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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE


August 6, 2015


James Franklin


University Park, Pennsylvania

JAMES FRANKLIN: Full house. How is everybody doing?

First of all, really appreciate everybody being here. I don't want to bring up a negative comment right now, but I'm sad to see my man is not in the back of the room, but it's great to see the rest of the family; miss your dad.

Great to be here today. Love the numbers that we have. Really appreciate you guys all coming out. Really excited just to get going. Been a lot of work in the off season, a lot of preparation by our players. We reported last night they say report; report is not like it used to be. Report I remember when I was in college, my mom and my sister dropping me off. My sister starting crying, me fighting the tears off, and the next day you started two a days.

Now we barely even do two a days. They're here all summer working out so it's a different dynamic. But everybody is really excited. Everybody is really excited to get going. I'm excited to get going on football. Football. Talking football, coaching football, being out on the field and smelling the fresh cut grass, you know, looking at that beautiful blue and white sky and Mount Nittany in the background. Not talking about recruiting, not talking about fundraising and facilities, not talking about the NFL and where people are going to get drafted, to talk football. And I think our team is, as well.

I think you guys know, I think at lot of us have a chip on our shoulder. We've got a lot of work to do, and I think everybody is ready. You guys have heard me say in the off season, I think I have a much better understanding of Penn State now. I have a much better understanding of the Big Ten and most importantly I have a much better understanding of our players, and I think it's the same way in the other direction. I think our players understand our coaching staff better. Our entire staff is back, so there's going to be no learning curve in terms of scheme or drills or things like that. There's always going to be new wrinkles, but I'm excited.

Appreciate you guys being here, and I open it up to any questions.

Q. This dovetails with what you were talking about. You had a very unusual situation in that you had groups of players from two different coaches and a lot of times players are recruited because they like the coaches, and now you actually had groups of three different recruits from three different coaches. What was that like initially last year, and what is it like now in comparison, a year later?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, it's night and day, and it's not just to me it's compounded because it's not just the coaches and the different styles of the coaches and the recruits. It's also just everything we've been through in the last three to four years. I think it's a combination of all those things.

There's effects. There's effects to those things. There's wounds from those things.

Yeah, I think last year there was a lot of feeling out and a lot of different directions. Everything was new pretty much every single day, and I think from the time the season ended and we played the bowl game and had so much fun that night in Yankee Stadium that there's been a lot of time spent and a lot of energy spent on focusing on all the things that we need to improve on, whether that's self scout and studies, whether that's bringing different staffs and different groups of people in to talk, whether that's sitting down and having one on one individual meetings with every player, whether that's sitting down with the staff, whether that's talking to people in the community, whether that's going on a staff retreat to Philadelphia, you know, and having some fun with the Philadelphia Phillies' organization. All those things. It's night and day.

What I would say is I'd say, think about your job and your position and year one at that job compared to year two. It's just different. And although you've had experience at other places, it's not like you can take that exact model and transplant it from one place to another. There's some growth that has to take place, and that's what we spent all off season doing.

Q. What do you expect from Akeel Lynch, and how quickly do you want to sort out the depth behind him?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, I think you want to start out the depth as quick as you possibly can. I don't think that's going to happen. I think it's going to take some time. Akeel Lynch, you know, I'd love for him from day one until the end of the season to make it clearly obvious that we've got one big time back that we're going to be able to hang our hat on while we're developing those other guys, and according to Coach Galt and his staff and according to our players, Akeel has done that.

He's been a tremendous leader with the young running backs and the young players. He's probably been as consistent and as hard working as anybody in our program, and just done a great job. He's been patient and kind of waited for his time, and he's prepared that when that time comes, he's going to be ready.

He's kind of the guys that I like to coach in terms of he may not have one specific special trait, but he's got a lot of really good traits. He's not an undersized back, but I wouldn't say he's a huge back. He's got good speed. He's got the strength and power to break tackles. He's got the ability to make people miss and catch out of the backfield, which we'd like for him to have a bigger role in those things for this year, and he does all those things well, and guys that do a lot of things well, it usually continues to translate and grow.

I've just found that the guys that can do one or two things really well, those guys aren't going to be as consistent as you want them to be.

Q. James, you mentioned the chip on your shoulder. Obviously in your division you have Ohio State. Where do you see you guys fitting in, and can you talk about the challenge of that division and just where you see kind of the long term growth and the challenge of where you are?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yep. You know, it's not like the chip on the shoulder just showed up this off season. I had that since my mom had me, to be honest with you. You know, the conference I think is great. I do. You think about the conversations that are going on about Penn State now compared to a year ago, you think about the conversations about the Big Ten now compared to a year ago, it's night and day, and that's because of the success that the conference has had in individual programs. I think that's the success that the conference had in the bowl season. I think it's all those things. I think it's the personalities that are now in the conference.

To me this is why you come to a place like Penn State. This is why you're in the Big Ten, to have an opportunity to go out and compete week in and week out against the very best.

We embrace it. We've been in conferences similar to this in the past that were very competitive, and you know, looking forward to this year, looking forward to years to come.

Q. Looking back on spring ball, this might be a little broad, but what's one position group that really excites you about what's to come this year?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, you know, I don't know if I'd characterize it as excite. I hope it's excite, but obviously the position that we've talked about ad nauseam is the offensive line. Number one, because it's a great need for us, but also just because of their approach. Their approach this off season, taking ownership of their position and their responsibility and their role, taking ownership of the success of the offense, having a chip on their shoulder. You know, the guys that redshirted now truly being able to compete for jobs, the new freshmen just showing up on campus as well as having Paris as a transfer and being able to have a spring ball experience, and now having an opportunity to compete. I think that's probably the group.

And then obviously the guys we've talked about in the past, you know, replacing Ficken. That's going to be an interesting story line, just because of what an unbelievable year he had. I was shocked yesterday to see him in the weight room. If anybody deserves to be in a camp, it's that guy. Mike Hull is going to be a story line in kind of replacing him. I think it's a little bit different at linebacker than at kicker because I think at linebacker you're going to replace Mike Hull with a combination of three guys, not one guy, really. And then I think D end was a little bit of a story line in the spring.

But I think overall if you're talking about a position, I would say the offensive line is probably the position I'm most excited about or anticipating seeing how they play together.

Chris actually reminded me right before walking in, and I overlooked it and didn't say it so I just want to cover you guys. We apologize that not everybody will be at the media day today. Christian Hackenberg will not be there. I'm kidding. Everybody looked up. Everybody was taking notes and your heads all snapped up like that. No, we've got a bunch of guys taking an intensive Spanish class so they get Spanish 1, Spanish 2 and Spanish 3 all completed in the summertime. It's brutal. They go from 8:00 to 12:00 all summer with that one course, and they're finishing it up this week, so those guys are in class right now, so there's about eight guys what if we ask the questions in Spanish. We will text it to them and they can respond and hopefully they can get bonus points for that.

Q. You talked about having a chip on your shoulder collectively. What are some of the reasons for that?
JAMES FRANKLIN: I think it's just I think you've got a bunch of prideful, passionate guys that have come to Penn State to do something special, and I think we're going to have that chip on our shoulder until we get where we want to go, and that's to build the No. 1 organization in all of college football. When I say that, everybody thinks about just the wins, and yeah, that's part of it, but that's No. 1 graduation rates, that's No. 1 GPA, that's having an unbelievably positive impact in the community, that's competing at a very high level in the Big Ten and competing at a very high level nationally. That's the whole package.

I think what happens is in the off season, you spend so much time focused on the things that you need to do better. You know, there's nothing worse on offense every single year than watching a turnover tape or watching a sack tape. It's not a fun experience, but you do that every single year to try to learn why you did those things and how can you improve on them. Same thing on defense, watching a big play tape, stopping big plays, big plays you gave up.

So I think you just spend so much in the off season focused on areas that you think you should be stronger in and areas that you need to improve that I think it just kind of it gnaws at you after a while, and then there comes a point you just want to get out on the field and start playing, and after a couple weeks at camp we'll get to the point where we're ready to play an opponent.

I think it's the nature of the off season, whether you won 12 games or whether you won seven games, you spend all off season critiquing yourself to try to resolve as many of those issues as you possibly can and build on your strengths.

Q. How excited are you to get a player like Adam Breneman back on the field, and how has he impressed you off the field? He seems like a young man who would have great leadership quality.
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, very much so. That was another piece of the puzzle or lack of the piece of the puzzle from last year. Adam Breneman, one of the most highly sought after guys in the state when he was coming out and really in the country, had a really good freshman year, we were planning on having him last year, and then had to miss the entire season. But I think he's in a much better place right now. I think in the long run it's probably going to be a positive for him and a positive for our program, but yeah, I think, again, you look at last year, we've talked about these things enough, but one returning starter on the offensive line, now we have four. You talk about three of our four receivers were freshmen last year, and now all those guys are sophomores and the one guy is a junior. And then you talk about having Kyle Carter and Mike Gesicki as a true freshman and Wilkerson in a limited role next year, well, now you have all those guys, and now you also add in Adam Breneman.

It's a great situation to be in because now we're starting to put the pieces to the puzzle around Hack that his development can continue and he can be the player that we all know he can be.

Q. You mentioned Paris Palmer earlier. How has it impacted the offensive line having a couple newcomers with college experience, not just Palmer but also Reihner?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, I think it's invaluable. Reihner has done a great job. I'm really interested to see how it translates on the field. His leadership in the meeting rooms, his knowledge of the game, his passion for Penn State with his family connections and ties has been really good. He's brought a lot of value to our organization already before even hitting the field. He's been a great voice with our players. He's been really good for me. Whenever we hire a new person or whenever we recruit somebody or whenever we transfer in somebody like that, I always bring him into my office and ask him what's your thoughts. You've got fresh eyes coming in with a different perspective, what's your thoughts. How do these things compare to the last place you were at types of things, so that was really valuable.

I think having all that returning experience, they're going to be able to play so much more confident and decisive, so yeah, it's extremely valuable, and especially at that position where he's going to have to get caught up is just the cohesiveness of working together, that four of those guys already have. Obviously what we've got to do, as we all know, we've got to speed up the maturation process, not only of Paris and Chance Sorrell that are both competing and fighting for that job, but then also the maturation process of the unit as a whole and all five of those guys working well together and feeling comfortable and being able to anticipate what guys are going to do. That's when you're able to play fast and aggressive.

Q. It's been a tumultuous couple years at Penn State, but from this side it seems like things are almost back to normal in Happy Valley. Is that how you see it? I know you've only been here for two years, but is it back to focusing on football for Penn State?
JAMES FRANKLIN: First of all, I love your positive attitude and your energy. Spread it throughout the room. I love it. Appreciate you, brother. And I haven't been here two years yet. The clock is still ticking.

But yeah, I do. I think there's so many positive things falling into place for Penn State right now, and we've got momentum, and we have to capitalize on that momentum. I don't think there's any doubt. You think about, again, last year there were so many unknowns sitting in this press conference talking to you guys. We weren't able to go to a bowl game last year when the season started. We got that opportunity back. We weren't able to have a full 85 scholarships. I think we were limited to 65. We have the opportunity now to get as close to 85 as we can.

You know, we go and play in the bowl game, we play well. We retain our entire staff. We go out and battle in recruiting and do some good things there. We have a great off season in terms of academics, community service, and development.

So yeah, there's just a lot of positive things.

Again, like I talked about the conversations about our conference nationally. There's just a lot of positive things falling into place for us right now. Season tickets are going unbelievably well. We had a huge spike last year. I think we're going to get another spike this year. You walk around, whether it's in the community or in the state and surrounding states, and there's a buzz about Penn State football right now, and you guys will probably have a better feel for that than I would, but what I've been told, there's a buzz about Penn State football that there hasn't been in a certain amount of time.

I know talking to high school coaches and other college coaches I know and even in recruiting, it shows up. It shows up.

I do think there's a difference, and I appreciate you saying that and feeling that.

Q. New watch?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah. This I'll tell you, she's sharp. It's all about the details. Yeah, Addy and Shola and my wife were at Tommy Bahama's around Father's Day, and Addy saw this watch, and she goes, Dad would love that. I want to get that for him for Father's Day. So my wife bought that for me for Father's Day from Addy. This is from Addy, and it's blue and white, so I'm going to try to rock this as much as I possibly can. Addy is very proud that Daddy is wearing this watch at the press conference. Thank you for bringing it up.

Q. My real question, going back to the offensive line, when you look at it, you said about Paris and Chance are battling for that left tackle job, how much will you move Andrew Nelson over there, if at all, this camp? How comfortable is he playing there, or is he strictly a right tackle?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Great question. We would love to leave our guys at their positions as much as we possibly can, being able to leave Andrew Nelson to get at least 75 percent of his reps at right tackle. Do we have any doubt in our mind that Andrew could play left tackle? None. But I think one of our issues that was compounded last year is we weren't able to do that. You guys have heard me say this before, I think it was the Ohio State game, we lose our left tackle, Donovan. Our right tackle goes to left tackle. Our center goes to right tackle, and the backup center comes in. It's a lot of moving parts for guys that are still trying to get comfortable.

So we still have to be able to do some of that because at the end of the day, you've got to make sure you can get the best five guys on the field. You know, just like the defense, getting the best 11 guys on the field, however you've got to do it.

So there will be some of that, but I think the more we can leave guys at one position and give them the ability to become an expert in their craft, at their position and build confidence there, once they've done that, then I think we can start working on moving people around, and the best way that's going to solve our problems. Right now, we're going to let guys compete, and it's hard to let guys compete for certain jobs if you're moving them around. As camp goes on, then we'll say, not only who are the best five, but typically you don't really have a best ten, you've got your best five on the offensive line, and then who's the next best tackle to go in the game, who's the next best guard to go in the game, who's the next best center to go in the game. So typically you can have eight that you feel really good about, you're rolling. You get to the point where you have 10, now you're at a different level.

It's the same way on the defensive line. You're typically going to have a although our next defensive tackle may be listed as a nose tackle, the third interior defensive lineman is going to go in, the third defensive end, and then the fourth. It's not just like he's backing up the left defensive end or the right defensive end. You're going to put the next best player on the field.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the competition for the kicking position. How do you score it? What do you do to put heat on the guys, and is there any frontrunner entering training camp?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, I wouldn't say at this point there is. I thought at the end of the spring, it was pretty close. It was pretty close, the competition. Not just what happened in the spring game, but we chart everything. We chart every single kick, so we'll do that again, and not only do we chart every single kick whether it was good or not and the distance and the hashes so we know this guy is hitting it a higher percentage from the middle of the field compared to the left hash compared to the right hash and why, so we can maybe work on those things, but also the time they're getting the kicks off. If they make the kick but it doesn't get off in the right amount of time from the snap to the hold to the kick, they don't get credit. That's a miss. So we chart all those things.

And then as they build confidence, we try to put them in competitive situations and put pressure on them.

I think you guys know, we do some stuff with kicking and punting, and we'll also do kickoff, as well, where that'll be for the running at the end of practice. Typically we like to get our conditioning during practice and not do kind of an old school run out there and run gassers at the end of practice. We like to do it with our tempo during practice. That allows us to maximize the time that we're out there.

But I will do that. I'll go at the end of practice and we'll go eight field goals, and for every field goal we miss, we've got to run a gasser. So we can have eight gassers or we can have zero gassers, and those guys have a chance to be the hero or they have a chance to have some people angry at them after practice. And we do that again to try to put those guys in pressure situations so the games will be a little bit easier for them. And then as they get confident with that, we kind of step it up. We'll dump water on them, use a wet ball, we'll pump crowd noise in there, as well. We'll blow air horns in their ears.

But it's all a process. We want them to build confidence and have success before we take it to the next stage.

But we'll do the same thing with the punters. We want certain things with the punter, as well, ball location, hang time, and how far they kick it, as well, and then same thing with the kickoff. We want it in the end zone, we want certain ball locations, as well, so we're not covering 53 and a third of the field. You want to be able to cover certain segments of the field. These athletes are too good to give them the whole field to work with.

Q. What are your expectations for this group of receivers you have? How much more competitive do you think that room will be compared to last summer where it was basically just Geno was the only guy who had significant reps coming in?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, and you even look at DaeSean Hamilton, you guys that are with us every week, DaeSean didn't even have spring ball. He had no spring ball before last year. Yeah, I think the wide receivers, as well, the number of positions I think you're going to see dramatic improvement. Again, it's year two for all of these guys. I think him and Hack working together and building that chemistry and confidence in the off season, I think how decisive they are going to be in running the routes and reading coverage and those types of things, the depth of the routes, all the specifics and the details. Typically places I've been, the wide receivers are one of those positions you usually see a pretty significant jump from year one to year two. I'm excited about it, and I know Hack is, as well.

Had great meetings this morning, and I'm excited. I'm excited to see them fly around on the field. We've added a few wrinkles on defense. We've added a few wrinkles on offense and special teams to hopefully play to our strengths because this team will be different on defense this year. This team will be different on offense and special teams this year. The personnel dictates that.

So we have to be able to play to those strengths.

Q. When you played quarterback, throughout the course of the game, how many footwork combinations do you think you went through, and do you feel that that's changed over the years as quarterbacks maybe have to roll left, have to roll right, play action under center, shotgun, different coverages? Is that something that becomes more and more of an important detail as maybe quarterbacks become more and more mobile?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, very much so, especially if you're going to be multiple like we would like to be, so that's under center three step, that's from the gun three step, which typically if you're going from the gun, you basically subtract two from the drop is typically how it goes. That's roll outs, that's naked, that's play action, that's being able to adjust your drop when you have to throw hot. That's the five hit and throw. When I was in college, Eddie Strasburg, we never did five hit and throw, it was always five and a hitch. So you look at over time that's changed. Everybody is five hit and throw on speed outs and gimme throws and things like that, timing and precision routes.

So yeah, I think that's definitely evolved. Even a route that calls for a five step drop, if they bring one that you can't pick up, the route has to adjust. You're pulling up and throwing on three. So yeah, I think the footwork, the drops, the timing, the precision, the splits, the depth, all the details of the passing game are really, really important.

And Ricky Rahne having played the position and now coached the position for a number of years, and Christian playing the position and working through some of those details, I think I don't think there's any doubt that the game has evolved with very, very special routes and very, very special footwork to match those routes.

Q. How about Coach Haslett? How are you planning to be using him? Is he going to be on the sidelines, offense, defense, everything? Up in the press box?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, you know, there's been a lot of discussions and questions about Coach Haslett. There's really not a whole lot more than what it is. I know always people think there's some other plan. Coach Haslett, we've got a great situation. His father in law lives here in town. His son is going to be a senior at IUP this year, and decided he had another year left on his contract, decided he was going to sit this year out so he could see his son play, and was spending time around our staff. My offensive coordinator from college, Coach Frye, Jim Frye, they worked together at the University of Buffalo. Brett Frye, his son, they've been family friends for a long time, so he was around. We had an opportunity to get a 30 year vet as a head coach in the NFL as well as a coordinator that wanted to work for us and wanted to spend some time with us.

It might be the best deal in the country because I think our GA's are making more money than him. It's a great situation.

He's going to work with everything. He's going to work with the offense, he's going to work with the defense, he's going to work with special teams. He can't work with the players. He can't coach the players. He can't recruit. He's basically going to be watching the defense, watching the offense, watching special teams. Coaches will be able to grab him and say what did you think today, what are your thoughts, what are your perspectives, what are some things that you've done over the last 30 years that you would do differently now looking back at it. He's a sounding board and he's a resource, really, for everybody in the building.

But by NCAA rules and by some of the guidelines here at Penn State, he's limited it's not like he's going to be out there with a whistle and a hat and running around and coaching.

Q. James, to go back to special teams for a second, in terms of the punting game it was a little up and down last year. Where do you feel that is, and then when it comes to your kicking game, could you envision having a kickoff guy and a field goal kicker, or do you want one guy to do both?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, I could see us having a kickoff guy and a field goal guy, especially with whoever is going to do that job. It's a new role. So if you could limit one of those new starters or what they're responsible for, no different than you're playing another position and you just start to work a guy in, into a small role, and that role grows as the year goes on.

You'd love for a guy to just focus on field goals or just focus on kickoff, and then as they build confidence and have some success, maybe one guy can take over both roles, wonderful. But I could see that playing out that way. We'll see.

Punting, you know, it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. Gulla is back at punter. Liebel has had a really strong off season, and Daniel actually went back to Australia, spent some time kicking there. He also him and this specialist with Coach Huff, they went to Outback Steakhouse several times this summer, as well, to try to help him feel real comfortable in the community, although he said there's nothing on the menu that's similar to anything he grew up eating.

But again, it's year two, and those guys are confident. I know he feels like he's hitting the ball better than ever, but all those specialists. I talk to all the snappers and they all think they're going to be the starter. I talked to all the kickers, they all think that they're going to be the starter and say they're hitting the ball better than ever, and the punters, the same thing. We won't know until we get out there. I think all of them have the talent to be successful.

The issue is the consistency. They've got to be able to show that they can do it day in and day out, practice in and practice out, play in and play out.

What I try to get them to understand, I don't care if you can hit a you see all these stuff on social media now, YouTube or Twitter or Facebook, guys posting videos of hitting 75 yard field goals. That's wonderful. But I'd rather have a guy that's going to hit it 100 percent of the time from 37 yards. Same thing with the punter. I'd rather have a guy that's going to be able to consistently punt it 41 yards with a 4.0 hang time and outside the numbers than a guy that's going to hit it one time 52 yards and another time 32 yards and another time shank it out of bounds. Same thing on kickoff.

Those are the things that they've got to embrace. We call it a little bit of the ESPN generation. A lot of those guys, you look at basketball, everybody playing basketball is out working on shooting a three and trying to dunk, and no one can hit a foul shot anymore. Are you willing to go out and work on the things that are really going to allow you to be successful day in and day out, and then once you've mastered those things, then maybe do some of those other things from time to time.

It's like we talk about on offense or defense; we chart every rep and how many reps you're running at practice, and does that percentage of reps you're running in practice, does that make sense based on how many times it's showing up in the game. So goal line, for example, you don't need to be doing goal line every single day at practice. You've got to make sure the time you're spending your time wisely in practice is the same percentage that's going to show up during games and during the season, and that's the fine line. You don't want to be chasing ghosts, situations and things that aren't out there so you can say you've covered them but you don't really get good at things. You've got to spend your time on things you're going to gain the most value from.

Q. What makes Herb Hand unique as part of your coaching staff and how he approaches building the offensive line?
JAMES FRANKLIN: Number one, I don't know if this makes him unique, but Herb is a great offensive line coach, and I think you guys are going to see that this year. I believe that. I believe between Herb and those guys, I'm excited. I am. I'm excited. Number one, that.

Probably more importantly than that is Herb is a great person. Herb is a great guy. He's a great father. He's a great husband. He's been a great friend of mine. Me and Herb always seem to be sitting there in the locker room before the game, we're the last two in there, and he's getting emotional, I'm getting emotional about just how blessed we are from a lot of different perspectives.

And then Herb has got a lot of interests. I think as college football coaches and professional coaches, we all fall into this trap that we feel like we all got to be these tough guys that have no other interests, and Herb feels that he can be great in all those areas, and I think that's fun, and I think it's great.

And then I think he also works on a staff that not only embraces that but also allows him to do it. I don't know if there's too many staffs in the country that the head coach is going to allow the O line coach to go film an episode of "Chopped" on a bye week during the season. I don't know how many times that happens.

Official visits, he wants to cook. We'll be catering a dinner or a lunch or a brunch at my house and the guy will be cooking omelettes and Herb will go kick the guy off the omelettes because he wants to go cook for the guys. He says he can do sushi. Hmm, slow down, Herb. He's got a lot of other interests in terms of service, different causes in the communities and things like that.

He enjoys social media probably as much as anybody. He makes the argument again, I don't know if this has been researched or is true or not, but he says he's the second coach in America to be on Twitter, second college football coach in America. Again, I don't know when he did this study or research, but he likes social media. He really enjoys social media. I think he does a good job with it. It's a great example for our players of how to use social media in a really positive way.

You know, he's a relationship guy. I think to be honest with you, we've got a lot of guys like that. I think because of the way Herb uses social media, social media is a real positive window that allows people to get to know Herb Hand, but we've got other guys with great stories, players and coaches on our team, that just don't know you guys just don't get to know as well because of how they conduct themselves.

I think it was Chip Kelly talking about his personal life, and he doesn't know why people would want to know his personal life and he keeps those things very private. Herb uses social media and a window for people to get to know him. There's a lot of different ways to do it.

I get in trouble because I'm not a favorites guy. I don't really have a favorite food or a favorite specific music. I love a lot of things. I love people. I love music but not really down to the specifics. But he's done some good things. I think another kind of example is you look at our staff, I'm in Florida on vacation with my family this summer, Herb Hand owns a house about a block away from me. He's cooking for our kids. Ricky Rahne comes on vacation and stays with me and my family. Josh Gattis comes on vacation with his family. There's not too many staffs in the country that you go on vacation and the staffs all go on vacation together.

I saw something on Twitter on social media, PJ Mullen's family owns a house at the Jersey Shore, and I look and there's like eight of my staff all at the Jersey Shore together. You talk about a staff that spends 15 hours a day together during the season. Most of the time when it's time to get off, they get away from each other, but I think that also is a great example of how close the staff is and how much we care about each other.

Really appreciate everybody coming.


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