Blue White Illustrated

C OA C H S P E A K| EXCERPTS FROM JAMES FRANKLIN'S WEEKLY PRESSER Why do you think the offense has had success late in the fourth quar- ter? I don't know. I can't really describe that. I think, number one, I think we've been able to kind of wear some people down. I think our guys have done a great job of having a sense of urgency when we've needed it most. I think our defense has really given our offense some momen- tum and some juice, the way they have been able to hang in there and keep us in games. So, I think there are a lot of things that factor into it, but it's not like we are just waiting until the fourth quarter to call those plays. I think there's a lot of fac- tors that go into it. What is it about Anthony Zettel's physical skills and even his mental makeup that makes him able to thrive at defensive tackle like he has? He was an athletic defensive end, but by moving him inside, he's now becom- ing an even more athletic defensive tackle. He's got a tremendous motor. He's got really good quickness. He's re- ally sudden off of the ball. His spin move, I think, is really, really good, which in one of his big plays last week he made off of his spin move. His tenacity is unbelievable. His quickness is unbelievable, and he's not the biggest guy. I mean, he's big enough at 285 pounds, but there's much bigger defensive tackles. I think it's a combi- nation of his strength – he's got one of the strongest power cleans and deadliCs on our team – and his quickness, which makes him so disruptive in there. We've been pleased with him and that's going to need to continue. I think the fact that we were able to play some more guys in terms of number of reps on Saturday, allowed him to stay fresh longer and we want to continue to do that. You said you want to see more value in special teams. In what places and what kind of value do you want to start seeing from that group? I think when you're talking about kicking, punting and the kickoff, it's the consistency. I think [Chris] Gulla has done a nice job for us so far with his kick location and eliminating the re- turner. We talked about that before the season started. We don't believe in kicking the ball down the middle of the field, so now the returner has got 53 yards to work with. We want to pin them to a sideline and I think we have done a good job of that. But, I still think we can be a little more consistent with our hang time, with our location, with our distance, and also just the rhythm and the timing of how quickly we are getting those things off. Kickoff – same thing. We almost had a kick there at the end of the game that cost us. Christian Campbell, who played his first game, had a huge play because he made a tackle in the open field against a dangerous returner, which could have been dramatic. So our kickoff and our kickoff location is important. In the return game, just being able to give our offense better field position, giving them some momentum with a big return. Whether it's a return for a touchdown or whether it's just a chunk of field position – hat's what we'd like to do. So I think we've done some nice things – I really do. There are still a lot of areas for improvement. Christian was sacked five times Saturday night. He took some other hits when he released the ball. What are your thoughts about his durabil- ity, and how much concern do you have about all the shots he's taken in the first three games? We have to do a better job of limiting how many times he's getting hit. There's no doubt about that. I think, again, being able to get the running game more involved will help with that. But that's why he's worked so hard in the off-season, and he's been great. He really has been great, making plays with his feet, moving the pocket, things like that, extending plays. But there's no doubt about it. We've kind of talked about it ad nauseum. We have talked about it enough. We've got to get the running game going and we've got to protect the quarterback. We take great pride in those things. What impresses you most about Bob Shoop and the job he does preparing for games? What were your first impressions of him when you two met? S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 13 Tim Owen SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 14 RETURN FOCUS Franklin said he is looking for improvements in PSU's return game. "Just being able to give our offense bet- ter field position," he said.

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