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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 4, 2018

Brent Pry

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. Brent, Manny Bowen, asked James about it. At what point do you know that you were going to get him back and what do you envision his role being this year?
COACH BRENT PRY: It's been quite a process. Obviously I've stayed in touch with Manny throughout this thing, knowing him since his sophomore year in high school. Very close with Manny, and you know, it's been a process.

I don't know for sure if we still know exactly how this thing is going to unfold but we want to get Manny to a December graduation. You know, it's great to have him out there mentoring the young guys on the field. He's a student of the game. He's played a good number of snaps for us. He's coaching the heck out of some of those guys right now, not knowing what his role will be.

In my mind, I'm not planning on Manny Bowen right now. With what we know, the information we have, that's the way this thing's playing out right now, and if things change, we'll take another look at it.

But Manny had a laundry list of things to kind of earn his way back and gain some trust, and he did an outstanding job with it. To be honest, I'm not surprised. He's a very determined young man. So it's good to have him back out there, and got a lot of love for Manny. Support him and hopefully things work out really well.

But the most important thing to me is we get him to a graduation here in December.

Q. Kevin Givens, really versatile piece for you lining up outside and inside. With some of the losses inside, is he going to be more of a presence there and do you foresee him having that flexibility still?
COACH BRENT PRY: We love that flexibility. I think it was one of the keys to our success last season. Tight ends, it's a handful when they try and block Kevin.

Against some of those teams that put some bigger folks out there, I think it's something that we'd like to do, continue to do. It's going to depend on the development of the rest of those guys at defensive tackle, that's where that will be.

I think we're trying to recruit somebody like that each year, a hybrid-type player that can play end and can play tackle and can do a little bit of both and Kevin is kind of the model for that.

Q. Can you describe the progress that Jan Johnson has made last year, since this spring and how soon do you want to decide on the Mike and will everything fall into place after you do that?
COACH BRENT PRY: That's a really good question for a couple of reasons. No. 1, I'm a big Jan Johnson fan. You know, his story would be somewhat similar to Smitty's. Jan is very physical, tough. Has done a great job of growing into the position. You know, he's certainly in the thick of things.

I'm not in a hurry to decide to be honest right now. I'm not sure at any of the three spots at linebacker how that is going to take shape. I know we've got some great candidates. I love the competition right now. I'm going to roll guys through different spots and you know, after a week or two, we'll take a closer look.

But right now, it's just getting reps and having a chance to evaluate these guys and continue to get them better.

Q. How valuable will it be for guys to be able to play two positions at linebacker? And I wonder where Jake Cooper, given his history of injuries, lines up in this competition?
COACH BRENT PRY: I personally place a lot of value in guys learning more than one spot. That was the case with Brandon Bell. That was the case with Jason Cabinda. With your limited scholarship numbers and with the way injuries occur, you just -- I think it's a good plan. You have to be careful where you do it. Certain guys can handle it a little sooner in their career and some guys, you hold off till they have got one position squared away.

So we've got a couple of guys that are learning two spots. We've got a couple of guys that are only concentrating on one position and then we've got a guy that's learning all three.

Jake's a guy that plays Mike and will. He's not great intangibles. His injuries, as you mentioned, it's kind of set him back over the course of his career. But you know, he's one of those guys right in the thick of things that's going to play some Mike and play some will throughout camp, and see if he can be in the two-deep.

Q. You guys have so many weapons on offense this year, with all that firepower on offense, your side of the ball seems to have the question marks heading into camp. Do you place extra pressure on yourself to kind of get those questions answered and rebuild this defense, when people are talking about this team as a potential to get to the College Playoff?
COACH BRENT PRY: That's exactly why I don't read the media much. Sorry, guys. I don't put extra pressure.

We are going to do the same things each and every camp, ground up, evaluate these guys, mature them, evaluate weaknesses strengths. I do feel very good about the group we have. I understand we lost eight starters off a pretty good unit but in my heart of hearts, I believe we have a heck of an opportunity to be better than last year's squad. We are very explosive. We run really well.

Coach Galt and his staff have done a tremendous job developing these guys, not just this summer but through the winter and spring. I think we've got a group of guys that are really bought in and focused and as we all know, competition makes everybody better, and you know, all those guys want to play. They didn't come here to ride the bench.

So they are all kind of chasing each other's tail right now to get in that lineup, so we are excited about those guys.

I will say this: We took five magazine quotes about losing eight starters and no strength up the middle and can't be as good as last year and we got those plastered in our defensive meeting room, I will say that.

I didn't read them. (Laughter) I burned them.

Q. You had a lot of good things to say about Parsons, and you know the hype surrounding him coming into the program. Do you have to temper the expectations in the program and maybe outside surrounding him?
COACH BRENT PRY: He's an interesting bird, now. He loves that attention, so to temper it, I don't -- he's a great worker. He's so hungry. I got three texts on my own right now. We just had a walk-through this morning and he's over there watching film.

He's very eager and he loves to compete. He knows -- he's a smart guy, he knows where he is and he knows this isn't -- he knows this isn't going to be just handed to him. He knows he's got a lot to learn to have a chance to get on the field and for us to win with him. He takes coaching very well. So it's a -- I like the way the relationship is going, from recruit-turned-player, and I think that if he continues to trend the way he's trending, he's got a chance to help us this year.

Q. When you look at your safeties, what do you like there and where are you kind of at in terms of Lamont Wade?
COACH BRENT PRY: Again, I think the safety position is another area where we lost two awful good players, but we've got a good group of guys competing. Nick is very experienced. When we look at the number of snaps Nick has played over the last two seasons between special teams and defense, there's a ton. You know, Garrett Taylor, his preparation has been outstanding. Ayron Monroe, coming off an injury, he's very talented. He's fast. He's athletic.

He, of all those guys, probably has a skill-set similar to Troy as far as running and coverage skills. And then Lamont Wade is just a tough, explosive guy. The more reps he gets, the more he shows us at the safety position that it could be the right spot for him.

And then obviously, you know, there's some young guys there, Sutherland and some guys that I think are pushing, and eager. I think we're going to like what we have there. I think we'll have three, possibly a fourth guy, that we feel like we can win with.

Q. What have you seen from John Reid coming back from the injury, and also, can you give us the status, do you expect Torrence Brown to be ready for the beginning of the season?
COACH BRENT PRY: Let me answer your second question first. I do not expect Torrence to be ready for the season.

Secondly, John Reid, he's just the ultimate professional. He works every day to master his craft. He's got a great skill-set. He's got incredible maturity. To lose a guy like Christian and Grant just makes you feel, to know that you have John coming back and then of course the year that Amonte had and the experience that Tariq gained last year, so we feel good about that spot.

We've got some young guys that are doing some things, too. Zech McPhearson, Donovan Johnson, we like to play a lot of those guys. I think we'll be able to again.

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