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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE


September 9, 2014


Angelo Mangiro


Q.  Growing up in New Jersey an hour from Rutgers, what was your impression of Rutgers a program coming up and when you started looking at a college for football, was Rutgers ever in the back of your mind at all?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  Yeah, I came up to Penn State and I fell in love with the culture and everything that Penn State stood for during the recruiting process.
So once I saw this place, there's really no other school that I felt like was for me besides here.

Q.  Another New Jersey question.  Were like your friends at Roxbury, were they like Rutgers fans?  Did people watch the games on TV and stuff when you were in high school and middle school?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  Being in New Jersey and Rutgers being a state school, it's around more.  A lot of people from my area do go to Rutgers.
But I was always a college football fan, and my friends were college football fans, so on Saturday, we always tried to watch the big game no matter what the matchup was.  Penn State always seemed to be one of those games that we watched.  Growing up, I usually watched Penn State games, yeah.

Q.  One other thing unrelated to New Jersey.  So I was wondering, when you guys were in the wildcat formation, you're obviously snapping to someone else.  Can you grow through what's different when you guys switched to wildcat and your role in that formation?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  Not much.  I still have to activate the ball on the cadence and get it to the person back there in the proper spot where they can do their job and I can do my job.

Q.  James said the crowd noise is something you guys have worked on since day one of camp.  What's that process and how important is it for you and Christian have that connection that you can hear him?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  It's very important, and Coach blasted the music at practice, makes it very difficult to hear.  Sometimes when you get close to the speakers, you can't hear at all.  Being so close to Christian and being on the same page helps a lot and is crucial for game situations like this.

Q.  How would you describe the typical football Friday night in New Jersey when you were playing, and what do you kind of expect out of the atmosphere out there being it's a night game, Penn State and being that you guys are sitting in such close proximity to one another?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  You mean high school or college Friday night?

Q.  What was the typical Friday night for a high school game out there and what you were used to and then parlaying to what you were expecting out of the college atmosphere this coming weekend?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  I was very fortunate.  I grew up in Roxbury, New Jersey.  It's a big football town, and we sold out, like our bleachers were full every game under Friday night lights.  So in high school, having that experience, I cherished it and I didn't take it for granted.  New Jersey does have loyal football fans.
What was the second part of your question?  Yeah, I expect it to be loud.  We're just going to try hard and prepare the best we can to‑‑ prepare for any atmosphere.

Q.  You mentioned that a lot of people from your high school go to Rutgers, people that you know go to Rutgers.  Have you heard from them at all what this game is importance‑wise to them?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  They have contacted me and just expressed to me their excitement and wished me the best of luck and said they are going to be cheering me on.

Q.  How long did it take you personally to go from celebrating the news yesterday to getting back to Rutgers and prepping for the game?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  Yeah, we had a team meeting and I embraced my teammates.  I was a freshman when everything unraveled.  I just embraced the guys that I was with during‑‑ when that all happened.  If I had to put a time on it, I would say probably like ten minutes.  And as soon as the meeting was over, myself and the rest of the offensive line, Miles, we watched the film on Rutgers.  So about ten minutes.

Q.  What did you notice on that film from Rutgers?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  They are a good team.  We have to have a great week of practice and preparation to be ready to go out there and execute on Saturday night.

Q.  You mentioned that you embraced your teammates.  How emotional was it during that embrace, that ten‑minute period where you guys reflected on what happened; how emotional was it and how reflective were you?
ANGELO MANGIRO:  No one broke down.  But, you know, we just‑‑ we know what we've all been through and the highs and lows.  We just kind of had a little smile on our face for just a little bit and just hugged each other and said, congrats.  But we know we have Rutgers this week and we're focused on them. 

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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