Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472993
A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 5 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M the spring between redshirt sophomore Tyler Elsdon and redshirt freshman Kobe King changed Diaz's perception of that position. The veteran coordinator said he came out of the team's offseason drills feeling confident that both are ca- pable of filling the role. At the Sam outside linebacker spot, super senior Jonathan Sutherland is moving over from safety for his final year of eligibility. In the secondary, Diaz is faced with what he called a "good problem" as he tries to sort through a deep pool of can- didates to fill two vacancies. Super se- nior Ji'Ayir Brown and redshirt junior Joey Porter Jr. will return to the starting lineup at safety and cornerback, respec- tively. But the other two spots are open with Brisker and Castro-Fields gone, and Diaz said he's looking forward to figuring out how the depth chart comes together. "There are a lot of guys back there, but they have to do it [in games]," he said. "We have to find out. We have names. … We have to get into training camp and decide. It's almost like value over replacement player. "We have enough flexibility that we can put three corners on the field if we need to, three safeties on the field if we need to, keep three 'backers on the field if we need to when we go to a dime pack- age or there are six DBs. The onus on the players is just getting themselves across the line from a guy [and] going in a game and not burning the building down, and then also functioning enough to allow us to win, make plays so that we can win." Diaz is counting on the continued development of Penn State's defensive players in the weeks leading into pre- season camp. He needs to build trust, so that once they get on the field, Penn State's defenders are able to move fast and play without hesitation. Diaz has some philosophical similari- ties to Pry. As he said recently, "I think it's probably partly why I'm here." While those similarities should help speed the adaptation to his system, there's a learning process that has been underway since January, and some tran- sitional difficulties are inevitable. "It can be uncomfortable," Diaz said. "But I think there's a good thing in that, because growth happens usually when we are uncomfortable. I think that's been good on our guys and I think they've learned. I think they've been able to de- velop their football IQ because of it." Diaz knows what he wants to see. "With good defenses, when they're in the zone, it just looks like no matter what the offense tries, they just somehow have it outnumbered," he said. "In theory, it shouldn't make sense, because there are too many spots on the field when it's 11 on 11. But when guys are really playing fast, you can really look like that." It's important, he said, to "do things that correlate to winning football games: Take the ball away. There's a method to that. You have to leverage people in the long-yard situations. Then you've got to affect the man that's hold- ing the football. The guy that touches the ball in every sport is the most im- portant player on the field, so you've got to affect that guy." ■ Diaz has inherited a Penn State defense that must retool its starting lineup after seeing five of its players selected in the NFL Draft in April. PHOTO BY GREG PICKEL