Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/747654
N O V E M B E R 6 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 7 C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S P O S T G A M E P R E S S E R Were you surprised how one-sided this game was tonight? We're getting better, I know that. What does getting better equate to on Saturdays? I can't predict that, but we're getting better. We're getting bet- ter every single day and every single practice. Our approach, our mentality, our trust and belief in one another, our confidence translates into getting bet- ter, and we're creating depth. We lose [Brendan] Mahon tonight. He's one of our better offensive linemen, and Chasz [Wright] comes in and really plays well. He had one play that I know he'd like to have back, but besides that play, he re- ally played well. It helps that he's 6-7 and a cheeseburger away from 350 pounds, and he played with confidence tonight. That shows the depth that we're starting to create. Coach [Matt] Limegrover has done a great job, I'm re- ally proud of Chasz Wright. He's been waiting for his opportunity and working hard, and when the opportunities have come, he and Paris [Palmer] have really stepped up big-time for us. Joe Moorhead said last week that he was happy but not satisfied with where you guys were offensively. How much closer are you now, a'er a performance like that, to being satis- fied? We will never be satisfied. We will never be satisfied, ever. That's not just coach-speak. I mean that. We'll always be looking at things that we need to get better in, areas that we can improve, depth that we need to create. Nine penalties alone need to be eliminated from the game. There are missed assign- ments, things like that. The most impor- tant thing is that we're playing hard right now. Our guys are playing really hard. One play at a time. That's the champi- onship standard. We tell our guys that the average play lasts six seconds. So don't think about 60 minutes, think about six seconds. Can you give us your best for six seconds at a time from an ef- fort and focus standpoint? Right now we're doing that. The guys are playing really hard, so I'm proud of them. I love our staff, I love our team, I love the sup- port staff that we have. Everybody is singing the same song and everybody is singing it in the same tune right now. There's consistency in our behavior, there's consistency in our actions, and everybody's on the same page. Is it possible for Saquon Barkley to surprise you in any way? The one play that he surprised me was when he got spun around and somehow he knew that the guy was going to tackle him from behind low. He was going backward and jumped up and avoided the guy. I don't know if he's looking at the Jumbotron [but] that one was special.