season on Saturday. And Yetur [Gross-Matos] looked like every game he was a little more extra attention from the offense's game plan. Two guys assigned to him on several plays. When he gets that kind of attention, even if he's not the one making plays, how does that help the rest of the guys on the defensive front?
AS: Well, starting first with PJ [Mustipher], PJ had a fantastic week of practice last week. And I mean as a young guy, as a freshman, getting into the rotation is extremely hard. Because I mean especially playing in the Big Ten, it's just specifically in the east. You are playing somebody every week. You can't take a week off. And I think PJ's done a great job of really leaning on us, as older guys, because it's like we've seen this before, here's what to expect.
Since he got here, he's really listened to us. He doesn't take things personal. All he really focuses on is coming out and getting better. I think that's what we all focus on. And with Yetur [Gross-Matos], I mean, goose is just a beast. I don't know what to say. But I mean obviously they're going to focus a little bit more attention on him, possibly, in the game plan. But I mean if it frees the rest of us up or some of us up, that's fine. I don't really think about those kind of things too much. We just really just go out there and play, honestly.
Q. Going off that Yetur [Gross-Matos] stuff, what's the most impressive thing you've seen him do whether in game, practice, on film, because apparently quite a few freakish moments?
AS: I don't know. Yetur is one of those people where like he does things that shouldn't work and they work. Like him and Shane [Simmons] are like weirdly athletic people. Him and Shane and Daniel [Joseph] are like -- it's ridiculous. Like [defensive line coach Sean] Spence[r] makes a joke that Daniel is part slinky, how he can bend. Like we're watching in practice and it shouldn't -- looks like any normal human being will fall, even if you're an athlete. They just don't. They just make plays happen. It's kind of ridiculous.
I mean, he just comes out and he plays extremely hard. He's always -- if you watch his high school tape, he was like see ball, get ball. He still has that. But he's also taking the coaching very well. And he's refined his skills a lot. So when you take that refining of his skills and he still has that mentality, then it translates to the field and that's how he plays.
Q. Did you watch his high school film at some point before he got here or when he got here?
AS: Yeah, sometimes if we're all just hanging out together and we're bored we'll pull somebody's high school tape up. Or like somebody will be talking about high school or like, oh, my school is going to the state championship and it's like 'okay.' And then that's the topic of discussion we pull up old embarrassing recruiting photos when everybody used to look like a baby. Or we'll pull up each other's high school tape so we can laugh at each other.
But if you watch it, his first play, I think it was from like a scrimmage or something, he like ran like 70 yards to catch this dude and like made the play. And I don't know what down it was, but defensive end, you don't normally expect people to be able to do that.
Q. Shareef Miller is one of the guys who came in to the season with high expectations, how has he lived up to that and how has he helped some of the younger guys on the defensive line as a leader?
AS: Shareef, honestly, is like my big brother, honestly. I think he's like that for a lot of people. Him and Torrence right now, like I can honestly say those are the two guys that I mainly lean on. Reef brings the same thing every single day. And that's one of the things I paid attention to specifically going into like this camp and I was just watching Reef just watching film on him, watching how he works out. He brings the same exact mentality to everything. And it's because he wants to be great.
And when you can surround yourself with people like that, you know, it makes you want to be better. So just being around Reef and him being older than me and just his leadership and he's not as vocal, but I'm a little more vocal than he is. So he'll give me a message and then I can like portray it like when we circle up and do the chant before the games and things like that. But Reef definitely brings the same amount of intensity day in, day out and that consistency shows up on Saturday.
Q. You mentioned sometimes going back and looking at high school film on guys when they're recruits and whatnot. Do you remember ever watching Micah Parsons' film, because obviously he was a D end in high school?
AS: No, I don't think I ever have. I don't think I ever have. But I remember when he got here because he came in early. So that's spring ball. He was making like plays like nobody should make. It was ridiculous. And I'm like oh. Obviously, I knew who he was because everybody knew who he was just like around the country because how big his name was coming out of high school. I was like, oh, this makes sense. I could see how people were tripping about him.
Q. Check out his running back highlights.
AS: He played running back? Are you serious? I know he would go to camps and play receiver and safety for the fun of it.
Q. Now, when it comes to this defense overall, last year you knew that regardless of how well you played you were going to lose a huge chunk of veterans; they were going to move on with their careers, with their lives, is there something special about the way this defense has developed knowing that so many of this core is going to be back not just next year but a couple of years ahead potentially, is that something that excites you?
AS: Yeah, honestly, being able to play the same group of guys for as long as you can. I mean, you can only get closer. It's just through shared experience honestly that you go coach there on defense.
As far as losing the older guys I think the reason why we are the way we are is because of them. Because we followed their example. Because when I was in high school I was watching [Anthony] Zettel and A.J. (Austin Johnson] the way they played and I was like 'wow, that's it.' I want to be like that. And then I get here my freshman year and up to last year I'm watching Parker [Cothren] and Curt [Cothran] play. And I'm like 'wow, that's it.' And then the season ends and both of those guys are gone and I was like now you have to do something. Like it's time, like no more time for watching. Like you have to contribute to this team. And it kind of gave -- you could look at any position like Trap (Troy Apke), Marcus [Allen], Grant [Haley], before that just Smooth in the secondary. Smooth is Jordan Smith. Sorry. Malik [Golden]. Guys like that. Jason [Cabinda], Nyeem [Wartman-White], B. (Brandon) Bell, watching those guys playing, it's like we have to be like that. We have to at least play up to that standard and the closer we all are, the more we get to play together, I think the better we'll perform.
Q. You have rituals and handshakes, who has the best one, because some of them can look pretty lengthy?
AS: Best handshake, me and Ryan Bates, period. I can't remember why we started. I think I went up to him and said 'we don't have a handshake.' And it just -- so from week-to-week we add something on. So this is, what, week 11 now? So now we have 11 pieces to one handshake now. And I don't see everybody else's. Like the big guys we don't normally see like the receivers and DBs and those guys. Normally we see those guys because we're just not out there like warming up, we come out last. Hands down, me and Bates, period.
Q. I see you're listed as a journalism major, what are your goals there and it seems as if you kind of enjoy this sort of thing. Some players don't enjoy press conferences. Do you enjoy it?
AS: Well, first of all, I like talking a lot. Kind of got me into a little bit of trouble when I was a freshman. Not like trouble, trouble, but just like, 'yo, this dude talks too much.'
But no, I enjoy this kind of stuff. A lot of times people can like misinterpret what you say. So I like to actually say what I mean, you guys can kind of get a better understanding of me. But as far as journalism goes, always know -- I noticed in high school that I was really good at writing papers and things like that.
One of my teachers, Ms. Polito. Shout out, Ms. Polito. She was always critical of my papers and essays I would write. She helped me refine my skills and was basically like a coach. And when I first got here, I was like, what am I going to do? I like working out. So let's be a kinese (kinesiology) major, I took one kinese class and I realize it wasn't for me. I'm not good at science. It's not going to work. I had to tailor things to my strength and I'm really artistic. I'm creative. I like to write. I was like what can I do with that? Journalism was that. And then I never got really a lot of media attention or was a part of anything that got a lot of media attention until I got here. I was like I guess this will work.
Q. Going off the pregame rituals we see you pumping up the defense every game back in the corner. What are some of the things that you say, what are some of your go-tos, what does that mean to you?
AS: First of all, I'm a very energetic person. I'm not right now, but I can be. But on Saturday – Coach [Brent] Pry says the same thing to me every Saturday. It's like we do -- we warm up and stuff. It's always like the same old pump up stuff like let's go. I could do an impersonation of him but I don't want to deal with it later.
He just says the same thing and I say the same thing back. I'm like, 'Coach, I'm all one every Saturday. You know that.' And I have to play this game with an extreme amount of passion, because that's just who I am. If I can't have fun, like Drake said, "the moment I start having fun with it I'll be done with it."
So if I can't have fun doing this, it's just -- it's not as fulfilling. And I want everybody else around me to be on the same like wavelength that I'm on. So the more energy that I think that I can bring specifically to my unit, as the "D" line, I know it will help the entire team, because if the "D" line plays good the linebackers play good. If the linebackers play good the secondary plays good. That means the whole defense is playing good which means the offense gets the ball back more often, because more opportunities to score.
So it's just things like that. And I think that's one of my roles on the team. Like I watched Marcus [Allen] and everybody knows how much energy that Marcus has. Like at all times. And I was like, okay, I can be that. But I just have to wait until the time is right. And now the time is right. So I bring the energy as much as I can as far as what I say, I can't say it in here, I'll get in trouble, but the general message is we have to play like we're capable of playing. That's basically it.
