Penn State Football
Student-Athlete Postgame Press Conference: Defense
vs. Maryland – November 24, 2018
Amani Oruwariye | CB | Gr./Sr.
Q: How much did the emotion of this day help you guys dominate the show tonight?
A: It definitely surged us a little bit, playing with emotion and thinking about our last game in Beaver Stadium. Our guys just wanted to get the win for us. That definitely added a big factor in.
Q: Coach talked about how you couldn't have scripted this game any better the way it turned out with Trace (McSorley) scoring 3 touchdowns and the defensive effort, was that the way you saw it too?
A. We've been surging for a complete game. This is definitely as a complete game that we've had in a little while. We formed on offense and defense and special teams. That's how I drew it up as well.
Q: Trace (McSorley) got that curtain call. I know you were right there on the sideline when he came off and with the crowd and what not. What did you tell him? What was that moment like?
A. I just told him that I love him and I just said congrats on a great career. I was just like let's take it all in right now. Let's just get ready for the future as well.
Nick Scott | S | Gr./Sr.
Q: How much did the emotion of this game help you guys out on the field today?
A: I think it was huge, and not just for the seniors—obviously guys who wanted to leave it all out on the field the last time we play here—but just guys wanting to have no regrets, because this was the last time we were going to be coming out here this season. Finishing it off the right way was something that was huge for us, and it was a good motivator for us today.
Q: What went into the walk around the field at the end? Did you guys plan that? And what was it like when you were doing it?
A: That was actually Koa's idea. He sent out a text to the seniors and said "Hey, if you guys want, we're going to take one final lap". I thought it was awesome. There were obviously a lot of emotions as we were taking the lap; it was really surreal. It's been a long five years but, at the same, a very short five years. Just taking it all in one more time—that's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. And I think Koa might've started a new tradition here. I think that all guys going forward—all the seniors—should definitely, when they have their last game, take that one last lap around.
Q: How much were you holding back emotions then? Were you just letting it go? And it looks you're even holding back a little bit now, if I'm not mistaken.
A: I would say the hardest time I had holding back my emotions was when we were receiving our roses and seeing our families. I was doing well until I hugged Coach Franklin. Coach Franklin was emotional and he started making me emotional just because we've had a lot of great times together. He's been a tremendous part of my growth as a man, most importantly, and obviously as a football player. Then, when I saw my mom…I think most guys can attest to this: When you see your mother at a point like that and a growing stage like that, most guys usually fold.
Koa Farmer | LB | Gr./Sr.
Q: When Trace [McSorley] got his curtain call, when he got pulled, and got his moment, was that emotional for you?
A: Not really, me and Trace's relationship is not really football. I'm going to talk to that guy for the rest of my life. He's probably going to be one of my best men at my wedding. He is one of my best friends for life. Obviously it is tough to see the winningest quarterback in history walk off the field, he'll never play a snap here again in Beaver Stadium. But, obviously I was like 'wow, that's his last snap' but I didn't get too emotional because I know I'm going to be with Trace for a long time, until I die.
Q: James [Franklin] mentioned that this was maybe the perfect way for your senior class to go out, a perfect ending in the way the game played out, do you feel similar?
A: Yeah, definitely. We don't want seniors to go home with an "L." I think it was a great way [to go out]. Guys who don't play and who are on scout team got into the game. Pipes [Frank Di Leo], [Jason] Vranic, you know those guys got into the game, and that's what it is all about, getting those guys in the game. That was my goal, getting those guys into the game because it is so many times where you guys don't understand what guys who aren't on TV, aren't talked about, what they've gone through for this program. Those are the two guys right there who deserved to be on the field.
Yetur Gross-Matos | DE | So./So.
Q: Could this game have gone any better, with the way it played out?
A: No, I don't think so. A huge emphasis for us this week was to stop the run. In the last couple games they've had offensively, their running back #5 has been exploding all over. So I think we came out and played well.
Q: As a defensive group, that's 26 tackles for loss in the last two weeks. How confident are you playing as an entire defensive group compared to where you guys were on September 1st out there?
A: I think the defense is much improved. We go out there and we have the mindset that the opposing offense's game plan is just not going to work for them—that we're going to stop whatever their identity is. I think we play a lot more confident than we did at the beginning of the season.
Q: Two of the guys honored today were Ryan and Torrence. What have they meant to you in your second year on campus and what you do on a daily basis that we're not seeing?
A: Those guys are huge. Torrence was my assigned big brother when I first got here, and he's been a mentor to me on and off the field since day one. To go out there and really just play for those guys—it was an incredible experience.
Tariq Castro-Fields | CB | So./So.
Q: Coach said back in the middle of September that he was looking for an eraser on defense; you guys seem to have found that in the last month and a half. When does the light bulb kind of go off for you guys, and the defense really start pushing towards?
A: I think when everyone realizes that doing your job can win us games. No one does too much, everybody is playing in the framework of the defense. That is really what happened and that is why we have had success so far.
Q: This feels like an aggressive group, more so later in the season than earlier, would you agree with that? It seems to be Coach Pry's style to be more aggressive and maybe it was easier to do that later in the year, is that accurate?
A: I would say Coach Pry has been doing a great job of calling great calls and putting us in a position to play aggressive and not think so much.
Q: Longer the season goes along, do you think there is more and more ownership from the younger guys, knowing that Amani [Oruwariye] is going to be gone and guys like that, does it become your defense the longer you play?
A: They preach that here, past week five or six, nobody is really a young guy. The coaches do a great job of getting everyone in games and getting experience. I don't think we have any more young guys.