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ROSE BOWL GAME: USC VS PENN STATEDecember 30, 2016Trace McSorleyPasadena, California TRACE McSORLEY: Our main purpose has been to see all the different looks that USC will present to us, being able to react post snap to how that changes, and just going through the game plan on first and second down. Then the third down, how it changes up. And once you get into the red zone, goal line and yardage those areas. Normally week of practice. Just a little bit difference focus on all of the different looks we'll be getting. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I think it's a little bit, thinking back to the journey it's been since that game, kind of how far everything has come, but I haven't really thought too much about it. Just need to be in the moment. Focus on what it might be, practice game, try to be present and be in the moment as much as I can. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Not necessarily, the way I played last year. How big the Rose Bowl is and how iconic it is. Get a little emotional about that, but not how full circle it come, I didn't think too much about that. Q. Where does that come from? TRACE McSORLEY: Kind of something that I always kind of was taught as a kid going up through all of my coaches through high school, and growing up, my dad, my mom. Not letting it get too high or too low, and then I remember there were a couple games, I was too excited, too amped up, and came out with too much juice. Just a mild experience, playing and coaches and my parents. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Not really, there's been Penn State fans that will notice some of us. We were walking around, some guys were at the Laker game last night. And a Penn State family was also at the game, happened to see we had on some Penn State hats, stopped us and talked to us a little bit. It hasn't been too crazy. People are used to see stars in L.A. all of the time. There's a lot of better things around. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I will be active. I don't know if I have a favorite movie. Q. First thing that pops in your head? TRACE McSORLEY: First thing that pops in my head is "Remember the Titans". Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: If we are the ones winning the game, that's all I care about. I'm not sure, I haven't seen the new "Rogue One" yet. I don't know why, it wasn't the same to me as the last ones I had seen. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: There is such a special time between games. You are used to throughout the entire season, you have four, five games in between games where you're practicing and doing game prep stuff. You had a day off, then you're right back into the game. So, I think you're out of that kind of groove. You're not practicing every day. You get some time off. I think that might be why you see that kind of happen. I think the best way for you to avoid that is on your days off, you're not playing on the field. You're mentally preparing. You're watching film. You're going through the game plan and you're familiarizing yourself with that. And then once you get on the field, you're getting everything, full speed reps, getting back to full speed, you're practicing hard. Trying to get great looks. Once you get into the game, you're not surprised by the speed of it. You're not still rusty or whatever you might say it is. You're ready to go and you don't have any kind of letdown. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I haven't watched much of Sam. I know he's a tremendous player, big guy, strong arm. I just haven't watched much of their offense. I know they are an explosive offense. I have not watched specific plays, specific games. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: For us to send these seniors out on the right note, would be kind of the perfect ending to this season for us. These seniors have gone through so much as a group. They were here when the stations came out, they were freshman. Being with this program through all that, sticking with it through all those years, I think it would be an awesome ending for these guys, to honor them and their commitment to this program and kind of where they're able to take this program from where it was at, probably its darkest time, to now Rose Bowl champion within five years. I think that would be the ultimate kind of storybook ending for those guys. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Disneyland was pretty fun. We went there a couple days ago. I'd say that was the favorite thing, riding roller coasters in the heart of the theme park. Just riding roller coasters and having fun. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: He's a fun guy to be around. He's interesting. Sometimes you're not sure what you're going to get with them. I love the dude. He's always fun to be around. Always makes things fun and keeps things light hearted. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Knowing the type of player he is, how explosive he is, how much of a problem he can be. On the defensive side of the ball, knowing how he can affect you, how he plays certain coverages, and plays routes. Not necessarily focusing on his side or trying to stay away from it, just knowing where he's at and kind of having that in your mind. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah. Our receiver, the blocking was one thing. They came into the year as a unit. Where they felt they could really improve and step their game up as a receiving corps, so they work on just blocking technique, in practice each day. You know, pre practice, before we get into individual drills and stuff like that, they are going through blocking drills, you know, make sure they're staying in front of guys. It's definitely been big efforts for them. And then coach guys here, always talked to my teammates, doing everything you can by trying to help your team by making a big play. I think that's been a big part of it. Now we're seeing receivers running 20, 30 yards down the field trying to get the extra block to spread the running back so you can get into the end zone. That's a big part of it, too. Just how we're playing this year, playing with passion and playing with each other is kind of a big part of it, too. Q. (No microphone). TRACE McSORLEY: No problem. Yeah, Virginia, Northern Virginia. I'm north Loudoun County, Ashburn, out there, yeah. Where in Virginia beach you from? Okay. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm two hours north of Madison. Yeah, I'm right there. One of my first recruits went to JMU. That was one of the first places I went to. A bunch of my friends, places like a lot of guys in my high school, a lot of my friends go there. That's a big -- that's a big school. Three, four hours there. Almost, same thing. Yeah, I have a lot of fun. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: It's kind of fun being here, being at the Rose Bowl, something you dream about as a kid, especially when you have folks wanting to play college ball. Coming to a PAC-12 school, being in the Rose Bowl is a tremendous trip so far. We're doing new things, getting into practice, just getting into the game. I'm excited for the game and ready to go. Q. You come into the game with a nine-game winning streak -- TRACE McSORLEY: After we started off 2-2, and we lost to Michigan, everyone almost had a pit in their stomach, knowing we kind of got blown out by Michigan. We didn't want to have that happen again. We knew we needed to make a change, whether it was something that we were doing, and a lot of what we decided to do is look towards our preparation and kind of how we were preparing for games from a mental standpoint. And we started off -- Mondays are kind of our off days. So on Mondays, me, Brian Gaia, Godwin, DaeSean, Andrew Nelson and a couple other guys, kind of got together after the Michigan game and started doing these player runs and film sessions where we get as many guys as we could on the offensive side of the ball, watching as a unit. So we were getting guys in on Mondays before we got into game plan on Tuesdays, our first real practice on Tuesday. So guys would be able to know where we'd be going, have an idea how we might block up certain runs, how to protect, what kind of routes we'd be running. That was the biggest thing, we change up our preparation from a mental standpoint. And then once you got on the field, just kind of took the urgency and energy that we had out of practice. It was completely different from the first four weeks to the last nine weeks. So I think those are the two biggest factors of how we were able to kind of flip the switch on the season and really get the ball rolling these last nine games. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, our offensive line has done a great job for us, especially how we push the ball down field a good bit. We've got to give our receivers time outside to work. Our offensive line has done a tremendous job providing time for the quarterbacks to set back in the pocket and make the read and for our receivers to work down field. They've also done a tremendous job in the run game. Our offensive line, we go through them and they've done a tremendous job this last nine games. Q. With everything that goes into a game, how (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Stay in the moment. Not let anything get to be too much. Just stay in the present, wherever you're at. If you're at -- if we're at Disneyland, being there and having fun, and enjoying that. And you're out of practice, you're in meetings, focus there, paying attention in meetings. At practice you're going through each drill like it's a game day rep, things like that. Just staying present and staying in the moment. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I'm real excited. There's a lot of stuff, you start playing football because you love it. That's what I'm most excited about. Now you come and play the game you love in one of the biggest stages in football. I think the Rose Bowl has been such an iconic game. There's so much history here. To be able to step on that field and kind of be in that group of teams that played in the Rose Bowl, it's a tremendous honor and definitely real excited for it. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Not too much. Being on complete opposite coasts, most of the games we get on TV out there, they are east coast games, or something like that. So didn't get to see too much of them throughout the year. And then towards the end of the year, they started to make -- be on the same surge we have, started winning games. And I think after that, I heard -- most days they started getting national attention, that's when I started hearing more and more about them. Obviously after the game, getting in the game plan and stuff like that. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah. The biggest thing that jumps off the preliminary with him is how athletic he is. He could play so many different routes because of how athletic he is. He's one of those guys that you talk about the guy that can shut down half the field. He's kind of in that same category with how athletic he can be. He can be covering one route and jump the cover another one right after that. He's very savvy with that. He understands route concepts and he knows how to play them. I think the type of athlete he is, just how savvy he is, those are two things that jump out off the film. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I don't have too many actual expectations. I'm expecting I'll be blown away by it. There will be something that I'll get chills walking through the tunnel and walking on the field. I think back and remember all of the games that are played in the Rose Bowl, how even sitting on my couch as a kid, looking at how amazing the Rose Bowl game was, just to be watching on TV. And now to have an opportunity to be actually stepping on to that field as a player, I'm tremendously excited and probably be blown away by it. Q. (No microphone) does it make it that much sweeter? TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, I think it does make it sweeter, everything I've gone through. Tough times, as far as Penn State's program over the last five years. Really for these seniors, they were redshirt freshman, true freshman when all of the sanctions were coming out. The school was getting hit hard by all of that. For those guys, in the five years they've been with the team, to go from the darkest time in Penn State history to now having a chance to compete and possibly be a Rose Bowl champion in that final game, you see how things have changed. It's kind of a storybook ending for these guys. For these seniors, it's a tremendous game for them. I think it would be awesome to send these guys out on the right note. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: It's awesome being here. Never get this opportunity again. Just try to take in every moment. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Take in everything and enjoy everything and be present in the moment. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: The Rose Bowl has always been a game that, as a kid, you watch growing up on New Year's Day. And you think how awesome that game is just as a fan, and now as a player, you know, once you start focusing in on football and wanting to play in college, it becomes a dream to play in the Rose Bowl the more you watch it. Now as a player to actually step on the field and competing in the Rose Bowl, it's going to be a tremendous feeling. Be blown away by it, you get chills thinking about it. I'm excited for that moment when you step on the field and you realize you're in the Rose Bowl and you're playing here. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: You know, I think the inspiration will be there, because it's the Rose Bowl. Your blood will be flowing. Blood will be a little warmer. Juices are flowing a little better. Each week we talk about raising our level of preparation during the week. I think that's a benefit for us as far as helping us be on our win streak as we've been. It's another level of preparation, always taking that next step forward. It's been that same kind of mentality. Now it's each week that we've had over this kind of break, you know, raising our preparation week to week, continuing to do that. So once we get into the game, you know, we're stepping that level up again. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I don't know if there's anything in my DNA. It's my teammates and my offensive line, guys outside that make my job easy. Our offensive line blocks, gives us a ton of time, lets our receivers works to get open down field and our receivers make plays. We have a tremendous running back in Saquon. He's a threat, he's going to attract people's eyes and run play action off him. He makes everything in our offense run smoothly. I don't know if it's anything I do personally or anything in my DNA, I think it's all my teammates that just help me. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: First, we have to be as balanced as we can be, completing our shots down the field, making explosive plays and not turning the ball over. USC has an explosive offense. So the more we cannot turn a ball over, keep the ball in our hands and put points on the board for us, I think those are the best ways we will be able to win the game. We need to take care of the ball and win explosive play battle. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I would say my parents, my mom and my dad, just kind of how they raised me growing up. Everything that they kind of put into, you know, wanting me to focus on my dreams to be able to play college ball and accomplish that. Every thing they had to sacrifice. So I think they're really my inspiration when I step on the field, just wanting to make them proud and make them happy. Q. Did your dad play football? TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, he played University of Richmond. He was defensive back. He first taught me about football, taught me about the love of the game. He started playing with me as a kid growing up. Once he got me into football, he was always my coach. He was there. Just having him on the field, he always pushed me and pushed me hard a lot of the times. But I think that helped to prepare me for when I got into high school and into college, when I didn't have my dad as my coach, I had someone else. And coach yelling, that's something I had grown up with. My dad pushed me hard. He taught me toughness. Taught me how to love the game. He definitely helped me throughout. When I wanted to start playing quarterback, he was a defensive back, so he was able -- he looked around and was able to find a quarterback coach, someone to help teach me the position outside of what he was able to teach me. That was also something he was able to do. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Uh-huh. I think I always believed I was the -- I had the ability to play Division I football as a quarterback. And a lot of schools coming after me telling me I'm going to play safety, telling me I'm not going to play quarterback. They don't see me in that role. It put a little chip on my shoulder. It made me work extra harder. Every rep that I took meant that much more to me. So having people telling me that I can't do it put a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: There's a lot more that goes into it, your size as a quarterback, your leadership, your ability, your mental -- how well you are mentally, as far as knowing the game, and knowing that your game plan. So I think there's so many ways that you could overcome the whole size stigma, and then you can't -- there's always been that point, you can't measure the size of somebody's heart. That is something I always try to lean on. You can measure how tall I am, how much I weigh, how big my hands are, whatever it is, but you can't measure someone's heart. That goes for every player in here. This team has a ton of heart and that's been the best thing for us, as far as being an this team. The heart this team has. We've been down by 21 in the Big Ten championship game. The heart of this team, we never quit, we never stopped. That's been something about this entire team, just the heart and soul of this entire team. Q. Over two full years before you actually got to play the game, how did you prepare yourself for that? TRACE McSORLEY: It was tough. I knew I was going to be sitting for a little bit. It was tough once I actually got into it. I was actually sitting on the bench for two years, but I was able to learn behind a great player, Christian. He taught me a lot. And I was always trying to learn as much as I can in the two years from him. And I think that was able to help me at that stage. I was able to learn from him. I was able to bring that out in me this year. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: You know, watching what Saquon can doe with the ball in his hands, everything he does is so impressive. How fast he is, how quick and elusive he is and the type of power he runs with. You know, he can make you miss in a bunch of ways. Obviously people see him jumping over people. He'll make a cut and be going one way, make one cut and in a split second he's making a 90 degree cut and going the other way. How elusive he is, how quick he is and also it's overlooked a lot of times how powerful he is, and how strong he is to be a true sophomore. The type of player he is, the type of strength he plays with and that power is overlooked sometimes. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I'm real excited to be here at the Rose Bowl. It's a game you dream about playing in your entire life. I am just excited to step on that field for the first time, on that beautiful green grass. You know, it's got Penn State and USC in the end zone in the Rose Bowl, the most iconic game in college football. I'm just real excited about it. It's something that you dream about growing up. It's been a great week so far. I had a lot of fun stuff they had us doing. Getting in the game plan, and game week preparations and stuff like that. We're real excited to get in the game practices and start to kind of get that game week feeling again. It's something that we haven't had the last couple of weeks and definitely real excited to get back to it. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: You know, Sam's a tremendous player. He's a big, strong kid. Real athletic. He's more athletic than people give him credit for. He's makes a ton of plays with his feet and creates a lot of problems for defense. I haven't watched too much of him. Mostly what I'm watching now is of their defense. I've been able to see some things they've been doing just watching games and stuff on TV where I can. He's a present guy. He makes a ton of plays and creates a lot of problems for defenses. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: No, he's definitely -- when they were getting our schedule for the week and trying to find some things for us to do and suggestions for us to do during our free time. I know they were asking like what are some good restaurants to go to, what are some fun things to do. He definitely has been a little bit of a tour guide for some people. If there's any questions, a lot of people direct them to Cole, what should we do tonight, what is the fun stuff for us to do. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I think for me going to Disneyland. That's a lot of fun. I am a little kid at heart. I love riding roller coasters and going to theme parks and stuff like that. I think that was probably the most fun for me. And the Beef Bowl, I never had food like that in my life. That's something I always remember and probably never get it again unless I come back to the Rose Bowl. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: It was tremendous having so many different guys that can really attack people in so many different ways there. So versatile. And each guy is really good at different things. We got some guys with more speed. Some guys with possession, some guys just real great route runners. Each guy has a little savviness in and out of the route. There's not one way that you can really focus on trying to defend our receivers because they can present a multitude of issues for you as a defense. That's been able to help us out. You can look at kind of our game. There hasn't been one guy that has constantly big plays. It's really spread out throughout our entire season. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: It's definitely a change from the previous offense, but it's been a ton of fun being in this offense. Coach Moorhead, he's very passionate and brings a ton of energy to our team and to our offense. I think him bringing that energy has given us that same type of energy and that mentality, and the kind of his mentality going into the games, always being in attack mode and taking the shots, I think that's -- us knowing now, he's not going to leave the call on the call sheet that he feels is going to help us with the game or going to be a big play. So we know that as offense. We're excited for it. We see that call come in, and we know this is an opportunity for us to make a big play. We want to go make that play and now it's kind of you're in that rhythm, getting the high tempo going. It helps us out that much more. It's kind of fun to be playing it. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I don't know if it's like playing a video game, but it's definitely a lot of fun. You're out there. You're just playing football. You're not thinking too much. You're out there just playing, you know? Throughout our preparation, just get our thinking done early so when you get on the field you're just playing. You're not thinking. The thinking is done naturally. You're not worried about it. Now you're playing. I think that's the best thing for us. All these guys, offense, defense, special teams, we're out here playing and having fun. We start playing ball because we love it. We've been able to get to back to that this year. We're just having fun and really enjoying it. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: They survive a multitude of looks from an offensive perspective. They do a really good job of mixing it up. It's a look pre snap and then post snap, changing it up, moving it around post snap and giving you a different look for the actual play. Really, that's the biggest thing they do. They pressure you a good percentage of the time, bringing different pressures and bringing it from all over the field not just from a certain area. Really just the multitude of looks they give you and how they can show more being in different coverage and different defense at the snap of the ball. I think that's the toughest part as an offense when you're preparing for a team like that, knowing all of the different looks you can get and knowing how it can change post snap, being real disciplined post snap reads so you're not getting fooled or tricked into anything. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I have not watched on Sam Darnold, watching him play. Everything I've heard about him, there's a lot of similarities, athletic guy. Obviously, stature wise, he's a big dude. He's 6'4", 220, 230, something like that. Obviously a little different there. But he's a tremendous player. He does a lot of things for the defense to create issues. He's got a big, strong arm. He's accurate in his throws. He's athletic and makes plays with his legs and creates issues for the defense. Probably a lot of similarities with his athleticism and stuff like that, yeah. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Coach is always preaching that we stay together as a team. He always talks about this is a family. It's a real cliche thing to talk about in football. Everyone says that. But for us I really do believe we got that family feeling. Everyone here would know these are my brothers and they all have that same feeling. After the two on twos start, I think it was -- Coach Franklin kept preaching stay together, trust the process. As players, we really flipped the switch in our preparation, as far as how we were preparing during the week, the mentality we were bringing into practice ourselves and that kind of switched. And that change is what really helped us to be able to turn our season around and get us on this nine-win streak we're on and be able to end up being in the Big Ten Championship at the end of year and allow us to play in the Rose Bowl. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Coach Franklin, he'll give me the same message every week. His kind of thing is trust the process, stay with that same process. Kind of attacking it with a mentality that's unseen before. That's kind of his mentality, the message that he always gives us. That message remained the same. As players, we really flipped the switch with how we were attacking the process, and now really buying into his message of trusting the process but attacking that process with a passion and with energy that has never been seen before. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah. There's one game where we're coming off the field, and he had boos from the crowd. And to play in that, that really sucks. You're in your home crowd in your home stadium and you hear boos coming from your home fans. That hurts as a player. But, you know, that's how college football is. That's something that you know you're going to have to deal with and something that's going to happen. And, you know, you hear the cheers and people talking about, you know, wanting coach to not be around anymore. It does kind of hurt you as a player, because you put so much hard work into it. You don't ever want to hear things like that. It kind of makes you work a little harder once you start hearing those things. And now it's funny, the same people were doing that are all patting us on the back, telling us congratulations. So it's funny how it all works. It's cool to be where we're at now, hearing people talking about coach, wanting him to not be here, and now we're in the Rose Bowl, playing the most iconic game of college football. It's pretty funny to look to see how everything has changed. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Might have been Minnesota, Temple, or second or third home game. Q. (No microphone). TRACE McSORLEY: Watching Adoree' on film, you really see how athletic he is, how savvy he is as a player, how he can cover so many different routes, how he's able to get into zone coverages and bait the quarterback into making the throw, how he's able to almost cover two routes at once. Really trying to see the type of athlete he is, and how much of an issue it is for defenses. You know, he makes plays. He plays the ball as good as wide receiver. He's probably the best, in my opinion, from what I've seen on film, as a defensive back would play the ball in the air, and making plays when the ball is thrown in his direction. And then once he gets the ball in his hands, he's the type the athlete that can take it to the house and really make you play. So he's a tremendous athlete, got to be someone that you got to know where he's at all at times as far as the coverage goes, how that correlates to how he can play it. Be aware of where he is and not be afraid of it. Respect the type of athlete he is. All respect to him. As I said, he's a tremendous athlete. Probably one of the best athletes in the country and probably one of the best players in the country. You don't win the Jim Thrope Award for no reason. He's deserving of everything he's gotten. Just knowing where he is and being aware of where he is on the field. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I love comedies, I love to laugh. Comedy is my favorite movie genre. I like action movies. All of the superhero movies, all the Marvel movies, I love those. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Q. (No microphone)? TRACE McSORLEY: I don't know if there's really a certain guy I try to be. I try as much as I can to lead by example and lead through my actions, kind of how I'm carrying myself, you know, whether it's off the field or how I am on the field, as to how -- my mentality towards practice and the energy I bring, try and let that flow to the rest of the team. And then obviously you have to be vocal to get to that point. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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