ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY PRUDENTIAL: PENN STATE VS UTAH

December 31, 2022

Ji'Ayir Brown

Penn State Nittany Lions

Press Conference

Q. What have you been doing?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Media interviews. I'm open for business now. I'm ready now.

Q. After a successful season, what's the bar for success?

JI'AYIR BROWN: This has been a successful season for me. You know, it's hard to get ten wins. It's not easy to win in 2020. I figured that out real early, it's not easy to win, so to get ten wins and be able to accomplish things like that with the Rose Bowl, be here in front of all you guys, having all these media conferences and stuff like that, it's been great. I would say this is a successful season and it's going to continue to bet get better.

Q. Looking back over 15 years, the Utah game --

JI'AYIR BROWN: The biggest win this season? I'd just say, the most important win had to be the first bun against Purdue. I feel like that game right there got the ball rolling. Kind of identified who we were and who we could be. A lot of key plays and a lot of key plays happened in that game that it could have went left or it could have went right. I think Purdue set the bar for us and allowed us to keep rolling this season.

Me personally, I knew it was going to be a ten-win season --

Q. Them.

JI'AYIR BROWN: And Purdue is a great team, don't get me wrong. Purdue is a great team.

I'm definitely having fun. It's a great experience. It's a great experience.

Q. Describe the Rose Bowl experience in one word.

JI'AYIR BROWN: Magnificent.

Q. What's been your favorite part of the week so far?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Lawry's.

Q. What's got the best James Franklin impression?

JI'AYIR BROWN: I do.

Q. Can you show it to us?

JI'AYIR BROWN: My James Franklin impression, I don't think y'all want to see it. Ain't nothing to see.

Q. Who is the best dressed on the team?

JI'AYIR BROWN: You talking outside of football? I've got to go with Kalen King.

Q. He said himself as well.

JI'AYIR BROWN: He did? Kalen King. He got it. He got it.

Q. Who on the team wouldn't you let date your daughter?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Definitely be -- that's tough. I definitely wouldn't let Zakee date my daughter. Nowhere close to my daughter.

Q. Sound bite: Tell us about your day.

JI'AYIR BROWN: Right now, we at the Rose Bowl Media Day. You know, we having fun. We turning up, answering questions, doing interviews. It's a magnificent experience. We're very blessed to be here, very appreciative of the Rose Bowl for bringing us here and let's go get this W.

We been up here for a minute.

I feel like I should talk into here at the same time, you think so? Can you hear me like that? All right.

Q. What's it like being out at Disneyland?

JI'AYIR BROWN: My first time at Disneyland, period. First time in L.A. It's been a nice experience. You know, just taking it all in, my last time with the guys. Appreciating the coaching staff. Spending more time with them than usual this week. Just that transition from college to training that every player go through, you just trying to live and remember as many memories as you can and enjoy the times you've got with the people you know, and knowing that it's coming to an end, it's a bittersweet moment.

Q. How would you describe your season?

JI'AYIR BROWN: MVP season. MVP season.

Q. What would you say is the most fun moment you've had playing this year?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Auburn. Auburn. Going out to the SEC, that crowd, it was a nice crowd. People everywhere, all the orange. It was an Orange Out. Everybody did their version of the White Out this year. Going out to the SEC and getting that win out there was probably the highlight of my season.

Q. If you could sum up the season in a word, what would it be?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Perseverance. Keep going even when things don't look right or things ain't going right, keep going, keep striving, keep digging and eventually it will all work out.

Q. How are you feeling?

JI'AYIR BROWN: I'm feeling excellent, blessed.

Q. What's it going to take to come out and get the win?

JI'AYIR BROWN: I feel like this is a great matchup. Both teams are tough, physical. So I think the most physical team in this game is going to win. Whoever -- you know, both teams are going to come out strong. Whoever can take the most punches and still stand at the end of the game is going to win this game.

Q. Talk about your individual performance. What do you think you're going to need to do in order to elevate the team?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Just follow the game plan. Keep doing what I've been doing all season, listening to coach Manny, listening to Coach Dex and following their game plan and what they set and just believing in the scheme and executing when the ball come my way.

Q. What's been the highlight of your season thus far?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Auburn. Auburn.

Q. Why do you say that?

JI'AYIR BROWN: I think, you know, I showed versatility with Auburn with the strip sack and I had about eight tackles with the pick and the game. It was a game where I could say that was a highlight of my season.

Q. Can you use that as a steppingstone?

JI'AYIR BROWN: I really don't pay attention to it. Honestly I didn't think that was the best I could have played. I know I've got so much more potential left. That's the reason I didn't came back this year is there's just so much more left in the tank and I know I can be better than what I was that game and I've just been getting better every day. Just keep getting better. I'm learning new things, and you could never know too much. So just keep learning, keep growing as a player, and you're going to keep getting better with that process.

Q. What would you say to all your friends and family coming to the game?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Come Rose Bowl day?

Q. Just shout-out?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Shout-out to my mom, absolutely, my biggest fan. Haven't missed a game, ever, in my career. She's out in L.A. right now. My brother, my sisters, my former coaches, my trainer back home, my whole family been my biggest supporters since day one since I was in high school. Helped me get here. Helped guide me through this way. Helped keep me on the right path and that's who I'm giving the biggest thanks to.

Q. You're a northeast kid?

JI'AYIR BROWN: Yeah, yeah.

Q. You're coming all the way across the country?

JI'AYIR BROWN: All the way.

Q. This is a game with a lot of history and I'm sure a lot of games you've watched in your childhood. Expand on your thoughts on the Rose Bowl, maybe before this was announced and your thoughts as a kid growing up.

JI'AYIR BROWN: The tradition of this game is big. You know, there's a lot of great plays who played in this game, a lot of great teams who played in this game and a lot of great coaches who coached in this game. Growing up as a kid, everyone watched this game growing up as a kid just because of the tradition and culture of the Rose Bowl.

To be here in front of all you guys and playing in this stadium come Monday is just a dream come true. I get to be one of those great plays who played in the Rose Bowl and a part of one of those great teams who played in the Rose Bowl.

Just taking it all in. You know, and really recognizing where I'm at right now because this game is big. This is big time, all across the country, and to come out with a win in this game would be above and beyond for me.

Q. How do you balance that, the history, and making sure you're dialed in for the team and with the game plan?

JI'AYIR BROWN: It's so tough to balance it. Like, it's so tough to balance the emotions of where you're at and the emotions of the game and the focus you've got to have, the attention to detail you've got to have during the game.

So you know, that's why you come up here for a week. You know, you come up here for a week and you get a chance to let all the emotions flow and then when it comes, you know, days like today, like Saturday, two days before the game, you pretty much start to dial in and really put your focus into the game and the game plan and try not to let your emotions get the best of you out there when you're playing in front of all those people.

Q. You're a versatile player.

JI'AYIR BROWN: Absolutely.

Q. When you come out of the box -- blitzes a lot, sack fumble last time, how does that matchup with a team who is so versatile on the offensive end, does that make you feel like you're more valuable in this game or do you dial it back a little bit?

JI'AYIR BROWN: It's just, you know, so many ways you can impact the game. You know, this game, what we try to do is line me up to where we think schematically I will fit against Utah.

So you're going to see me a lot in this game bouncing around at high safety, in the box, at rushing off edge. You're going to see a lot of that, just to keep teams guessing on what you can do to the defense where -- wherever I'm at, go away from where I'm at, you really can't do that because I'm playing in every position, if that makes sense to you.

Q. Utah's offense, the RPOs, how does that change -- based on the offenses you've seen this year.

JI'AYIR BROWN: We've seen offenses like this before. They do a lot of unique stuff. I believe they believe in their scheme just as much as we believe in ours.

What I like about Utah is they are going to run what they run. They are going to come out with what they have been running all season and what's been working for them. I don't see why they wouldn't come out with that kind of stuff, and it's up to us to put the right scheme together and put the players that we have in the right places on the field and take advantage of those opportunities that we get when we get out there on the field come Monday.