STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- If stopping J.T. Barrett was easy then the No. 2 Nittany Lions wouldn't have dedicated as much time as they did on specific drills to try and slow down Ohio State's quarterback.
It's a challenge every team has faced and while the Lions have plenty of familiarity with Barrett and he's plenty familiar with Penn State, the Lions implemented some "cage drills" during practices this week to make sure the defense is as prepared as possible to maintain lane integrity. As Penn State defensive line coach Sean Spencer put it during his Thursday afternoon conference call with the media, the goal is for his defensive line is to have "awareness, not caution" when dealing with Barrett.
"You have to be aware that someone has the ability to scramble, and we face that every day with Trace [McSorley] and Tommy [Stevens]," Spencer said. "But, that quarterback’s ability to extend the play, you definitely have to be aware of it, but just can’t be cautious because that’s when you’ll get stomped."
Here are some of the highlights from Spencer's conference call with the media:
Q: What are your impressions of Ohio State's freshman running back J.K. Dobbins and the challenge he presents?
A: “He’s a tremendous football player. He can make all the runs and he’s got great feet, great balance. When you step up in this conference and continue to play teams each week, there’s gonna be the guy that presents problems and clearly we gotta be conscious of him and we gotta prepare for them as a unit because they’re a a great team, not only singling out one person. Just focus on gap control, doing those type of things, rush lanes, so we’re where we’re supposed to be when we need to be.”
Q: James Franklin mentioned after practice Wednesday night that you guys were doing cage drills to prepare for J.T. Barrett. Can you explain what that means and why it’s important going into a game like this?
A: “First of all, J.T. Barrett is Houdini back there, that's what I remember. Anyway, so you can work on a lot of things to try and cage him up and he’ll make something happen. But it’s just about lane integrity, rushing the quarterback, awareness not caution."
Q: To whatever degree you can, can you describe the cage drills and whatever else you might do to try and keep J.T. contained?
A: “Well I can’t give all the secrets away [laughs]. Come on now. I’m up there, draw a person up and at any point in time you better make sure that all points of that person are covered up so that’s probably all I can explain to you [laughs].”
Q: In regards to the production you guys have gotten from Shareef Miller, has anything surprised you about how’s he played this season since you’ve been really high on him for some time?
A: “I don’t think you’re surprised by anything, I think when it actually comes to light you see that he has the ability, he did it in practice and he did it in games last year, but can he do it when he’s a starter and when the game is on the line? He had a role when he spelled guys and it’s a big role, but now, the game is on the line and can he go make that play? I’m not just talking about his two sacks against Pitt, but I think one of his best plays in my opinion was the safety at Iowa where he’s circled out and made a tackle on an unbelievable back. It was a huge play in the game and those were the plays we wondered could he be like [Garrett] Sickels, [Evan] Schwan, [Carl] Nassib, [Anthony] Zettel, [Austin] Johnson, those guys. Dating back to Deion Barnes, those kinds of guys who made those game-changing plays. Could he do that? And he’s shown us to this point that he can.”
Q: You’re sort of a legend at Whitehall High School for your role in recruiting Saquon Barkley, with administrators and teachers noting your role in his recruitment. I wanted to go back to maybe 2014-ish what were your first impressions of Saquon as you got to know him?
A: “We called him, got him on the phone when we first got here, maybe two weeks, I’m not sure of the exact timeline, but we offered him and he was committed to Rutgers. We offered him a scholarship and it’s just how humble he is. He was like, ‘I just got an offer from Penn State?’ We’re like, ‘Yeah man.’ He’s like, ‘That’s unbelievable. Oh my God I can’t believe it.’ We’re like, ‘You’re the real deal [laughs]. We’re not just throwing an offer out there at you. We see something in you that we think you can be special.’ From that point on, myself and coach [Charles] Huff’s relationship with him, it went I think beyond football. We were on him about his academics and making sure he was doing the right things and doing the right things moving forward and he’s just such a wonderful person. It’s almost like a storybook of a person where you say, ‘I’m going to create the perfect guy to come in and play college football and the perfect guy to be a leader on your team,’ and that’s Saquon. I mean, he’s a tremendous character kid and he’s always been that way. The stories from Whitehall they’d tell me he would do, from babysitting the athletic director’s kids to giving away a medal at a track meet, that’s who he is. It’s almost like the story that writes the book of the perfect specimen, and it’s him.”
Q: Could you evaluate our local kid, Kevin Givens, and how you’ve moved him around this year?
A: “The thing about Kevin is he’s so dynamic that he can play end, he can play nose guard, he can play three technique and that gives us a changeup guy that you can go from having – and nothing wrong with our ends that are 255, 260 – but all of a sudden you play a 285-pound end that’s strong and powerful and dynamic and I think you got a really good weapon there. At the same point, he can rush in 4-downs and affect the pocket. I think what people don’t know about Kevin is that he’s so good in the run game because he plays with such great leverage and he’s so powerful. If you ever tap him on his back, it’s like hitting a wall. You’re gonna hurt your hand. I gotta go see Tim Bream every time I tap him because I bruised up my knuckles. The guy is unbelievable in that regard and I’m so happy with his progress, and I think his biggest jump has been the ability to understand the game more than just being a lineman on the board. What I tell him is we can draw up the play and you can look like the play we draw up on the board and you can go make an effect on that play by doing something special. … We put you in these positions, what are you going to do after we put you in these positions? He’s the perfect example of a guy that can do that.”
Q: How has your recruitment philosophy and developmental philosophy changed since you’ve been at Penn State?
A: “It’s the same philosophy we’ve had at other institutions. I want guys that can get up the field and rush the quarterback, but I also want what everybody wants and that’s guys to be able to stop the run. I think the unique thing about recruiting is not so much that you always get the best players – clearly you want the top talent in the country -- but does that guy fit into my room, and is that guy going to make that room better or does he make it worse? You gotta evaluate that every time you’re making a decision. Clearly there are some spectacular guys up here that you really gotta evaluate if they’re going to fit your room properly and I think it’s a unique trait that coach Franklin has and put into our staff’s minds about how we need to recruit, and does this kid fit what we’re trying to do? ... I think there are certain guys who have tremendous strengths, like Shaka Toney is a guy that doesn’t go through the actual barometer of 'this is how you want them to look', but he’s definitely productive and then you get a guy like [Ryan] Buchholz who is 6-5, 6-6, 280 pounds, who can move around like a cat. So at the same point in time, I have a philosophy of recruiting guys who believe in the family and that’s why we call ourselves the Wild Dawgs. We’re going to hunt for each other and we’re going to play for the guy next to us. … You don’t have the same success that we’ve had if you don’t have that belief in each other.”