Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1378330
everyone, so how did that a6ect him and everyone else? DUDA He didn't get on campus until January, and really, it was late January. We were in school, but everyone was home taking classes, so our football team was home and we were just going through everything on Zoom meetings. He got here for winter workouts, and then we started to play but it didn't last long. Overall, we got like 35 practices in before we had to shut it down. But he was incredibly new to all of this as a freshman and just hit the ground run- ning. It was impressive. BWI I know he hasn't been there long, but what's he like as a leader? Has he ad- justed to that role? DUDA His teammates realized pretty quickly that he's the best one out there, and so when that happens, he just kind of becomes the guy who leads us into everything. He's the 5rst one on the 5eld for practice and all that. He just loves playing more than anything else, so that attitude that he has is very contagious. I think that's been great for our football team. When you have the skill set he has, and then you have the attitude he has, it's kind of hard to beat. He simply wants to be there more than just about every- one, and that's really been the key to him. That trickles down to the rest of the team. BWI Penn State seems to always be the 5rst school to make an o6er with most of your top guys. Why do you think that is? Why is PSU always a few months ahead of other schools? DUDA I think Coach Franklin has said it a number of times: He wants to have Lackawanna's best player every year. He feels that if he gets our best player every year, they're going to get someone who's going to help Penn State win, and I think that's true. I think you can de5nitely say that they keep a closer eye on us than most people do. Also, they see these kids coming, obviously. They've seen these kids in high school. Most of them are from their home state, and if not, they're from the surrounding states. So they al- ready have an eye on many of these guys before they get to Lackawanna. Now, they pulled the trigger on Tyrece really quickly, but honestly, I think rightfully so. To me, there's no doubt that he's that guy. If we have a normal season, there's no doubt that other schools are doing the same. But either way, Penn State is resolute in the fact that they understand how important it is to o6er 5rst. And so that's what happens with a lot of our guys. They o6er them really quickly. Then our kids look into it and say, "Boy, this is a good situation going on at Penn State." So I think that's what makes it kind of special. Coach Franklin is committed to taking our best players every year he can, and so our players now know how many Lack- awanna players are there and the success they're having. BWI Were other schools starting to be- come involved? Who else asked you about him? DUDA Honestly, most of these schools were really just starting to do that. We've had a few schools looking closely at our one lineman, J.B. Nelson, who's our right tackle. He has a few o6ers now, and I think a few more will be coming in the near future. For the most part, those same schools were also looking at Tyrece. Ole Miss and Maryland have of- fered him so far. I know South Carolina has interest in him, so all of those schools were starting to really evaluate our guys. There are a few others, too. That's why Penn State gets on these guys as soon as they can. They get these head starts before other schools get around to it, and it's been working for them. Penn State has been, in my opin- ion, bright enough and smart enough to get on these guys before everyone else does. Remember, a few other guys that Penn State took from us had to camp 5rst. That's not the case with Tyrece, so I think that says a lot. That shows how con5dent we all are in his potential. I think Brisker was one of the few guys who didn't have to camp, and look how that's worked out for them. BWI We have him listed at 6-foot-1, 207 pounds. Is that a good number? DUDA Yeah, he's every bit of that. He's probably a tad bit taller than Tig [Ji'Ayir Brown] and then maybe just a half an inch shorter than Brisker. His build is in between those guys, too. It's funny, [Penn State] was talking about that last week with us. He really is a mixture of those two guys, which is just wild, how it all works out. I think that, too, played a part in Penn State making this move quickly. He does a lot of things well. He's a cover guy like Tig. He goes back there and can really read well and 5gure things out, but he's also a super aggressive tackler like Brisker always was. It's hard to keep him o6 the line of scrimmage because of how aggressive he is and the impact he makes sometimes, and what's so exciting about all of this is that he's just now beginning his development. He'll be here next fall, and then, if he does a good job academically, he should be there next spring. Then he's got three more years of competition, plus a red- shirt year. To me, there isn't a high school kid, or at least I've never seen a high school kid, who's going to be better equipped physically coming in than Tyrece. How's that going to happen? It won't. There isn't a high school kid out there who will be more prepared than Tyrece a7er 35 junior college practices, a few junior college spring games, an en- tire junior college fall season, plus the training he'll get. All in the span of a year or so. The competition level is better. BWI I know he's versatile, but where does Tyrece Mills end up playing at Penn State? I get the impression he's going to end up replacing Brisker. Fair? DUDA I think he loves being that boundary guy, that close-to-the-line- of-scrimmage guy. I think if you asked him if he wanted to be a deep third guy or the up guy, he'd be the up [guy] just because he's so damn physical. So I think that's what he'll probably want to be and probably where he'll start, but he has the range to play either. But overall, I just think his temperament is better closer to the ball. He likes that more, and so he feels comfortable there. He's simi- lar to Brisker in that when you put him too far away from the ball, he gets mad at you because he wants to be making plays. It's the same principle here. ■