Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> him. He was injured a little bit last year in the off-season and I think that strung into the season a little bit. I'm really ex- cited about working with him. I couldn't be more impressed. He's a kid who has never had an A-minus in his life. He's a 4.0 student doing an internship with a doctor this summer. He's everything you want in a human being, in a player, in a person, in a leader. You can't say enough good things about him. BWI K.J. Hamler... LORIG Phenomenal returner. Big time. I had the best kickoff returner to ever play college football [at Memphis]. Tony Pollard set the record for the most re- turns ever in the history of the game. I see different body type, but I see all of the same characteristics in K.J. I think he's going to have a great year on kickoff returns and punt returns. I think he's re- ally special. BWI What is it that stands out when you watch him? LORIG Balance and the ability to hit the hole vertically without fear. A lot of guys go through and they'll kind of stop their feet because the hole on kickoff return doesn't open until the last second, so you have to trust it's going to open, and sometimes you think it is and then you get drilled. So it teaches guys to kind of slow down a little bit and be hesitant or tentative. He doesn't do that. He gets vertical, and if he gets hit, he gets back up. If he doesn't get hit, he's gone. So that's very similar to Tony Pollard. BWI Is his confidence a difference- maker for him as well? LORIG I think so, but I think at this level, anybody you're putting back there to field a ball has had a lot of success in their life in football. I think if you're at the level of Penn State returning kicks, you've had a lot of football success in your life, so I don't think it's uncom- mon, but I do think it helps. BWI You have Jake Pinegar back on field goals. LORIG We have Jake back. I think you can only expect improvement from a guy who now has a year under his belt. I'm very excited about him. I thought he did have a good spring. It'll be good to bring in some competition for him. We just got a guy [Virginia Tech transfer Jordan Stout] who I'm also very excited about who is very, very capable. One thing about Jake is that he's a competitor, and I think any time you know you're competing every single day, just like it will be with the new guy in- coming, he knows that Jake is going to push him every day. I think they'll push each other and I think both of them will be better for it. I'm excited to see the competition all fall. BWI And punt return, do you know what you want to do there? LORIG Yeah, well, I think you've got K.J., who is really good. I think you've got John Reid, who is really good. I think you've got a couple of other options that we saw in the spring. You won't just see one guy back there. You'll see a couple of different guys depending on situations. BWI Is there a specific area where you see the most room for improvement? LORIG I think you've got to get better at kickoff cover. To be 44 percent touch- backs is totally unacceptable, and six out of bounds. That's not Penn State foot- ball. And so I think we've addressed that in recruiting. We'll give Rafael Checa a chance to compete as well. He's a guy who was also a freshman, and you've got to keep that in mind. But you know the guy who has committed to us was fourth in the country in touchbacks last year at 88 percent, so I'm excited about that. And then field goal percentage, making sure that we increase that. Again, I think Jake, his confidence has improved. It's hard, man. People don't realize, when you're a true freshman and you have to go out into that, it's different than any other position. It's similar to quarter- back, but even then, there are 10 other guys around you. I've never done it, but as a kicker, coaching those guys for many years, it's a different level of pres- sure. And I'm not making excuses for him, I'm just telling you that, in my ca- reer, I try not to be in a position to have to start true freshmen. It's not fair to them. They should be able to come in and redshirt to get used to everything and get bigger and faster and stronger, just like every other position does. But what I've seen in my 20 years of coaching is, when a freshman does have to play, they're usually exponentially better their sophomore year. So I expect we'll be a lot better. ■ LETTERMEN RETURNING 3 P Blake Gillikin PK Rafael Checa, Jake Pinegar LETTERMEN LOST 1 LS Kyle Vasey STARTERS RETURNING 3 >> Rafael Checa (12 starts in 2018), Blake Gillikin (13), Jake Pinegar (13) OTHERS WITH STARTING EXPERIENCE 1 >> Justin Tobin (1 career start) STARTERS LOST 1 >> Kyle Vasey (13) S P E C I A L T E A M S F A S T F A C T S NET PUNTING 37.38 yds. (8th Big Ten; 68th FBS) KICKOFF RETURNS 24.73 yds. (2nd; 12th) KICKOFF RETURN DEFENSE 21.33 yds. (11th; 84th) PUNT RETURNS 8.18 yds. (6th; 72nd) 2018 STATISTICS