Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/206832
O'BRIEN CONTINUED FROM 13 Obviously we haven't played as well on the road. It's hard to pinpoint why. Hopefully, that changes. I think we've practiced well. I think we've been prepared for these games on the road. I know that these guys came out yesterday and practiced really well. I think we'll string some good practices together and be ready to go on Saturday. So hopefully we can change the tide of not playing well on the road right now. strength, so he's able to play off blocks and explode off of a block and make a tackle for a loss. If you noticed against Illinois, he let [quarterback Nathan] Scheelhaase out of the pocket, but he grabbed him by the jersey and sacked him. So he's got strong hands and he's able to hang on and make those tackles or sacks. So I give him a lot of credit. He's come up with some really big plays for us. I think it has a lot to do with how hard he plays and how strong he is. You look at Anthony Zettel's numbers and he has a lot of tackles for loss and sacks. Thirty percent or more of his tackles are for loss. What is it about him that allows him to get into the backfield and make those kind of plays? That's a great question, because I was actually noticing that on Sunday. He's a guy in the almost two years that I've been here, he's made a lot of plays. So why is that? I think number one, he plays extremely hard. He plays every play like it's his last play. That is number one. I think the other thing is: He's a very strong player. He has great playing Now that you've had a chance to watch the Illinois game, can you evaluate the way your tackles played – Adam Gress, Garry Gilliam and Donovan Smith? I thought they played better than they did against Ohio State. They gave Christian time to step up in the pocket, and I thought that they did a great job run blocking. They were physical, and I thought that they worked with the tight ends really well. So I thought that for the tackles, it was a very good game. Now moving to Minnesota, the tackles have a big challenge. The defensive ends for Minnesota are very athletic, very good N O V E M B E R 6 , 2 0 1 3 15 players. I was just talking to Gress over in the locker room before I was walking over here just saying, look, this is a big challenge for us this week. What were your thoughts on the secondary after you got to watch the film? I think [Adrian] Amos' natural position is corner. I think he's a good corner. I think he's aggressive. He played his best game against Illinois. He did a nice job coming up and made two or three tackles out there in the flat that were important. Obviously, he broke up the pass at the end. I just think [cornerback] is a good spot for him. He's at home there. We're going to keep him there as long as we can. Injuries occur, and we may have to move him back [to safety]. But hopefully we can keep him at corner. Jesse [Della Valle] is a guy who I think very highly of. He's a much improved player. I think in the Illinois game he had a couple plays he probably wishes he had back. He missed a couple tackles. But there are other plays he came up and did a really nice job. I think he'll continue to improve with the more reps he gets and coaching he gets. B L UEWH I T E ON L I N E .COM