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in guys who have opportunities all over the country. You know, the next phase that you're talking about on the field is taking those steps. I think we have made progress. We've still got a lot of work to do. Spring ball is going to be a big part of that. These freshmen reporting this summer and being able to contribute in significant roles or in backup roles is going to help with those things as well. So [there's been] progress. But I think if you study those things, it's pretty ap- parent, it's pretty obvious, the programs that are able to do it for the long term are able to sustain it. I would also make the argument that the programs that are taking shortcuts or are making some choices early on to have instant success, it's hard to sustain that. What we're trying to do is make very thoughtful decisions about Penn State, about the direction we're going, and how we want to build it, and feel re- ally good about that. We've seen a lot of creativity in this recruiting cycle from pretty much everywhere in the country. You took a van to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago to pick up some recruits. We've seen sleepovers. Are you ever surprised at where this is going as a whole and would you be open to going to some of those more unconventional meth- ods, if that's what it takes? I think, like anything in life, there's a fine line to it. I think social media is a real challenge because there is so much information, there are so many things being said, there is so much interaction between fans. Obviously we all know there are rules, and our Penn State fans do a great job of not interacting and tweeting recruits and things like that. But that's going on all over the country. We want to be creative, not creepy. That's how I would describe it. That's what our staff likes to do. We like to have fun, we like to think outside the box. We like to have fun with recruits and their families. But to me, it's more about relationships. It's about the coaches. It's about the athletic direc- tors. It's about the guidance counselors. It's about the parents. It's about build- ing those relationships. And those other things are fun, and I appreciate other people being creative and thinking out- side the box, and we're going to try to do the same things. But, like anything in life, there is a fine line to it. I saw a comment from one of the kids stating that you wanted to not redshirt anybody in the class. Did I misinterpret that or did he misinter- pret that? Do you plan to redshirt some of these kids? This is the same discussion we've had the last two press conferences like this. We tell them all that we want them to come in with the mentality that they're going to play. Then once they show up on campus… we'll get a couple weeks into camp and we'll determine that. We recruit every single one of these guys with the mentality that they're going to come in and play and impact the roster and play as freshmen. The guys who aren't ready, we'll have those conversa- tions with them. It has to do with them. It has to do with our depth. It has to do with their physical maturity, their emo- tional maturity, and their ability to pick up the playbooks on offense, defense and special teams. F E B R U A R Y 4 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 13 gigisdining.com ' Voted Most Romantic and "Best" Fine Dining Fantastic Cuisine, Exceptional Service... 814.861.3463 W LUNCH|DINNER SATURDAY BRUNCH SOUTHERN INSPIRED. locally grown Voted M o s t R o F Fa n t ta s t i c C E x c ep p t i o n a F i n e m a n t i c a n d Best" C u i s i n e , a l S e rv rv i ce e . . . D i n i n g LUNCH S O U S O U R y I g H DINNER U T H E N y N g S P I y y g g U T H E R N I N S P I R E D . R E D S A T U R D A A Y B R U N C H gi gig igi gis isd sdi din ini nin in ng ng.co com om

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