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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 20, 2018

Nick Scott

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. I just asked Trace this so I want to pose it to you, as well. How would you like yourself and this senior class to be remembered? What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind?
NICK SCOTT: That's a good question. Just based off my experience and all the things I've seen in this program, I'd say one of the biggest things I'd like to the senior class to be remembered as is a group of guys who are extremely hard-working.

You know, took care of their business on the field as well as off the field and also, you know, were a huge part of this growing process, this rebuilding process of putting Penn State back as a top contender or in the conversation each year.

Q. What have you seen on tape of the Maryland running back, McFarland, the kid who had pretty big weeks the last two weeks?
NICK SCOTT: Right. He's obviously extremely talented, extremely athletic.

The thing he does well that you want out of any running back is his ability to make precise cuts. He can break arm tackles and when he gets in the open field, he has the speed to take it the distance.

Q. Who are going to be the most emotional guys in that tunnel on Saturday?
NICK SCOTT: I think I might be up there to be honest. I'm a pretty emotional guy. I ride off of my emotions and things like that, especially times like these when something is coming to the end for me.

Other than myself, I can see Koa Farmer being pretty emotional. That's my roommate. I know him pretty well. He's kind of a softy. I think he'll be right beside me trying to fight back some tears.

Q. Do you think he'll be happy hearing you say that he's a softy?
NICK SCOTT: Well, I try to lighten it up a little bit because I am, too. There's nothing wrong with that. He plays extremely hard and he's not a softy on the field, so I think he should be okay.

Q. On a serious note about Koa, how has he handled the situation where there's this heavily-hyped freshman in the world behind him, but how has he balanced that? I'm sure that can't be an easy thing for a veteran guy.
NICK SCOTT: The best thing that he's been doing so far is just, you know, worrying about him. Obviously there's a lot of hype around Micah and things like that, and Micah is extremely talented. So is Koa.

And you know, Koa has just blocked it all out. He's been a tremendous resource to Micah and helping Micah out. You could see Koa is constantly coaching him up and trying to make Micah better because Koa cares a lot about this team and this team in the future, and that's just the type of, you know, guys we have on this team, very unselfish.

It's obviously a very competitive environment, here at Penn State, but at the end of the day, guys want to see this team be successful. I know Koa has been busting his hump every day to be the starter and he's earned that role and has been doing a great job, and at the same time, he's been developing the younger guys, as well.

Q. When you get to the end of a college career, do you think when you're thinking back on all the years, do the good plays bubble up first? Do the ones that you want back come up first? What have been the ends of the spectrum of that, with a play that you are most fond of and one maybe you wish you could have back?
NICK SCOTT: Honestly, when myself or a lot of guys, they look back at these past couple years playing football here, the things that come to mind first are the memories I've had with my teammates outside of football or the jokes we've played in the locker room and things like that.

In term of specific plays, everybody has a couple plays they wish they had back, but the lasting memories or the most important ones are the relationships that we build, the things that we learned here from Coach Franklin and from each other.

So yeah, I try not to get into all the plays I wish I would have made and try not to ride the highs of the plays that I did make, because football is a game of up and down. It's just a game at the end of the day.

Q. I'll bite. What are some of the best jokes in the locker room that you can share?
NICK SCOTT: I would say freshman year, just any time Anthony Zettel was doing anything that had to do with karate.

I remember one time he had placed a bottle, I believe, on top of a locker or something, and he like round house kicked it off and it came about this close to nobody other than Saquon Barkley's face. You can imagine what it would have been like if we were unable to have Saquon over something like that.

But those are funny times. Those are things we'll talk about the rest of our lives together. That was in camp before anyone knew who Saquon was or what he can do.

Q. Going off of that, your fondest memories with Trace, is there one that stands out on or off the field?
NICK SCOTT: Oh, that's a good question. Got to rejog my memory a little bit.

I would say Ireland, when we all went to Ireland my freshman year as a team. You know, all the freshmen, we were redshirting, so we were pretty much doing our own thing together, and the stakes weren't necessarily as high throughout the week for us.

We had a lot of fun times. I remember we were riding, I think it's the double-decker buses we were on top of the buses, and we were just having a fun time. You know, people were yelling at us and saying hello and we were waving back, and getting people to do funny things.

It was a lot of fun and I was with Trace while we were doing that, Marcus Allen, all those personalities. So we were having a good time in Ireland together for sure.

Q. Do you guys feel old at this point? You're probably 22, 23?
NICK SCOTT: 23, yeah.

Q. And you probably have some teammates who are 18.
NICK SCOTT: Yeah, for sure. I definitely feel like a grandfather in the locker room. I think I've said it before. I'm an old head. I'm even a little old for my grade so it adds on to the fact.

I look at that as kind of like a blessing because I'm able to pass on the knowledge that I have of this game and just my experience of being a college athlete, a period in terms of my social life and everything like that, that's valuable information that you can pass on to guys coming up.

Q. Do you think Koa is overlooked in what he's brought to the program in the last four or five years? Trace said he thought he was a little overlooked.
NICK SCOTT: I would say probably to the naked eye, yeah, people that don't know much about the program or don't know exactly what he's been through specifically. Yeah, I think for sure, fans can overlook the value he's brought.

In terms of the people in our program, everybody has the utmost respect for Koa. Our coaches know the tremendous amount of sacrifice he's gone through, just like a lot of people here, coming all the way from California, to really just try to be the best in the environment where he knew nothing about.

You add that to the fact that he's changed positions a number of times. Yeah, he's been through a lot, but you know, our coaches and our players, we respect him for that. We know just how much he loves this program and how much he gave to it, and yeah, I only wish that more people could see what he's gone through and give him all the credit that he deserves, but obviously, you know, that's not always the case. Not everybody can see what goes on on the inside.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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