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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 13, 2018

Antonio Shelton

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. Coach Franklin just told us he thinks the guy maybe a little overlooked now is Kevin Givens. He said he's killing it. Not necessarily showing it up on the stat sheet. Can you give us insight sharing the position what he's doing that's helping the rest of the defensive line?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Yeah, Kevin's one of those guys like he's one of the most athletic people I've ever seen. It's kind of scary. You don't expect someone to be that big and strong and at the same time be athletic. But a lot of things that Kevin does he sets other guys up to be successful.

Like last week, there's this play where the backside, he's on the left side. The right guard pulled and he knocked his guard into the pulling guard and it completely messed the play up, ended up going for a TFL. Little things like that Kevin does he's always in the right position doing his job that allows the defense to play how we play.

Q. Feel like right now more than ever across the board everyone's doing their job up front?
ANTONIO SHELTON: The majority of the time, yeah. I mean most of the time -- like you're never going to be 100 percent right during a game. But definitely I think over the course of the season we've definitely cut down on MAs and everybody's a lot more accountable.

Q. Seems the pass defense has found its stride over the past few games, how does the defensive line and secondary work together to get to that point?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Well, the longer that they can cover for, the longer we have to get to the quarterback. So we kind of work hand in hand but the energy and the defense we always say it starts with us. We try to bring it every single Saturday, because we know it goes back through the linebackers and through the secondary. The secondary has been playing great all season. So you know they give us time to do our job and we make their job a lot easier if we can get to the quarterback.

Q. Last week Jan Johnson said that Micah has been growing at linebacker and getting his fits better. Getting into the gaps, his responsibilities. As a defensive lineman, can you kind of feel that a guy being comfortable back there at linebacker?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Yeah, definitely. You can kind of just see it just like -- we get a play call, somebody doesn't get the call, we ask Micah what the call is. You can kind of just sense that he's a lot more comfortable back there just from playing in games and just gaining experience through more film study or getting with the older guys in the linebacker room, just following the example really. He's just getting a lot more comfortable on the field.

When he's more comfortable he can play better. I don't want to say necessarily better, but he can play how he's playing without thinking about things, because when you think about things on the field most of the time you kind of slow down. You don't do your job as much. But when he's able to do that, it allows everybody else to play great.

Q. When do you think that clicks for him, when you can go to him and say, hey, what's the play and he's got it. Was there a game or whatever that you think it really clicked for him?
ANTONIO SHELTON: I couldn't necessarily point to a singular moment. But I think it's just collectively over time Coach Pry is always hammering on everybody. You've got to be accountable. Gotta know your job. That's the number one thing. If you don't know your job, on offense or defense, you can't play. So not to say that Micah never knew his job, but I think it's just collectively just seeing things over and over again, start to recognize this is just gaining experience.

Q. I've got to tell you your retweet of Audrey's bobsled Cool Runnings that was very funny.
ANTONIO SHELTON: The receivers, they're funny. Especially K.J., I've known K.J. for a little while. He went to IMG with one of my best friends. That's how I got to know him. But the receivers, they're a funny group.

Q. How much help or guidelines do you guys get as far as your social media use and do you follow Coach Franklin?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Yeah, I follow Coach Franklin, obviously. But standard, be cautious, there's things that we've seen just from guys, specifically in college football, like you go to the pros and all of a sudden somebody digs up a tweet that you tweeted from like 2012.

You can make -- somebody can make the excuse like however old. But still going to be held accountable for those things. And Chris does a great job. Coach Franklin does a great job. Everybody always says just be careful on social media because like what's the point really of being negative on the Internet. Just things like that. We always listen to it.

Q. When you look at Rutgers' offensive line, they've surrendered only 12 sacks, second lowest in the conference. What do you see from them on film and what do you guys have to do to kind of get home this week the way you did with Wisconsin?
ANTONIO SHELTON: I know that you said the second-most in the conference in sacks given up I think. Least, that's what I meant. I'm sorry. I know they get the ball out quick. They tend to get the ball out quick. They've got a great running back as well. So they tend to use him a lot. He's real dynamic. Put him anywhere he can be in the slot, be in the backfield. I think as far as the "D" line, if we just do our job within the framework of defense, the plays will just have them, you just gotta trust it.

Q. When asked about two teammates, Franklin says PJ Mustipher played by far his best game of the season on Saturday. And Yetur looked like every game he was a little more extra attention from the offense's game plan. Two guys assigned to him on several plays. When he gets that kind of attention, even if he's not the one making plays, how does that help the rest of the guys on the defensive front?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Well, starting first with PJ, PJ had a fantastic week of practice last week. And I mean as a young guy, as a freshman, getting into the rotation is extremely hard. Because I mean especially playing in the Big Ten, it's just specifically in the east. You are playing somebody every week. You can't take a week off. And I think PJ's done a great job of really leaning on us, as older guys, because it's like we've seen this before, here's what to expect.

Since he got here, he's really like listened to us. He doesn't take things personal. All he really focuses on is coming out and getting better. I think that's what we all focus on. And with Yetur, I mean, goose is just a beast. I don't know what to say. But I mean obviously they're going to focus a little bit more attention on him, possibly, in the game plan. But I mean if it frees the rest of us up or some of us up, that's fine. I don't really think about those kind of things too much. We just really just go out there and play, honestly.

Q. Going off that Yetur stuff, what's the most impressive thing you've seen him do whether in game, practice, on film, because apparently quite a few freakish moments?
ANTONIO SHELTON: I don't know. Yetur is one of those people where like he does things that shouldn't work and they work. Like him and Shane are like weirdly athletic people. Him and Shane and Daniel are like -- it's ridiculous. Like Coach Spence makes a joke that Daniel is part slinky, how he can bend. Like we're watching in practice and it shouldn't -- looks like any normal human being will fall, even if you're an athlete. They just don't. They just make plays happen. It's kind of ridiculous.

I mean, he just comes out and he plays extremely hard. He's always -- if you watch his high school tape, he was like see ball, get ball. He still has that. But he's also taking the coaching very well. And he's refined his skills a lot. So when you take that refining of his skills and he still has that mentality, then it translates to the field and that's how he plays.

Q. Did you watch his high school film at some point before he got here or when he got here?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Yeah, sometimes if we're all just hanging out together and we're bored we'll pull somebody's high school tape up. Or like somebody will be talking about high school or like, oh, my school is going to the state championship and it's like okay. And then that's the topic of discussion we pull up old embarrassing recruiting photos when everybody used to look like a baby. Or we'll pull up each other's high school tape so we can laugh at each other.

But if you watch it, his first play, I think it was from like a scrimmage or something, he like ran like 70 yards to catch this dude and like made the play. And I don't know what down it was, but defensive end, you don't normally expect people to be able to do that.

Q. Shareef Miller is one of the guys who came in to the season with high expectations, how has he lived up to that and how has he helped some of the younger guys on the defensive line as a leader?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Shareef, honestly, is like my big brother, honestly. I think he's like that for a lot of people. Him and Torrence right now, like I can honestly say those are the two guys that I mainly lean on. Reef brings the same thing every single day. And that's one of the things I paid attention to specifically going into like this camp and I was just watching Reef just watching film on him, watching how he works out. He brings the same exact mentality to everything. And it's because he wants to be great.

And when you can surround yourself with people like that, you know, it makes you want to be better. So just being around Reef and him being older than me and just his leadership and he's not as vocal, but I'm a little more vocal than he is. So he'll give me a message and then I can like portray it like when we circle up and do the chant before the games and things like that. But Reef definitely brings the same amount of intensity day in, day out and that consistency shows up on Saturday.

Q. You mentioned sometimes going back and looking at high school film on guys when they're recruits and whatnot. Do you remember ever watching Micah's film, because obviously he was a D end in high school?
ANTONIO SHELTON: No, I don't think I ever have. I don't think I ever have. But I remember when he got here because he came in early. So that's spring ball. He was making like plays like nobody should make. It was ridiculous. And I'm like oh. Obviously I knew who he was because everybody knew who he was just like around the country because how big his name was coming out of high school. I was like, oh, this makes sense. I could see how people were tripping about him.

Q. Check out his running back highlights.
ANTONIO SHELTON: He played running back? Are you serious? I know he would go to camps and play receiver and safety for the fun of it.

Q. Best kid on the playground kind of thing. Now, when it comes to this defense overall, last year you knew that regardless of how well you played you were going to lose a huge chunk of veterans; they were going to move on with their careers, with their lives, is there something special about the way this defense has developed knowing that so many of this core is going to be back not just next year but a couple of years ahead potentially, is that something that excites you?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Yeah, honestly, being able to play with the same amount, the same -- the same group of guys for as long as you can. I mean, you can only get closer. It's just through shared experience honestly that you go coach there on defense.

As far as losing the older guys I think the reason why we are the way we are is because of them. Because we followed their example. Because when I was in high school I was watching Zettel and A.J. the way they played and I was like wow, that's it. I want to be like that. And then I get here my freshman year and up to last year I'm watching Parker and Curt play. And I'm like wow, that's it. And then the season ends and both of those guys are gone and I was like now you have to do something. Like it's time, like no more time for watching. Like you have to contribute to this team. And it kind of gave -- you could look at any position like Trap, DeMarcus, Grant, before that just Smooth in the secondary. Smooth is Jordan Smith. Sorry. Malik. Guys like that. Jason, Nyheim, B. Bell, watching those guys playing, it's like we have to be like that. We have to at least play up to that standard and the closer we all are, the more we get to play together, I think the better we'll perform.

Q. You have rituals and handshakes, who has the best one, because some of them can look pretty lengthy?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Best handshake, me and Ryan Bates, period. All right, it started -- I can't remember why we started. I think I went up to him and said we don't have a handshake. And it just -- so from week-to-week we add something on. So this is, what, week 11 now. So now we have 11 pieces to one handshake now. And I don't see everybody else's. Like the big guys we don't normally see like the receivers and DBs and those guys. Normally we see those guys because we're just not out there like warming up, we come out last. Hands down, me and Bates, period.

Q. I see you're listed as a journalism major, what are your goals there and it seems as if you kind of enjoy this sort of thing. Some players don't enjoy press conferences. Do you enjoy it?
ANTONIO SHELTON: Well, first of all, I like talking a lot. Kind of got me into a little bit of trouble when I was a freshman. Not like trouble, trouble, but just like, yo, this dude talks too much.

But no, I enjoy this kind of stuff. A lot of times people can like misinterpret what you say. So I like to actually say what I mean, you guys can kind of get a better understanding of me. But as far as journalism goes, always know -- I noticed in high school that I was really good at writing papers and things like that.

One of my teachers, Ms. Polito. Shout out, Ms. Polito. She was always critical of my papers and essays I would write. She helped me refine my skills and was basically like a coach. And when I first got here, I was like, what am I going to do? I like working out. So let's be a kinese major, I took one kinese class and I realize it wasn't for me. I'm not good at science. It's not going to work. I had to tailor things to my strength and I'm really artistic. I'm creative. I like to write. I was like what can I do with that, journalism was that. And then I never got really a lot of media attention or was a part of anything that got a lot of media attention until I got here. I was like I guess this will work.

Q. Going off the pregame rituals we see you pumping up the defense every game back in the corner. What are some of the things that you say, what are some of your go-tos, what does that mean to you?
ANTONIO SHELTON: First of all, I'm a very energetic person. I'm like not right now but I can be. But on Saturday -- Coach Pry says the same thing to me every Saturday. It's like we do -- we warm up and stuff. It's always like the same old pump up stuff like let's go. I could do an impersonization of him but I don't want to deal with it later.

He just says the same thing and I say the same thing back. I'm like, Coach, I'm all one every Saturday. You know that. And I have to play this game with an extreme amount of passion, because that's just who I am. If I can't have fun, like Drake said the moment I start having fun with it I'll be done with it.

So if I can't have fun doing this, it's just -- it's not as fulfilling. And I want everybody else around me to be on the same like wavelength that I'm on. So the more energy that I think that I can bring specifically to my unit, as the "D" line, I know it will help the entire team, because if the "D" line plays good the linebackers play good. If the linebackers play good the secondary plays good. That means the whole defense is playing good which means the offense gets the ball back more often, because more opportunities to score.

So it's just things like that. And I think that's one of my roles on the team. Like I watched Marcus and everybody knows how much energy that Marcus has. Like at all times. And I was like, okay, I can be that. But I just have to wait until the time is right. And now the time is right. So I bring the energy as much as I can as far as what I say, I can't say it in here, I'll get in trouble, but the general message is we have to play like we're capable of playing. That's basically it.

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