Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83550
COAChSPEAK |EXCERPTS FROM BILL O'BRIEN'S WEEKLY PRESSER Can you assess how things have gone for you as a play‑caller through three games? There is always room for improve- ment with the play calling. We have got to do a better job of continuing to get the play in quicker. We've got to do a better job of calling better plays. There's always improvement that can be made. What kind of impact would you like to see from the Blue Out at Saturday's game? Well, from the day I arrived here I felt like it was so important to be in- volved in the community like Penn State football has been in the past, and especially as it relates to putting an end to child abuse. So I believe it's going to be a great day for the Penn State community. I think it's going to be a very, very tough football game, but I believe there will be another great crowd. The crowds have been really awe- some. And now to have the crowd dressed in blue T‑shirts for the Blue Out game and helping put an end and to [bring] awareness to the child abuse problem in this country and everywhere, I think it is going to be a great day. Can't say enough about [the Penn- sylvania Coalition Against Rape] and what they do in Pennsylvania. We're just a small part of PCAR, just trying to help them put an end to child abuse. Do you expect to get Nyeem Wartman back soon, and how dis- appointing is it to see a guy get sidetracked just when he's getting started? It is disappointing because you feel bad for the guy. He's just a great kid who has a really, really bright future at Penn State. You just feel bad for him. He was playing pretty well and then he has the injury. I wouldn't ex- pect him back for a while, though. Can you talk about Mike Hull's development? He's a guy that I think has played a decent amount. He's played on special S E P T E M B E R Tim Owen teams. That's one thing, too. He's a guy – along with Mike Yancich and Micheal Zordich and Ben Kline. Those type of guys on special teams. – they have done an excellent job. We've talked about special teams where maybe our punting and kick- ing hasn't been great, but overall our special teams – our cover teams, kickoff cover, punt cover – you got some guys on there really working and doing some good things there. Hull is a guy that played well on Saturday when he got in there on de- fense. We've got a very strong line- backing corps, and we try to get him in there and, you know, spell some of those guys who are ahead of him right now. He's gone in there and played well. He's a tough guy. He's a Penn State linebacker, and we'll con- tinue to play him. How much are Derek Day and Bill Belton able to do right now? I would say that Day's probably a little bit ahead of Belton as far as where that is injurywise. But they're both, no pun intended, day-to-day. We will just continue to monitor that. Like I was saying to the other ques- tion, these guys get beat up during the season. They're running backs. That's the nature of the position, so the next guy has got to be ready to go. We've gotten decent production out of other guys. Curtis Dukes came in and did some good things on Satur- 1 9 , 2 0 1 2 13 day; Zordich did some good things; Zwinak needs to probably play a lit- tle bit more. So we've got some guys there who can step up, we believe. Are you concerned with building confidence in your kicker at that point? I believe the confidence comes from practice. In practice last week he was, I think, 10 for 10. During team situations he did some good things. I talk to Sam [Ficken] all the time. I have belief in Sam. It's just at that point in time I felt good about that play call from the 8-yard line, the hash mark that we were on, the time in the game. I don't think it has any- thing to do with confidence in Sam. Were you trying to get [Steven] Bench in, or were you not wanting to use him late in the [Navy] game? No, I felt like it was still a ballgame there. I know what the scoreboard said, but I just felt like it was still Matt's game and I stuck with Matt. Do you expect Donovan Smith to be available this week? Donovan is day-to-day. I know you guys hate that answer, but it's the truth. If he comes out [Tuesday] and he can move around, then maybe he's got a better chance to play. If he comes out today and he's gimpy, then he probably won't play. B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M INJURED BACKS Running backs Derek Day and Bill Belton are still recovering from injuries. O'Brien said they're day-to- day. "No pun in- tended," he said."