Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/349223
scholarship and walk-on players who haven't played a snap of live college football. Throw in the 30 combined scholarship and walk-on players who have played only one season of college football, and that leaves a remarkable 72 percent of the entire roster that has been on Penn State's campus for no more than two calendar years. What does all of this mean for the coming season? For one thing, those numbers should provide some important perspective, re- gardless of how Penn State finishes in the win-loss column. With only 19 com- bined scholarship juniors and seniors healthy and available for the upcoming season, the Nittany Lions' roster will serve as a true test of how overall team youth – or, conversely, the lack of overall team experience – can impact perform- ance. ■ what's going on, and I think people gen- erally understand. The excitement and the enthusiasm are about where the pro- gram is going and all the hard work that's being put into it and the consistent, pos- itive message. I think we can do some pretty cool things this year, and I think we can do some pretty cool things in the future that people will be excited about. Did you envision your start at Penn State being extremely important in shaping the future? I don't know. I didn't look at it that way. I felt like because of our familiarity with Pennsylvania and our familiarity with Penn State, and then the consis- tency on our staff, the fact that we were able to get here and be able to hit the ground running from the beginning from a football perspective, I thought we had a chance. I thought we had a really good plan and we had a really good sys- tem, and now we had the power of the Penn State branding and image and his- tory and traditions to go along with that. I felt that we'd be able to do that. I wasn't putting a lot of pressure on my- self or the program or the coaches to do that. I thought it would just naturally happen. And it did happen. You were able to get off to a fast start. I've been pleased. We've got a great staff, and I think we have a really good group of kids that we're working with. I think there's an enthusiasm and an ex- citement in our fan base and in the com- munity. I've heard that over and over from people – people reaching out, just saying the excitement is back. The spring game was a really good example of that, and that momentum and enthu- siasm are important. One of the things that makes Penn State special is that you're part of some- thing bigger than just yourself. That's where the 107,000 strong is so impor- tant and so powerful, because not only do you step in that stadium and it gives our players an advantage, but just being a part of that kind of community has a powerful impact on people. It doesn't matter what your political views are, what your religious views are, what your backgrounds are socioeconomically – we're coming together to be a part of something bigger than just ourselves. That's a powerful deal. I think that's one of the reasons myself and the staff and the recruits and our current players are so excited about being here, because we're part of that family. It's powerful. Were you taking a leap of faith when you accepted the job, or did you have a hunch that that's what you would find at Penn State? First of all, Penn State has some of the most loyal fans out there. So I think there's a great foundation. I knew we