Blue White Illustrated

COACHSPEAK | EXCERPTS FROM BILL O'BRIEN'S WEEKLY PRESSER Tyler Ferguson got to play in the Ohio State game. Could you evaluate him and your walk‑on quarterbacks? Tyler has definitely improved. He's a very smart football player. He's improved his mechanics throwing the ball. He's a very capable quarterback. I thought that when he went in the game on Saturday night, he did some decent things. He had one poor throw, but overall he did some [good things] like a nice slant pass to Allen [Robinson]. Obviously, the look pass to Allen was a good play by him seeing that. He's come a long way. He's a great guy to coach and a fun guy to be around. He's a competitive guy and he gets a lot of reps in practice. I believe he really takes advantage of those. We have three run‑on quarterbacks. D.J. Crook from Massachusetts has definitely improved. He's a great guy with good playing strength. He really improved his throwing. He's one of those guys that gets a lot of reps in that Monday night developmental scrimmage. He does a good job with that. Jack Seymour from Indianapolis is another guy that's improved a lot. I thought [Monday] night in our developmental scrimmage, he did a nice job. Had a couple of good throws to Chris Geiss, who is a run‑on receiver for us. So that looked good. And Austin Whipple came into the season [after] he had a shoulder operation. So he hasn't been able to throw as much as he would like to. But I think he's done a lot of other things [well], and he's a very bright guy. He's a guy who wants to be a coach. His dad's a coach. Those guys have done a really, really good job for us. Bill Belton said he feels that he has matured as a player and a person from last season. What kind of habits have you seen from him in terms of preparation? He's a much improved player – he really is. He's more patient in the running game. I think he understands how to watch film better. I think he's a better teammate. I think he's a smarter player. He's a very smart player. In our system, one of the hardest things to learn for a running back are the pass protections, and he's able to learn those. O C T O B E R PALM READING After Penn State's 63-14 loss to Ohio State, Bill O'Brien met with his players on Monday and told them, "If that's the worst thing that ever happens in your life, I think your life will be OK." Tim Owen He does a good job with it. So right now he's our starting running back. He's done a nice job. Explain briefly the slight change in Donovan Smith's status on the depth chart, and maybe talk a little bit about how he's played recently. I don't want to get into the specifics of how I think he's played, but what I do think is you have three offensive tackles there that have all done a decent job. You have Adam Gress, Garry Gilliam, and Donovan. They have had their bright spots and had their not so bright spots. So we've made that a very competitive situation this week, and that's why you see the "or" there. So it could be Gress and Gilliam starting at tackle on Saturday. It could be Gress and Donovan. It could be Gilliam and Donovan. It could be a combination, but all three of those guys will play on Saturday. You've mentioned how resilient your team has been. Did you see that when you met with them on Monday? I knew when I opened those doors that every one of them would be sitting there ready to go. That's the type of kids we have. Saturday night was not a great night, but it's one game, and it's important to learn from it and learn from the experience. 3 0 , 2 0 1 3 15 I talked to the kids [in the meeting] about a couple of things. I talked to them about experiences. You go through life, and you have some good experiences. They've experienced the highs of the high with the Michigan four‑overtime win. And they've experienced the low moment by getting blown out by Ohio State. So that's kind of what life is about. If that's the worst thing that ever happens to you in your life, I think your life will be OK. I think that's what it's about, and these kids know that. They understand that. And then I talked to them about the foundation of our program. The foundation of our program is built on good kids, mentally tough kids, hard work ethic, the ability to compete and practice every single day and get better and try to improve, be a good teammate. The philosophy, the foundation of our program is to always look for the best ways to coach them, do a better job of coaching them. So we wake up on Sunday, whether it's a win or a loss, and rely on the foundation of our program. Obviously, you want to have Zach Zwinak going forward, but when a guy has trouble holding onto the football, can it become more of a SEE O'BRIEN PAGE 17 B LUE WH I T E ON L I N E. COM

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