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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 3, 2019

Brent Pry

University Park, Pennsylvania

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Q. Where do you think the leadership on your side of the ball will come from, and is it a concern at all?
COACH BRENT PRY: I was just talking with somebody outside. We may not have as many guys in a leadership position this particular season. Not as much age and experience, but we have a chance to have longer leadership than we've had the last couple years. I don't think it's about the number of guys; it's about the type of guys and their ability to lead and I think we have got a couple of really good candidates right now.

I think camp is one of those -- probably the most important time where that leadership shows itself and guys are put to the test. There's hard conversations that have to happen. There's a lot of adversity and so your potential leaders, that's when they really emerge and have a chance to prove and to earn that respect and that position.

Q. Wondering as you looked at the trends from last year, as well as you guys played at times there were some fourth quarters where things kind of got a way from you. Have you gotten your finger on how to fix that and maybe what led to it?
COACH BRENT PRY: Yeah, I think obviously we've talked on our side of the football about being finishers. A closer's mentality. Some things that go into that. You know, it's not something that we ignored or pretended didn't exist. We did try and identify why it occurred. Sometimes we were able to in particular games and others we weren't. But more than anything, I want to make sure we have the right mindset. To have a lead in the fourth quarter and give it up is upsetting, for all of us.

I think I've mentioned this in the past: Cam Brown immediately following the Citrus Bowl in the locker room, kind of addressed the kids, addressed the team and talked about that type of trait, being a finisher and where we fell short and what we could have accomplished if we had closed out some games. So it's been something that has been talked about in our room since the Bowl game.

Q. Here is a question for but Micah returning kicks, what's the risk there, because there was a linebacker here a handful of years ago put back there, got hurt and was out awhile, Hodges. So what are the risks of having a player that's that important to your defense, possibly back there on what's one of the more violent units on football, which is kickoff return?
COACH BRENT PRY: First of all, we want to do whatever we need to do to win games. If Micah can help us kickoff return, and then we want him to do that and he wants to do that -- he may be a little more passionate about actually catching the ball than blocking somebody, but you know, he's committed to special teams. We want all our starters to have a role, to be involved on a team or two. I think that's very important.

We emphasize special teams here more than any place I've ever been, and that starts at the top with James, and I feel we've got a great special teams coordinator with Joe, some of the things he's doing, really has the kids excited. They want to be part of it and that includes Micah.

Micah did a lot of things in high school with the football, returning kicks, playing tailback. He blocked a lot of kicks. First one down on kickoff. There's a lot of things that Micah can do.

It's our job as coaches to make sure we don't just throw him in the fire and we don't put too much on his plate. He's obviously a guy that can rush the quarterback and do things that way, and you know, he had his -- he had his hands full last year just learning linebacker. As he's able to do more, and have success, then we'll ask a little more of him.

But we're prepared and he's prepared if he can help us in any special teams area, we want to do that.

Q. Is he your punter now, too?
COACH BRENT PRY: He can't punt. Jan Johnson can punt. And snap and play quarterback.

Q. Curious about Yetur, if you had much contact with him while he was home over the summer and huh has he looked since he's been back?
COACH BRENT PRY: First of all, we're very close with Yetur and his family, ever since the recruiting process, coach Spencer, myself, Coach Franklin, that's been a healthy, strong relationship for a lot of years.

So I was not surprised to see him back in action yesterday, just, you know, looking like Yetur. He's got an incredible motor. He runs very well. He's got tremendous worth ethic. It was great to have him back.

Certainly we spoke often through the summer. He's an important part of what we want to do here and what we've done here.

Q. Shaka Toney, do you think he can be more of a three-down guy this year? And in your reference to leaders earlier, is he one of the guys you were thinking about?
COACH BRENT PRY: Yeah, I think that's a really good question. Everybody wants to talk about Shaka as a specific-down guy. I don't see that anymore. He's always understood leverage very well, and now that he's put some weight on and some strength and has a little more experience on early downs, I think he's got a chance to be a complete end this year, absolutely. He's got one of the strongest voices in our locker room. Guys really respect Shaka. He's a very intelligent young man, and I think he's setting himself up for a very good year.

Q. Last year we saw Micah Parsons and Jesse play as true freshman, at linebacker; do you expect those guys (freshmen) to play or what's your thought process moving forward?
COACH BRENT PRY: Yeah, two talented young guys, both have good work ethic, and have size to play as freshmen. They both early enrolled, which helps that. You know, we have a history here of playing true freshmen at linebacker, and those guys have set themselves up for that. It's too early to tell. We've had one practice, but those guys are both in contention to play as freshmen, certainly.

Q. Your safety position, Lamont Wade, what development has he made in the off-season? And bringing in Brisker about a month ago, what does he bring to the defensive backfield that wasn't present before he was on campus?
COACH BRENT PRY: Wade is playing his best football right now. He had a great winter, really good spring, had a good summer. I mean, he's closer than he's ever been to reaching his potential. He's an enthusiastic player. He brings a lot of energy to practice, and so I'm super excited about what Lamont is doing right now.

We have a lot of competition at a bunch of positions, and that's one of them, and brisker certainly brings a high degree of talent and length and speed. He's got some corner qualities that tackles like a safety. You know, it's still early going. He's been on campus for, you know, a couple of weeks and he's had one practice. But being an older guy and playing at Lakawanda (ph) and evaluating him as a junior college player gives us a little better idea of what we're getting than a guy straight out of high school.

So you know, excited about him. We've got some good competition at both safety spots, and like any of the positions on our defense, these guys, they may be on that depth chart at Sam one day but there may be merit to moving him to will the next just based on putting your best guys out there. We're not going to let positions-specific qualities limit us putting our best 11 out there. We'll have to fix that as coaches.

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