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C OA C H S P E A K| EXCERPTS FROM JAMES FRANKLIN'S WEEKLY PRESSER Garrett Sickels is the guy who gets a little bit overlooked on your defen- sive line. What have you seen from him on the practice field and in games this year, and how would you evalu- ate his year? [Sickels] just keeps growing. You could make some arguments that he's at a similar point this year to where Carl [Nassib] was last year. That may be something for you guys to do, compar- ing where Carl was last year at this time to year to where Garrett is this year. His motor, how he works at practice, how he competes – those are the things that have always kind of stood out about [Garrett]. He has a lot of things that you're looking for in terms of attitude, body type, athleticism and quickness. He obviously is in a great situation in terms of being able to grow in the pro- gram and in the defensive scheme while being able to be mentored by some older players that are having a lot of success. I think you guys have heard me talk about this before with our players about leaving a legacy. Leaving a legacy is not just about wins and losses, it's about how those guys approach practice every single day, how they approach the weight room and how they approach their academics. Three years from now, guys are going to be talking about how, when Carl Nassib was here, this is what he did and this is how he worked. I heard similar things when I first arrived at Penn State about Michael Mauti and guys like that. They leave a legacy from a leadership perspective and from a work ethic perspective. For you as a coach, as a psychology major, what have been some of the keys over the years in helping a player get through a rough stretch on the field? I think the biggest thing is to create a family environment that is focused on improvement and supporting one an- other, and critiquing the performance and not the person. I think that's im- portant. I think how you do that – the environment and culture that you cre- ate in your offices, in your meeting rooms – is really important. I think the other thing is learning how to handle competition throughout the program. It's only going to get more and more competitive every single year, and that's kind of what's happened right now. We have more and more competition at every position, and guys are handling it very well and stepping up. I think Geno [Lewis] is a really good example of that. He just kind of keeps working, and ob- viously based on his production the last couple weeks, his role and his opportu- nities will continue to grow. I think more than anything, it's having coaches who truly care about their players and the relationships that they have with their players. It's about being able to have honest, open conversa- tions. Those conversations aren't al- ways necessarily what you want to hear, but they're up front and they're honest. No different than when we look back when we were younger and you had a conversation you didn't like at the time, but you look back five years later or 10 years later and you get it now and you understand it. Has Tyler Davis won the starting kicking job, and how has Joey Julius handled his struggles since Saturday? Like I mention to you guys every week, we'll look this week and see how it goes at a number of positions, kicker being one of them, and we'll see how those guys do during the week. Obviously, Tyler came in and did a great job on Saturday, and we're really proud of him. Obviously, Joey was dis- appointed with how it played out on the field with the kick out of bounds and the two low kicks that were blocked. It was a combination of things. They did get push on those two [extra points], but they were very low kicks, as well. He's disappointed because he knows he can play a lot better. But Tyler did well, and we'll evaluate those guys this week and see who we think gives us the best chance to be successful on Saturday. Could you assess the performance of the linebackers, specifically in the context of some of the changes that have gone on since last year when you had Brandon Bell in the middle and Nyeem Wartman-White on the outside? Losing Nyeem and losing Bell at times this year and having some young guys on the field, we have performed overall really well. I think Brent Pry has done a great job of teaching fundamentals and making sure those guys are sound tech- niquewise, but also giving them a really good understanding of the scheme and what we're trying to get done and where the strengths and the weaknesses are of the defense and then being able to be the quarterback of the defense and make those calls on the field. You look at Troy [Reeder], he's a guy who still hasn't played a whole lot of football. You look at Jason [Cabinda], he is a second-year player. Those guys are playing at a really high level. Manny [Bowen] is starting to come on. Jake [Cooper] is starting to come on for us right now. Getting Bell back closer to healthy has been significant for us be- cause he's an experienced player. I think overall the group has played really well. Von Walker is a guy who we don't talk about a whole lot but has really matured as a player and a leader in our program. Those guys are doing extremely well. Both kickers put a kickoff out of bounds last week and it seems to have been a problem in multiple games this year. Are you directional kicking on purpose? Is that something you feel you need to address in practice? Yes, we are directional kicking on pur- pose, but the direction of choice is not out of bounds. I think you guys have heard me say this before, whether it's on punts or kickoff returns, kicking the ball down the middle of the field to one of probably their best athletes on the team and then putting stress on 10 guys to cover 53 yards [from sideline to sideline] is not ideal. So we're going to keep working on it. Our whole kickoff-coverage and our whole punt-coverage designs and schemes are about defending a third of N O V E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 14

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