Andy Kotelnicki | Offensive Coordinator
Q: James (Franklin) has talked a little bit about the offensive line and a couple of the position battles there. Does the anticipated depth at that spot, whether it’s eight or nine guys, does that change at all what you can do schematically? Whether it’s six-man sets, whether it’s moving Vega (Ioane) out like you did last year, more of that kind of stuff?
A: It probably gives you more comfort to do some of those things and add them when you have the depth. I think, really, it’s just maybe more of a comfort, right? In the sense that you feel good about it.
Honestly the challenge, and it’s a great challenge to have, is to make sure that you’re evaluating all of those guys and that there’s not too much musical chairs. That’s the most important group on the football team, in that those guys have to play together. The fact that we have maturity in that group, and you have some guys who are younger who we’re excited about and newer to the team, getting reps the way that they’ve showed and demonstrated what they can do throughout the spring, summer and fall camp, it just gives you a ton of comfort.
Coach (Phil) Trautwein, Coach (Bill) Queisert have done a great job with those guys in developing them and getting them to do what we want them to do. When you feel like you have eight, nine guys that can play, you’ve heard me say it before; we will do whatever it takes to move the football and score. If it’s 10 linemen on the field, we’ll do it. So, when you have depth at that position, depth at the skill positions, really, your imagination becomes the limitation that you have, as long as you’re not overextending individuals and asking them to do things that they’re not trained to do.
Q: Wanted to ask about Drew Allar. What do you think are maybe some of the next steps you want to see him take this year, and what area is there for his biggest growth?
A: We’re in it now, so it’s kind of hard to sit there and say, ‘well this is what you have to do from last year,’ because that’s over now. We’ve challenged him since the moment I got here about the ability to move and really extend plays with his legs. I think I said this in the spring, but now, he’s moving awesome. I was joking with him for wearing sweatpants at practice. I said, ‘you should be wearing shorts, you’ve got great hamstrings now. Show those things off.’ And you know, he laughs of course, but I was being serious. So that, the way he can move and handle that. He’s so comfortable with all of the things that we’re doing, and it’s more about communicating with him and collaborating with him than it is necessarily just coaching him.
Like what I was referencing before, what do you have to do to get the best guys better, and a player like him who’s just so smart, who’s so cerebral, who’s going to work so hard and prepare so hard; how we collaborate with him and challenge him to really reflect on certain things.
For example, this summer, we were talking and he was asking me about this or that kind of route, and I explained that I had coached that route before, and ‘here’s why we really don’t do that.’ For him to see and understand, and really grasp, where, especially as an offense, it’s sort of easy to draw up plays and do them, but you can’t do that because you can’t necessarily train yourself on all of those things. So, to have mature conversations about what we do, why we do it, what you saw, why he made the decision that he did, that’s what’s really going to help elevate him. He’s at the point now in his career here with Coach Franklin, and being at Penn State, where he doesn’t need to be told what to do and think. He needs to be involved in the thinking process, and it has very, very much been that way.
Jim Knowles | Defensive Coordinator
Q: People say your defense if relatively complicated and takes time to learn. Is that an accurate charge in your mind, and have you gotten better at installing it over the years when teaching it?
A: Yes, to both. I think in today’s game of football, it needs to be somewhat complicated because you need to have answers for everything, particularly at this level. Offenses don’t run the same things in college. You better have all different kinds of answers. For teaching an installing, I’ve gotten better at it, I’ve had to particularly when you come into a situation like this. Our charge is to be great now. If it’s too complicated, or if I can’t get it installed quickly, that’s my fault. I think I’ve developed a process that help move it along at a more rapid pace.
Q: You have coached some very, very good defensive backs. What have you seen from A.J. Harris and Elliot Washington II just in these two practices, and what do you expect from them during the season?
A: Don’t forget about Audavion Collins and Daryus Dixson. Impressive. If I had to use one word it would be impressive. Terry Smith has built an awesome culture in that room. Those guys are playmakers, so I’m going to set things up for them to make plays. I saw it in the spring and I’ve seen it already here in the first two days. They are a real strength of our defense.
Justin Lustig | Special Teams Coordinator/Outside Linebackers/Nickels
Q: How do you see the punt returner position playing out? Who are some guys you are looking at for that position?
A: I remember sitting up here last summer and not having a ton of answers for you. We’ve got a lot of answers right now. It’s a really good problem to have. We have a deep room there.
Obviously, Zion (Tracy). It was really his first time doing it and I thought he progressed really well. We expect big things from him. But we’ve also got Trebor Peña, who’s a seasoned veteran doing it, and Devonte Ross, a veteran who has done it and had a touchdown against Iowa when he was with Troy. And then you’ve got a good crop of young guys. You’ve got Tyseer Denmark, who has shown a lot of capability back there. There’s Josiah Brown, and Koby Howard is another guy I’m excited about.
It’s a deep position that’s going to show a lot of improvement this year.
Q: You talked about, in year one, not losing any games because of special teams and now in year two being able to help win games or win by larger margins because of special teams. What does that look like to you?
A: The first thing I think about is that, we have the potential for major improvement on special teams. We’ve just got to execute in fall camp and get better. There’s a number of reasons why I say that.
Number one is, it’s year two for me in this system and it’s year two for the players in this system. We’ve got experienced guys and personnel that are set up in a really good position right now. We have returning starters at every position; there’s no big questions on special teams whether it’s placekicker, kickoff, punt. And we’ve got depth at all of those positions, as well.