Tyler Bowen | Offensive Recruiting Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach
Q. Theo [Johnson] seemed to be your big fish there at the end of the recruiting trail. Considering the time you spent up in Canada, how personal was that one for you?
TB: All of them become personal when you spend that much time on them. At the same time though, it's the way to address a need by a number. But Theo (Johnson), we couldn't be more excited to have him. I've gotten to know him and his family extremely well. Pretty neat story about the tight ends, not only about the ones we have in our room but the ones that we have coming into our room is that Tyler Warren, Theo Johnson and Brenton Strange were all at the same camp together. Which I think is pretty unique. You probably won't find a better tight end group at a summer camp anywhere in the country. So that was two years ago, all three of those guys were here together. They've all developed a really close relationship but with Theo, it came down to the wire and I thought they handled it the right way. They never rushed to make a decision, he had a checklist that him and his mom wanted to go through to make sure that they found the right fit and in the end, Penn State as not only an academic institution but as a football program and then the relationship that we built ended up playing out, in the end, made the most sense for him. Very personal, love Theo to death along with Tyler [Warren] and couldn't be more excited to bring both of them into the room.
Q. You mentioned to Tyler (Warren) on the phone being able to do a lot of stuff. Did you ever think that throwing the football would be on that list as well?
TB: Well, he can obviously throw it. He was committed to Virginia Tech as a quarterback at one point in the process and ended up flipping and coming to us at Penn State. So, he obviously can throw it, but I think right now we are going to make sure he's good in the three phases of run blocking, protection and catching the ball. I think its huge; Coach Franklin just mentioned, I caught the tail end of it but he's a three-sport guy. He's a guy that can get on the mound in the spring and can throw a mid-90s fastball as a lefty. He can't control it, yet thank goodness. I was talking to Coach [Rob] Cooper this morning and I was like, "If he learns how to control it, he may never make it here." Then in basketball, he's a double-double guy every game. I've been fortunate enough to go down and watch him play a couple times. He's bringing the hammer down on dunks, he's getting rebounds, he can shoot the three. Then on the football field, he plays quarterback, so I think that awareness that he brings from playing the quarterback position in football, along with the variety of skill sets and the ball skills and the spatial awareness that he provides, I think he's going to be able to come in and make an impact sooner rather than later. The other thing, guys that have a well-rounded skill set like that, just the ability to play three sports a year, you're just competing all the time and you're also putting yourself in. Football is a situational game, so is baseball, so is basketball, so just compete and put yourself in situations where you have to use that brain power to understand how much time is left on the clock, where do I need to go with the baseball. I think all that stuff plays in, especially to the tight end position, where you are asked to do a variety of things at a high level.
Q. This morning, Pat Freiermuth on the broadcast said he had talked to Theo and he was going to be taking him under his wing once he sets foot on campus. Did Pat take on a pretty active role over the course of that recruitment to get Theo (Johnson) to campus? Just his presence on campus, what does that do for your tight end recruiting at this point?
TB: I think your best players want to be around other great players and I think that's not only Pat, but the whole room. I think, obviously Pat being the leader, not only in the room but also on the team; those guys know that to do what they want to do and to achieve their team goals, it's going to take much more than just themselves. So, they take an active role in recruiting and they are not too far removed. They know what it's like to be in a recruit's shoes and to be coming into a campus and have the older guys look at you. It is a time to take them under your wing and to make them feel comfortable. They know, they read through social media, through you guys, the guys that we're targeting. They take an active role when they're on campus of getting to know those guys and recruiting the heck out of them.
Q. With the two Florida guys, it seems like that's Ja'Juan's [Seider] wheelhouse, running backs in Florida. Can you speak to the job he did getting those guys?
TB: Ja'Juan is unbelievable. Not only as a recruiter, but developing the running backs once they get here. I think his track record throughout his career in, not only recruiting the running back position, but also developing them to play at a high level; I think that plays well with multiple guys. It just happened that the last three years, we've gotten a couple out of Florida, which I think is a great place to supplement our recruiting efforts, especially when you talk about skill positions. Obviously, we all know that it's a talent-rich state with a number of prospects in it. He's done an unbelievable job. He's not only a great recruiter, but also develops them once they get here.
Q: How do you look at a guy and project where they can go at the next level? How do you just see an athlete and know what skills they might be able to that they haven't currently presented?
TB: I think we are looking for guys that check boxes from a skill set standpoint. Size is one, speed, change of direction, just general movements and then their character and their ability to process information quickly is very important at the tight end position. Both of those guys check those boxes. And although not many of your elite tight ends are playing the actual position of end line Y or move the ball left when they're in high school. They're generally the best athlete on the team and they are going to get utilized that way. Whether you're a quarterback and you're catching every snap, Nick Bowers did a lot of that when he was in high school. Or you're a guy like Theo where he's flexed out at receiver the majority of the time. I think those guys, you want those guys in positions where they are impacting their team in the best way. It's obviously our job to get them here and teach them the skills and develop them to do the things that we are going to ask them to do.
Terry Smith | Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach
Q. How do you feel after the last two weeks?
TS: I feel great, especially today with everything going according to plan. We didn't have any last-minute changes or decisions. I was talking to Tariq Castro-Fields just the other day about how, when he signed, it took until about maybe 15 minutes before this press conference to make his decision. We didn't have any of those last-minute decisions, so everything went well.
Q. Can you talk about your defensive backs coming in?
TS: At the corner, Joe Johnson [III] is a long corner. He's athletic with tremendous talent and we're really excited about him and his potential. Ji'Ayir Brown had a really good season this year. He came to camp and earned a scholarship the hard way. We're really excited about him coming in as a guy who's two years already removed from high school. Hopefully he can have the same impact that Jaquan Brisker had on us this year. Enzo Jennings brings a lot of great length as well. We're trying to get our secondary to look a certain way and have athleticism in a certain way as well.
Q. The ball skills that Coach Franklin talked about; how important is that for your defensive backs?
TS: It's critical. We're doing a really, really good job of covering. Now it comes down to the 50/50 balls. It's a difference between the pass breakup and the offense has another snap or an interception and now our offense has the ball. We're just trying to get those game-changers who can get us off the field and get the offense the football.
Q. Over the last couple of years you guys have done a good job at addressing the depth on the defensive line. How important is it to bring in a bunch of those guys every year?
TS: I think it's six guys and we've got a lot of defensive ends and defensive tackles. We just feel like you can't turn those offensive line and defensive line guys away. You just keep recruiting because that's the foundation. Up front with Coach [Sean] Spencer and the "Wild Dogs", they set the tone for our defense. We've had a really good defense the last six years and it all starts up front. We feel like we brought some quality guys in, in the interior, that are stout and a couple guys who will gain some weight inside. We're big and long on the outside at the defensive end position. Hopefully those guys will continue to be as athletic as the other guys we've brought in the past.
Q. When you're recruiting how often do you reference your days as a student-athlete (at Penn State)? How much of an advantage is that for you?
TS: Only when it's necessary. History plays a big part though. We're winning more games than ever, but we always flash back and try to tie it in, so these guys know where we came from, where we are currently and where we need to go. Obviously, we're striving to win the Big Ten, get into the playoff and have a chance there. We reference it some, but we don't overdo it because these guys are the here-and-now guys.
Andy Frank | Director of Player Personnel
Q. Can you talk about the recruiting process and how that has, kind of, evolved during this event?
AF: It starts out, way back when, a couple years ago we started with these kids as freshmen and sophomores, and it goes throughout the season this year. It's interesting. Things have changed a lot with the early signing period. We call it the early signing period but in reality, this is the signing period. We signed 27 guys today. We may or may not sign more in February. We're pretty much done at this point. It's a fun process. It's an exciting process and we've gotten to the point now where it's, you know, become kind of a machine here.
Q. Why is it that you put such a large emphasis on this early signing process?
AF: Well, if you look across the country, we've gotten to the point where we're probably, I think nationally, they're going to sign probably 85% of the kids, so you have to. There's really no other way around it. The kids are committing earlier and then you're trying to hang on, to the end, and get those guys to sign with you.
Q. What are the challenges of just going around and recruiting during the season and going all these different areas around the country?
AF: Yeah, that's the biggest challenge for the coaches. It's one of the things that was set up for our college football calendar. Our coaches are going out on Friday nights before games that we're playing on Saturdays. So that's a difficult thing for them to do. Coach Franklin went out, I don't know, maybe 10 times this year, during the fall. That's a bunch of times. Our assistants, the same thing. They had 42 opportunities. It's a challenge for them.
Q. Do you have one guy in this recruiting process you really want people to have their eye on?
AF: I hate to just put it on one guy. I think it's a bunch of guys in this class that are going to eventually be really good players for us. I think the thing that's interesting to see, there's going to be some guys a couple guys that play this coming year that we all get excited about and we should, but there's always some guys that don't play this coming year that, long term, are going to be NFL players and great players for us here at Penn State.
Q. What do you think is your favorite part about the whole recruiting process and getting guys to Penn State?
AF: I enjoy the puzzle. I enjoy how it all fits together. I enjoy working with the people to make that puzzle work. That's the part that I enjoy the most.
Q. With that puzzle, yhe numbers have changed during the time you've been here. How do you put that together by position group?
AF: Every year going into signing day, we have an idea of what we're looking for in the next class. The 2021 class, sitting here today, and then we'll go through the bowl season. We'll figure out which guys leave for the NFL Draft. And then we'll look back and we'll say. "Okay, this is where we're at." Our ideal number per position, we have one. We very rarely across the board are at those ideal numbers, but we're looking to make sure we stay balanced. Coach [Franklin] mentioned in his press conference, you never want to go a year where you don't sign a guy in a position because it leaves holes. You need to try and keep it as balanced as you can. When you get to the point where you're signing your ideal number per year at every position, you feel like you're in a good spot.