Blue White Illustrated

COACHSPEAK | EXCERPTS FROM BILL O'BRIEN'S WEEKLY PRESSER Could you evaluate Brandon Bell's performance against Nebraska? He looked pretty active out there. Brandon played a really good football game. He had been playing well on special teams. So we decided to get him more [time] at linebacker. He really played well. He had a really good tackle near the goalline on the quarterback. At the end of the game when they fumbled the shotgun snap, he almost recovered that. He instinctively took off and went after it and almost got that one, too, which would have been a huge play obviously. And there were many plays throughout the game. He does a good job of understanding blocking schemes at a young age. He's an instinctive player and does a good job. How physically demanding has this season been? How will that translate to Saturday at Wisconsin? It's definitely been physical. I think what we try to do is give them 48 hours rest [after a game]. We tried not to hit them yesterday. We usually hit on Mondays, and we didn't yesterday. I believe that will help. I think [with this being] Thanksgiving week – not having classes, being able to sleep in a little bit – they can come over, get some treatments in the training room and then come back after practice and get another treatment. I think that will help. And there's only one game left, so our guys will be ready to go out there and lay it on the line – I know that. What's the biggest difference with C.J. Olaniyan from last year to this year? C.J. has made a lot of improvement. He made a lot of improvement in the weight room. He really worked hard in the off‑season in the weight room. He got in better condition. He's doing better in school. It all kind of goes together. He's grown up and he's played some good football for us. He had a strip sack on Saturday night. He caused a fumble against Minnesota. He's a long guy. He's got long arms and he's an instinctive player and a tough kid. He'll continue to get better. How do you think the program is N O V E M B E R FUTURE OUTLOOK Bill O'Brien said he feels confident in the direction that Penn State's program is heading. "With the two-year sanctions that we've been under, I think our program stands on pretty solid ground right now," he said. Tim Owen positioned going forward? I feel really good about where the program is at. I think that recruiting has gone well. I think if you look at the '13 class that we brought in here, recruitingwise from what I can see right off the bat, I don't think there are any "busts" . I think there are role players and guys that will continue to have roles for us. I think there are some really good players that nobody has even seen yet who are redshirting. Then obviously the guys that played this year for us – the Brandon Bells, the Hackenbergs, the Brenemans and those guys. We feel good about the future. We feel good about where we're headed recruitingwise. Every single home game, we've had a lot of great prospects here. I can't really get into the details of that because that's an NCAA violation, but we feel good about the '14 class, and we feel good about the '15 class. Because you're always trying to stay one step ahead. So we're recruiting hard with the 2015 class. We've got a bunch of guys on this football team that gained a lot of experience this year, which I think will really help them. Some guys were playing college football for the first time, like Geno Lewis who redshirted last year and was playing in a college football game for the first time. Jordan Lucas didn't play a lot for us 2 7 , 2 0 1 3 13 his first year. Now he comes in and he's one of our better players. We have a lot of veteran players that have played a lot of football for us, who are coming back next year that we feel really, really good about. Look, I'm not going to get into predictions or anything like that. That's not what I'm saying. With the two‑year sanctions that we've been under and things like that with the limited amount of guys we could offer and guys who have left the program, I think our program stands on pretty solid ground right now. Do you know Gary Andersen either personally or by reputation? What is your sense of what kind of a stamp he's put on Wisconsin? I've met him at the Big Ten coaches meetings, so I guess [I've met him] two or three times. Really good guy. You can tell he's a football guy. He's an easy guy to talk to. You can tell he believes in tough, hard‑nosed football on both sides of the ball and on special teams. That's Wisconsin. That's what they're all about. To go in there in his first year and to put that type of stamp right away on the program is really good. Obviously, he's got a good staff and a bunch of kids there that have bought into his philosophy. I've got a SEE O'BRIEN PAGE 15 B LUE WH I T E ON L I N E .COM

• Cover