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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 28, 2018

Amani Oruwariye

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. What have you seen out of Donovan Johnson?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Donovan is just a kid that came in last year, obviously red-shirted but has developed tremendously since the spring; a guy that's caught the coach's eye and caught guys like me, my eyes, and ready to make some plays coming up this Saturday, so I'm excited for him.

Q. The backfield -- is that a perception that you guys are looking to disprove in the next couple weeks here?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, when we're here, we just take it with a grain of salt and play with a chip on our shoulder. We know what we're capable of and we have some experience back there. Nick Scott, Garrett Taylor has played a lot of football for us and Jairi (ph) has done great things here.

So we are ready to take that next step and be ready to make a name for ourselves.

Q. Looks like KJ Hamler starting in the slot for you guys. What makes him so dangerous and how excited are you to see him go up against a different defense?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, KJ is another guy that's came a long way. He's improved dramatically. He's just a very quick, speedy guy, obviously and along with that, he's playing with confidence.

So when you put those two together, it's hard to stop. So I'm excited for him.

Q. What are your emotions on game day, and how do you kind of balance maybe nervousness with excitement or pressure?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: I mean, since I've been playing football since I was young, I've always had butterflies going into a game, so that's not going to change. But kind of just going into the game, just trusting my preparation, trusting my training and then letting the play speak for itself and trusting the game plan and going out and doing what I'm supposed to do.

Q. James was saying Cam Brown has separated himself. What have you seen from him and what does he do that makes himself so dangerous?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Cam is just taking that next step in that linebacker unit. He's a guy that can move well and brings that physical presence, as well.

What he's done is taken that leadership role. He's been mentoring those younger guys, trying to bring them up the scale to where he is and it's paid dividends.

Q. Coach mentioned KJ Hamler's leadership skills, even though he's a redshirt freshmen. He compared him to Marcus Allen. What have you seen out of that?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: I would compare him to that, too. He's a guy with a lot of energy, regardless, even last year when he red-shirted he was just bringing energy to the locker room and that's just multiplied now that he's going to have a bigger role. He's just a leader by that energy just showing that he's coming out every day ready to work.

Q. When you look back, when you were here 2014, 2015, the State of the program, it's quite a bit different than it is now. How does it feel, looking back on those times and then also, you guys are trying to establish yourselves, making it three seasons in a row with 11 wins or something.
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, like you said, I've been here since the 2014 days when we were just happy to make the Pinstripe Bowl, and now to the past few years, two ten-win seasons. The program has come a long way but we're ready to put that in the past and cement something new this year and go for bigger goals.

Q. And what about Jesse?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Jesse, he's a young guy that's got a lot of leadership tendencies. He's a very vocal guy and what you look for in a Mike linebacker. He's still young but he's came a long way, as well. He should definitely contribute a lot and I'm excited for him, too.

Q. Some of your teammates have said that they have known at various points that Miles Sanders was going to be ready for this moment, maybe it was his freshmen year, maybe after that. Have you had a moment like that where maybe you've done something in practice that you're like, man, this guy could be something big?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, I mean, he's had moments of practice, but I mean, even in the previous years, just being behind Saquon, he's shown flashes of greatness that he's going to have in games, and Georgia State game, he had a nice run.

He's had a couple runs throughout his career so far but in practice, he brings it every day. He's consistent. I'm excited for him. I think he's going to have a huge year.

Q. Micah Parsons, we've talked so much about him. What has he done that's impressed you, whether it's mentality, physicalness, whatever.
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Micah, he's one of those freak athletes, just guys with natural-born talent.

When you put that together with all the fundamentals and stuff like that, he's just going to be put out to be a great player. I think he's a guy that you could put him in a lot of different types of blitzes and stuff and he's going to make a play. He's a guy that has a nose for the football. I'm excited for him, too.

Q. What's the difference between playing with a bunch of old guys versus playing with a bunch of younger guys?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Well, yeah, just that experience. That's the only thing I would say that's different is just the experience. We kind of have a standard here, regardless if you're young or old, you've got to mature and you've got to play like you're mature.

We kind of have put that on the younger guys to try to mature as quickly as possible. So we don't really feel that drop-off at all, that experience. We have done a great job of that.

Q. (Off-mic.)
AMANI ORUWARIYE: I guess the older guys in the locker room: Me, tries, Koa Farmer, Shareef Miller, Mark Allen, all the older guys.

Just kind of leading by example, all the younger guys, seeing what we've done in the past years and wanting to get to that point so they just kind of follow in our footsteps, and I think we do a good job of leading that way.

Q. There's a lot returning on offense, even though you did lose a lot, and you've had a series of injuries on defense. Is there a sense on the defense of trying to get your feet wet and trying to prove -- you guys feel like you have something to prove, whereas on offense, there's maybe more what people know what to expect?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: I think as a team in general, we have a lot to prove. I think on defense, like they said before, in the secondary, losing a lot of people, we kind of play with that chip on our shoulder, but on offense, too, losing Saquon and losing Mike and DeShawn, we have a lot of young talent ready to step into those roles and play bigger roles. I think as a whole unit, as a whole team, we're ready to go.

Q. Do you remember your first-ever game here at Penn State, and maybe what is some advice you can give to the true freshmen who are about to play in their first-ever college football game?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, all I would say is just, you know, trust your training, trust your abilities. You're recruited here for a reason.

Obviously you might be a little nervous, but after a play or two, you're going to be right back to what you've been doing your whole life. Just like I said, just trust that, play confident, and you'll like where you're at.

Q. (Off-mic.)
AMANI ORUWARIYE: I remember it was nerve-wracking, my first road game, playing my first game special teams -- I was nervous but I just trusted that and tried to make plays.

Q. James was here earlier and told us how much of a stickler he is of having a clean locker room. Are there any stories you can tell us about him getting on guys, and why does that matter?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: I don't know really any stories, but definitely him and our strength staff try to emphasize a clean locker room. Just because we have been blessed with a nice locker room like that and we've just got to be grateful and take care of that.

Then just that kind of transcends to other things, just cleaning your locker room, that goes a long way with the little things in football. We just kind of try to implement that.

Q. We've seen you on the practice field, circled around the kickers at different points. How competitive was that battle and when did it become clear that Jake was the guy that was going to be responsible for kicking field goals?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, we've got a lot of competition, a lot of good kickers, but you know, yeah, Jake's been good. He's been consistent. He's been kind of had his head down and just worked and just tried to perfect his craft. Whenever you do that, and you produce, good things are going to happen.

Q. You guys have been grinding all summer. Talk about what it's like to get back in that stadium on Saturday and how ready you are to hit somebody not wearing a Penn State helmet?
AMANI ORUWARIYE: Yeah, we are excited. We've been training all off-season, all summer, all spring, and all camp, just to be able to go get somebody up. It will be fun to get out there in front of 100,000 fans and show off what we've worked for, so we're all excited for it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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