Blue White Illustrated

Maryland Pregame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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within the rules, but you can still be as aggressive as you used to be. You just have to lower your target. You just have to lower your target, which is easier said than done, I get that. We want our guys to be as aggressive as they have ever been. The penalties I'm talking about are the ones that are con- trollable, stuff aBer the play that we shouldn't be doing. You know, there are going to be penalties that happen during a game that you're going to live with be- cause they are aggressive penalties. We have talked about the targeting rule. I think we had one, it was at Indiana, where I think I said in the press confer- ence aBerwards, I don't know what else I could have told the kid there. I've talked to the defensive coaches and the officials. If the running back is lowering his shoul- der and head and he's 18 inches off the ground, I don't know how else you get to him. There comes a point where you can't get that low. I mean, try to do it yourself, in the living room or here in the press conference. Try to stand up and get that low to the ground. At some point, your head has to go down. I think it's the right rule for football. I get it. But those are ones we're going to live with. The guys who are leaving their feet and launching upward and using their helmet as a weapon, that's a different story, and I think everyone wants that gone from the game. But I'm not one of these guys that like when that happens, and it gets called, I get it. That's what we need to do to protect the game and to protect these student athletes. You've got to live with it. So I get that. I want our guys to play as aggressive as they ever have, but there's no doubt, a lot of time has been taken talking about how to do that under today's rules. Koa Farmer has been in an interesting situation where he's ahead of the kid that everybody wants to see. How has he handled that situation, and can you talk about the impact he's had with the program, coming from California early in the process to where he is now? Koa has been unbelievable. His mom, his dad, his sister – his sister is part of our program. She runs track at Hampton and is in an MBA program, a five-year MBA program. It's the whole family. They have been fantastic. I know Coach [Brent] Pry has a really strong relationship with Koa and the family, as well. There's open com- munication. But yeah, I think obviously Koa has done a great job in leading Micah [Parsons] since he showed up on campus and teach- ing Micah. Our guys are good like that. At some programs I've been a part of, when a guy is trying to get some of your reps, [you] don't want to help him a whole lot. I get that, but it's not the right thing for the program. Koa has handled everything extremely well. I think part of it is how Coach Pry has handled it, and I think Micah looks up to all those guys. Micah sees that, as well. I think it's been a real positive situation, because Koa has earned the right to play and do what he's been doing, and it's al- lowed us to slowly work Micah into a new position and kind of figure it out. I think you guys heard from Coach Pry the other day, he's now starting to play like a line- backer instead of just a great athlete run- ning around on the field. I think [they've] been really nice complementary pieces right there for each other. Koa has been fantastic. He's been one of our leaders off the field, really, from very early on. He's one of our leaders on the field. He's maximized his Penn State ex- N O V E M B E R   2 1 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 11 Franklin is getting set to bid farewell to 21 seniors. Over the past four sea- sons, those players have had a hand in 37 wins. Photo by Steve Manuel

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