Penn State Football
Student-Athlete Postgame Press Conference: Offense
vs. Idaho – August 31, 2019
Sean Clifford | QB | Jr./So.
Q: KJ said that he is here because of you. What was your pitch?
A: What we just did today. That was the pitch. You know, days like this, the grind of everything and always being together, having that connection when you have two touchdowns with the guy [Hamler] that's always a good day. That was my pitch to him as a recruit and its cool to see it come full circle now.
Q: Sean how would you assess your first game as a starter?
A: I haven't seen the film, I would need to look at that but the first two drives were not up to my standards. I was nervous to be honest with you, and I let that affect me. My feet were kind of all over the place, but when you have guys who have confidence in you, they just told me to settle down and after that second drive I said back to the basics, just stay the course, stick to your footwork, stick to your rules, don't do anything crazy. You don't need too. Especially with so much talent and how the line played today, it gives me a lot of confidence. I think overall the offense played pretty well. Again I need to watch the film to really give you my evaluation, but when you score 79 points, it's not a bad day in the office.
KJ Hamler | WR | Jr./Sr.
Q: KJ what is the takeaway from a game like this, people will say 79-7 blowout, but what do you guys take away from this?
A: It's just a learning experience for us. We have a lot of people here who don't get a lot of reps. It was great to see a lot of the younger guys and people who help us out on scout team get in and play and produce.
Q: What did you think about the way Sean [Clifford] played? It looked like he missed a couple of things early but then really found his groove.
A: Sean [Clifford] did his thing. At the beginning I knew he was nervous. I could tell. I pulled him aside on the sideline and said 'Calm down, just get all the jitters out. That was your first drive, you're fine.' He went on a little rampage after that. I think he just needed to get in the groove of things first.
Q: How frustrated were you on special teams? They're punting away from you when you're trying to break one. You're always trying to break a big play. How frustrating is that for you?
A: It's frustrating because I always think I'm so close to breaking one. Coach Franklin pulled me aside and said, 'Don't get frustrated, don't beat yourself up, you're getting good yards for us.' I'll do anything I can do to help out the team. I don't have to make a big play. If I get positive yards, that's a positive in my eyes and in the team's eyes.
Journey Brown | RB| Jr./So.
Q: Five touchdowns for the running back group good day for the lawn boys, can you break it down for how proud you are of this running back group?
A: Coming into the game we knew we were all going to play and get a chance to spin. Just to see all the young guys, see how much they prepared and see them grow a lot in this game. It was really fun, and seeing one of my best friends, Nick Eury, I came in when he was a sophomore and I was a freshman and seeing him work every day, working hard and doing all that stuff is really fun. Seeing Ricky Slade and what he does which is score and he did really great. We were very proud of what we did today, we are going to enjoy this and get back into the lab next week and get ready for Buffalo.
Q: When you are away from the team in the summer is it your endgame thinking it would be possible in a game to score two touchdowns and have a nice breakout performance for yourself?
A: I was thinking about long term stuff and I knew when I was home stuff happened, but I didn't stop thinking about what I was going to do this year. I was working hard all summer so I did not have a drop off. I came back prepared to do what I just did today.
Q: Can you talk about your ability to run in between the tackles now, as opposed to just using your speed and the adjustment you made in that regard?
A: I have been here for two and a half years, so I learned a lot of stuff just running behind Saquon [Barkley] and Miles [Sanders] and even running behind Ricky Slade you learn a lot of stuff. Just picking up with the running backs in our room and the coach we have teaches us a lot of stuff, and it showed today that we all played really well.
Michal Menet | OL | Sr./Jr.
Q: You guys put up 79 points, how did it just feel in general to hit that number?
A: It felt really good, especially the way we did it. We got a lot of guys in the game, a lot of people were involved, everybody was executing well. Wherever you were on the depth chart. Like I said, we had a ton of guys, great team win, and obviously putting up 79 is a great start to the season.
Q: What changed after the first two drives after you settled for field goals, where everything started turning into touchdown possession drives?
A: I think the first few drives it was one little thing here, one little thing there that didn't allow us to convert those into bigger plays or get the ball to the endzone. Once we got those little things corrected, we were good to go.
Q: During those first few drives; how did you sense Sean Clifford was in the huddle – did he seem jittery, did he seem calm?
A: He seemed like he's been there before. He's very confident in his abilities and he was ready to go. He prepared his butt off all offseason and all camp for this moment and he definitely stepped up.
Q: What does it mean for an offense to have the luxury of having backs as good as these guys are? What does it do for the offense, what does it do for the defense?
A: I was extremely impressed. All of our backs today played extremely well. I was very happy for all of them. A lot of guys got to score their first touchdown throughout the whole entire offense. So, I think that was great for a lot of guys.
Q: What does it do for the offense, what does it do for the defense?
A: They're all very good, like I said, they all do things a little differently. So, that definitely presents a huge challenge for them as far as game planning and it allows us to be really fresh back there. No matter who's in there you're going to get a really good effort from them.
Jake Pinegar | K | So./So.
Q: How do you feel as a whole how did the kicking unit do?
A: I thought it was a really good first day. Anytime you can go out there and go perfect on PATs and field goals, it shows a lot. I think our guys are really confident, and as a kicking unit as a whole I thought it was a good day.
Q: Stout had that 53 yarder, do you think he can be rotated in the system more?
A: Yeah what's kind of going on is that he has a good leg as you guys all know, so on farther field goals over camp we tested that and charted those, and he was a little more consistent. On farther field goals it's kind of balanced right now, so he did a good job and we are just going to play from there.
Q: What has it been like having Jordan come in a little bit late here and have him as a teammate so far?
A: It's awesome, man. He is a really good guy, and a really good friend first. He came in and you know he is really easy to get along with, super friendly guy, and obviously a really good kicker so he has been a great addition.