Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1486024
3 0 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M ponents' weaknesses. It's one of Diaz's trademarks, and Connor has seen it play out on a weekly basis as Penn State's defensive game plans have taken shape, starting in the film room, then moving from the coordinator's drawing board to the rest of the coaching staff and on to the players. "We'll [look at] the offense for about six hours watching every play of an opponent, and he talks to us as we go through. He has kind of a stream-of- consciousness [dialogue] and talks through it," Connor said. "It doesn't take him long to figure it out, doesn't take him long to concentrate on what will win the game for us. And then he makes his message really, really clear to the players. They're going in Saturday afternoons knowing, if I do these two things, these three things, we will be successful." That's been true at every level of the defense, and the individual and group performances have borne it out. In its road finale at Rutgers, Penn State finished with a pair of defensive touch- downs, the first time that had happened since 2005. The Lions also totaled 15 tackles for loss in that game, two weeks after amassing 16 against Indiana. Els- don and redshirt freshman linebacker Dominic DeLuca both had sacks against the Scarlet Knights, becoming the 15th and 16th players on Penn State's defense to drop an opposing quarterback this season. En route to the gaudy defensive num- bers and standout performances, Diaz was named a Broyles Award finalist. The award goes annually to the top assistant coach in college football. "I'm very, very pleased with Manny. I'm so glad he's here," Franklin said. "There are some schematic differences with what Manny is doing compared to Brent, and I think you're seeing the guys getting more comfortable and more con- fident each week. "The other thing is that we are playing a ton of guys, so we're really fresh." Looking To The Future Diaz has found a formula for defensive success that has created the conditions for team success, and it's a combination that Franklin is eager to see continue at Penn State moving into the 2023 season. Though his name hasn't yet been at- tached to the annual speculation of the head coaching carousel, Diaz is expected at some point to get another opportunity to take charge of a program. Whether that happens this offseason, next, or at some point further into the future, the immedi- ate forecast from Franklin is for Diaz to re- main a part of Penn State's staff ahead of a 2023 campaign bubbling with optimism. "He's been great. I think he's having fun doing it," Franklin said. "I'm proud of him. I'm happy he's here. When you go into the defensive staff room, they've got really good morale. They have fun in there, they James Franklin said that Diaz quickly acclimated to his new role as Penn State's defensive coordinator. "He was able to jump in with two feet," Franklin said. "He has a presence, so he was able to get in front of the guys and get them on board very quickly." PHOTO BY GREG PICKEL