Blue White Illustrated

have to have that be systematic in your approach. You have to be very regi- mented, you have to talk in terms of for- mulas, if you will, rather than broad strokes and philosophical. You have to really get concrete with it, I believe. BWI Is there such a thing as too much? How do you figure out what a group can handle and what's beyond its grasp, given the timeline? YURCICH I believe you always want to teach the offense when you get in. So they're going to naturally be over- whelmed at first. There are going to be a lot of mistakes. But then in the spring, practices 10 through 15, you really want to maximize those practices, so you just scale it back and try to really get some rhythm and get some execution done so you have some confidence. But over the summer months, you still want to be able to get into your cut-ups and have enough taught so that you feel good about rolling into your third down, medium, long, extra-long, your red zones, your score zones. How are we going to attack cover zero, how are we going to attack cover one, how are we going to attack two-man, how are we going to attack bear? You want to have all those categories covered. You may have not covered it A through Z, but at least you have something to introduce it over the summer, teach it from, have concepts coached up to where your guys have a baseline. BWI What have your impressions been of the receivers? YURCICH I don't know how much I'm able to really cover with those guys yet. I think we need some game reps before I get into all of the evaluations of every- body right there. I like our group. I like our mindset. I think we have a bunch of hard workers. There's some talent there. And there's a lot of room to improve. BWI Does your group of running backs bring the depth and versatility you need? YURCICH I think along the same lines as not being able to really get good at the run game because of the limitations of practicing, it's the same thing with us with an evaluation of running backs. We have a deep group, we know that. And then how much can they push one an- other and who's going to emerge? We're excited to see that happen. We need some guys to be able to stand out. Anytime our offense has been suc- cessful, it's because we've had a tremen- dous running game. That starts up front, and it starts with that tailback being able to make the extra guy miss, or making the extra two guys miss, or whatever it may be. Whether they put their shoulder down to run through them or whether they bounce it and run around them, ei- ther way. But we've got to find that guy and let that competition [determine] who rises and who's able to emerge from that. BWI What's your approach to the tight end position and its place in the modern game? YURCICH I think tight end is the most unique position on the football field be- cause they have to do everything. They have to block, they have to line up as re- ceivers sometimes, they have to know the routes, they have to know pass pro- tections, they have to know run blocking, they have to know every scheme. They even have to know conver- sions on routes. So tight end, to me, is a very, very unique position and one that can be utilized very well. What factor into how you utilize them are matchups. How does the defense match up against your per- sonnel changes? How do they match up in man-to- man coverage? If they're in zones, how do they line up in certain formations where you can get an advan- tage in the run game. Those are very im- portant things to ask as you game plan and try to gain an advantage. ■ IN A RUSH Keyvone Lee is part of a backfield that has plenty of depth but is look- ing for a breakout performer. "We need some guys to be able to stand out," Yur- cich said. Photo by Mark Selders/ Penn State Ath- letics

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