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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 23, 2018

Trace McSorley

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. James Franklin said he feels like there's too much of a load on you right now, and I know you said right after the game that you didn't think it was a burden or a responsibility, but have you noticed maybe going into this week moving ahead collectively there may be an effort to spread the ball a little bit more and not place as much on your shoulders to be a runner and to be the thrower and to be everything?
TRACE McSORLEY: So far not really. I mean, kind of same thing as I said after the game. I want to do whatever I need to do to help our team win. If that's carrying the ball however many times, throwing it, whatever it might be. To me, I really haven't felt like there's been a big burden or felt like I'm shouldering too much of a load or whatever Coach was saying. But as far as kind of how we're going to continue, I'm going to have the same mindset, just moving on to do whatever the coaches ask of me, do whatever is asked of me by the team, whatever I can do to try and help us win.

Q. Is there anything about the Iowa defense that has particularly impressed you on tape, and have you seen anything that you think you guys might be able to exploit on Saturday?
TRACE McSORLEY: I mean, they're really good on defense. Obviously I think they've got one of the top passing defenses in the Big Ten. Their front seven really is extremely impressive kind of how they play with their size, strength and ability, and their back end does a really good job of making you earn it in the passing game. They're not getting beat deep, guys aren't getting behind them, so from an offensive perspective, they pose a lot of challenges as far as how you're going to block them up front with their ability and size and all that, and you've really got to earn it, like I said, on offense in the passing game and in the running game. That's what they did last year to us, made us earn everything.

So that's something that is a staple of Iowa is they're really well-coached. They're going to do their job. They're not going to make many mental mistakes, have a lot of missed assignments. So as an offense you've just got to be on your A game when you come into a game like this. You can't let opportunities slip away.

Q. Over the bye week, Miles said that he felt that wheel route was coming; it was just a matter of time before it hit. How nice was it to connect with him to open the game against Indiana and to get him going in that aspect?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, I think that's something that we've kind of wanted to get Miles involved in the passing game a little bit more when possible, and for him to be able to have that kind of production in the passing game, I think it opens him up and gives him confidence in the passing game to where he's able to get out in his routes a little bit faster and we can get him the ball.

With the type of athlete he is, we've seen the kind of force he can be in the running game just handing the ball off to him, but if we can do that type of stuff where he's one-on-one in space out on a route, then that's only going to help our offense open up a little bit more, and when we get him out and get him in the passing game, as well, it opens our receivers up, gives them some more one-on-one opportunities and makes the defense stretch a little bit more in zones.

Q. Juwan wasn't able to play in the second half. Did you talk to him at halftime or sense any frustration from him that he wasn't able to go?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, you know, I think during the game, obviously the type of competitor Juwan is and really kind of any competitor that we've got on our team is they're going to want to play in the game as much as possible. At that point you had kind of known that he probably wasn't going to be able to return in the Indiana game. So he was upset. He was frustrated. But he was doing everything he could to still be a voice for Cam who was coming in for him and be a voice for the other receivers. He was on the sideline the entire time in between drives giving confidence to the receivers kind of helping them as far as what was going on so they can understand their job and what they needed to do filling in for kind of his spot.

He did a really good job, I think, as far as embracing the role he was thrust into kind of with the setback and having that going into the Indiana game. He was frustrated, but he handled it really well.

Q. Can you remember the first time you met James face to face, where and when, and in what ways has he changed since then?
TRACE McSORLEY: I think the first time I met him was probably at a junior day at Vanderbilt back when I was in high school. He's the exact same person. I mean, I almost think word for word the talk that he gave that day, I can almost guarantee you it's what he will talk at every junior day from here until he's done.

He's the same exact person that I've always known him, and I don't expect any of that to ever change.

Q. What about you? How much have you changed since that day?
TRACE McSORLEY: I've gotten older, some facial hair. I mean, I think obviously I've grown since then. I think back then I was probably, what, 17 years old, 23 now, so just gotten older and became more mature and obviously grown as a player in the time that I've been here.

Q. Kind of a similar vein to that, but teammates have said that you have a pretty good poker face in terms of not letting stuff get to you. At what point did you maybe establish that because obviously there have been some things that haven't gone your way this year, there have been drops, but even on the sidelines you don't seem to let that show. Where does that come from, and how important is it for you as the leader of the team to kind of have that?
TRACE McSORLEY: I think that's something that I've always kind of had. Even kind of my mom will talk about when I was a kid she would be like, don't you ever get mad and want to kick something, something like that. I was like, it's out of my control, so there's no point in that, I guess. That's just kind of always been how I've been. I don't necessarily know why. But that's just kind of my personality is don't -- the things you can't control, there's no sense in kind of getting upset about it or letting that start to affect you because then it does start to affect the things that you can control. That's something Coach Franklin talks about all the time in our program is just control the controllables and that's something I think I've been able to do pretty well when things don't go our way, or even some things do kind of bounce our way, being able to take the positives and the negatives that you can't control and work with them and just focus on things you can.

Q. In what way has he impacted you the most? Six years is a long time?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, I think as I've gotten to know him and our relationship has grown, buying into what he talks about with the core values and taking those and applying them to my life, and I think that's been the biggest thing I've been able to do is taking the positive attitude, having a great work ethic, competing in everything, being able to sacrifice. Those are things I didn't have when I first met him in high school, and now that I've known him for six years, seven years, whatever it might be, and I've continued to grow and become an older person and a little bit older man, I guess, is I've been able to add those into my life and carry those off the field and use those outside of football.

I think that's the biggest thing that I've been able to learn from him is what he's been able to apply in my life since I've gotten here and kind of became a player here and just been able to learn from him.

Q. I think Dotson was only on the field for a few plays when you went to him. How have you developed a level of confidence in those freshmen receivers even as they weren't necessarily playing in a stretch of games there?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, I think seeing them in practice and seeing the type of plays that they're able to make in practice, even if maybe necessarily I'm not the one that's been throwing them the ball the last six, seven weeks, whatever it might be. I've been able to get some reps with them. But really just seeing the plays that they're able to make and paying attention to the kind of work that they put in, seeing them after practice getting reps, staying and wanting to get extra film, and early on in the summer they were reaching out to me wanting to get work.

I think that stuff, and even though I wasn't throwing with them and getting a ton of chemistry with them during the year up until this point, I think those are the type of things that when you get a guy like Jahan who gets only so many opportunities in a game, where I feel completely comfortable being able to go to him and know that he's going to make the play because I've seen him do it, even though I'm not necessarily the one who's been throwing him the ball, but I've seen him make those kind of plays and I've seen him run the routes and have a good understanding of our offense.

Q. Where have you seen the most progress in Pat Freiermuth's game since he got here, and would you have anticipated that a freshman would have such an impact on the offense at this stage of his career?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, I think Pat has done a really good job. He came in, one of the things that he did really well early on was just be physical at tight end. That was something that I know Coach Bowen really wanted our tight ends to be when he got here was increase their physicality, and that was something that Pat bought into right away, and since then that was kind of his identity that he developed early on, just he was going to go and he was going to throw his face in there and he was going to hit you when he was blocking, and then as he's continued to grow and get more comfortable you've seen him develop in the passing game and be able to show off his athletic ability as far as being able to go up and attack a ball, make contested catches when guys are draped all over him, being able to use his size and those kind of things that we've been able to see from him in practice and a little bit in games, as well.

So he's just continued to grow in his confidence and his abilities that he's out there playing now and you can kind of see that. He's not thinking so much. He's lining up and going, and that's something that you love to see out of a freshman, when they get that sense of confidence and they're not thinking anymore, they're just playing and playing fast and being aggressive.

Q. Coach Franklin said a little bit ago that he thought that Iowa's front, their defensive line might be the best front that you guys have faced in the last two years. Last year Nelson, No. 98, and Epenesa, No. 94, really got after it. What do you remember from that game last year playing those -- having to face those guys out in Iowa City?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, their front seven is really impressive, especially when you watch them on film. It's a group of guys that they play hard. They're big, strong, they're physical. They do a really good job of getting on edges of blocks and fighting through it, being able to use their size and their ability, but they're also -- I think they average probably 6'6", 6'7" or something across the board, all long arms, so when they're not getting the pass rush, they do a really good job of getting their hands up, understanding that they're basically throwing to like redwoods out there.

I mean, they're big, tall dudes, physical, and they're able to get their hands up and even affect the passing game when they're not getting rushes. They're really good, and kind of like I said earlier, they do a really good job of playing within their scheme, holding their gaps in the run game and things like that. Like Coach Franklin said, they're a really good defensive front, and they're going to be a big challenge for us.

Q. I just want to read you something that Tom Allen, Indiana's coach, said after the game. He said, "I wanted to just shake his hand," meaning yours. "He's so good, I've got so much respect for him. Glad I don't have to see him again because he's a tough, tough kid, competitive, gritty, tough." So I have two questions off of that. This is your farewell Big Ten tour. I know you're not thinking about that, but you've played all these teams a couple times, three times now. You start to think about the legacy you're leaving behind a little bit, and when you hear something like that from an opposing coach, and I know that's not the first time you've been complimented by an opposing coach, what does it say to you about what you've accomplished here at Penn State?
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, you know, like you said, I don't really think about it necessarily being like a farewell tour, but it's something that in the back of my mind I'm aware of, and this is the last opportunity that I'm going to get to play these -- certain Big Ten teams against certain coaches, certain players, even only got so many opportunities left in Beaver Stadium. It's one of the things that I'm aware of, but I've kind of -- my approach has always been to just approach the game with a good mentality, work hard, be humble as much as possible, and I've always kind of -- when I was growing up, I kind of always thought that I always wanted to leave a mark on the people I was playing against. So when you hear opposing coaches say things like that, especially from head coaches with the type of respect that they get across the league and around the country, if they've got that kind of respect for me kind of with what I've been able to do, it means a lot that my approach and my mentality is paying off and those kind of things. So hopefully I can continue to do that and leave that sort of legacy.

Q. Regarding Iowa's pass defense, they are one of the top teams in the nation in terms of sacks. What do they do unique with their pass rush, and how are they able to get to the quarterback so often? What have you seen on film so far?
TRACE McSORLEY: I think kind of what I said earlier, that they're big strong guys but they're athletic, and they do a really good job of fighting through edges of blocks and being able to get in and disrupt passing lanes, and their coverage does a really good job, I think, and part of that is because they're not letting guys get wide open downfield. They're not getting beat. They're keeping everything in front of them. It allows their guys to work a little bit. Kind of like I said, they're athletic and they're really good pass rushers, using their size and strength. It's not easy for a lineman to block their guys when they're on their edge and they're kind of having to drive those out with the size and strength that those guys have.

They all play with a really good motor. If they don't get there first, they're not just stopping and trying to knock down the pass, they continue to fight to get to the quarterback. I think a combination of their ability and their motor up front and their front seven and then their back end, their ability just to blanket up receivers and not let guys get open and not giving clear lanes to receivers.

Q. And you mentioned Miles Sanders earlier. We hadn't seen a whole lot of catches out of the backfield from him in the first half of the season. Why do you think that's changed, and how important is he kind of to the offense moving forward? I expect you assume this role is going to continue.
TRACE McSORLEY: Yeah, you know, I think we hadn't done it a lot, getting Miles involved in the passing game, but he's done a really good job of just staying at it in practice, wanting to get extra reps, catching the ball running out of the backfield, those sort of things. He's done a really good job as far as just continuing to work at it, getting on the JUGS machines, whatever he can do to be a factor in the passing game.

And I think being able to get him that kind of confidence in the actual game playing against Indiana, getting him a bunch of catches, getting him involved in the passing game, I think it was a really good opportunity for us to be able to grow from there and continue to get him involved in the passing game because like I said, the only thing it'll do is open up our offense more, and then for him being able to understand that he can be a big factor in the passing game kind of like Saquon was for us last year, the type of weapon he can be in the run and pass game, he can do that same thing, too, so the more we can get him involved, the better.

Q. I get it with the RPOs, of course the rushing yards are just kind of a byproduct of what you're seeing, but if we would have seven, eight weeks ago that you'd be sitting here fifth in the Big Ten in rushing at this point, would you have believed that, or would you have said, yeah, that seems about right?
TRACE McSORLEY: Honestly, I don't know that I would have believed that, given all the great running backs that are in our league. But that's kind of one of the things that teams have done a good job as far as trying to take away Miles and some of the RPOs and things that we do, and I've been able to just take advantage of what's been there, and in the passing game drop back, being able to make a guy miss and get north-south. A lot of teams that we've played, especially in the last couple weeks, have played a lot of man coverage, and that's something that Coach Franklin and Coach Rahne talk about, when teams play man coverage they've either got a spy for the quarterback or there's not anyone there for the quarterback.

That's something that we've always talked about when we see man coverage is in our quarterback room is that if you see it go through your progressions quick but step up, go through your progressions, if nothing is there, take off and run because there's usually not anyone left for the quarterback in those situations.

Q. You've carried the ball 401 times and thrown over 1,000 passes and it looks like you've never been hurt. What's the secret to that?
TRACE McSORLEY: If there was a secret I'd tell you. I don't really know as far as the secret to it. But I think it's just kind of one of those things that you're running the ball that much and throwing and kind of being involved in the game as much as just taking care of your body outside of football, and nutrition is a big part of it, getting enough sleep, getting in, and if you need to get treatment, getting treatment, and kind of being able to understand the beating that your body takes through the course of a season and just kind of understanding that you need to be able to come in and get regen, get extra time stretching at night or whatever it might be. Doing anything you can outside of football, outside of practice to be able to keep your body in good shape and investing in your body to be able to make sure that you can kind of come in and take that kind of load, I guess that's something that if there's any sort of secret out there, I guess that would be it, just investing in your body outside of practice and outside of everything that you're doing on the field.

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