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ROSE BOWL GAME: USC VS PENN STATE

December 29, 2016

Ryan Bates

Pasadena, California

Q. How is your year going so far?
RYAN BATES: It's good.

Q. How does it feel to be a freshman All-American?
RYAN BATES: It feels good. I'm honored, being picked from all the other freshmen in the country, it's an honor.

Q. Did you play in the Pick 33 game?
RYAN BATES: I did not. I got picked to play in the Under Armour All-American Game, and I played the local all-star game in Philadelphia. It was the public league for us, the all-star game.

Q. Can you talk about the development of the O-line throughout the course of the year, in spite of everything that you guys have had to deal with with injuries?
RYAN BATES: You know, where we started in the beginning of the year versus Kent State, it's very different personnel we have right now due to injuries, like you said before, and we've grew together as a unit, I feel like, collectively, and you know what, we're a bunch of ass kickers right now, and it's going real good right now.

Q. What was it like moving out to tackle? You obviously played there in high school, but I imagine it's a different animal when you get to this level.
RYAN BATES: Yeah, it's a different animal. I got to see what it was going to be like in -- I played in our All-American game, and I got to see what type of talent I was going to play, I was going to revert to tackle because that's what I was in the game and then I was at center and then guard, moving from guard to tackle obviously is different. You're versing more agile, more quicker guys, not as big guys as playing at guard and playing those three techs and those nose guards. It's different, but I feel like I'm adjusting really well.

Q. Just the overall flexibility of guys on that line to be able to do a lot of different things, how important was that? It looks like multiple guys work at center, do all sorts of things in the off-season. How much does that pay off?
RYAN BATES: Oh, yeah, it helps a lot. When I first got here, I was a center and then I got moved to right guard, then I got moved to left guard, now I'm at tackle. I feel like a lot of people on the offensive line are very versatile. Chad has played guard, now he's tackle, and he can switch back and forth. Same thing with Brendan Mahon and Gaia, and Connor, as well, Connor has gotten reps at tackle before and he was a center too, when he got here. All of us are very versatile in each position, and that helps a lot.

Q. Tell me about Connor and the transition he made because you had the opportunity to redshirt. To come in and play that quickly, you obviously were playing pretty quickly, but for him to come in as a true freshman, how difficult must that have been for him?
RYAN BATES: That was very hard. I give him -- I've been through it, and I felt like my true freshman year I wasn't quite ready, but when he came in, and he was physically ready, and he's got the tools to succeed, and he's going to be a good player in the future.

Q. Where do you see him getting even better? What are some of the things from that first year to second year do you think are some things that he could really improve at?
RYAN BATES: Well, it's all like a big thing -- a part of it was mentally. When he first came in he was making freshman mistakes, and I still make freshman mistakes sometimes. He's learning from his experience, his experience, all he's had, and he's doing really well right now, and he's going to be a good player.

Q. Will Fries, what can you tell me about him? Obviously he was working with the second team, kind of similar to what you did last year. We haven't seen him. What can you tell us about him?
RYAN BATES: Oh, him and Mike Menet have been going really well, as well as Alex Gellerstedt, everyone in that class, and they'll be promising young football players. Specifically Will, he's been at left tackle, he's moved to right tackle, and I think right now he's at left tackle, and he's second-team or third-team left tackle, and of course it's the last game of the season, I don't think you'll be able to see him, but he had a little bit of a foot problem halfway through the year, but he's came back, and while he's got obviously a little bit more developing he's got to do, but he's going to be a really good player.

Q. I know you are focused on the task at hand, but do you allow yourself to look forward to next year and the year after that with all this young O-line talent you have?
RYAN BATES: Of course, it's hard not to think about that. We have all these high recruits coming in and we have all these people coming back. It will be Brendan Mahon coming back and Andrew Nelson coming back. I think the only person we're losing from the offensive line is Wendy Laurent and Derek Dowrey and Brian Gaia. They were good players, but I feel like everyone coming in and everyone how they're developing right now, I feel like they can -- people right now can fill those roles, and I feel like we're going to be a very good O-line in the future.

Q. You talked about, your words were, ass kickers. Is that kind of a mantra in your room, or is that just something that you like to throw out there?
RYAN BATES: I mean, my high school coach always used that, and he was a big -- that was his like main go-to line, so it's always stuck with me.

Q. I'm curious from your perspective, where are some areas you've seen Saquon improve this year?
RYAN BATES: This year, it's hard for him to improve what he did last year. Obviously he's getting more experience, running the ball and behind this new offensive line he has. All throughout the year we've had people move from left guard, left tackle to center to right guard. Everyone is moving around, and I think it can be hard for a running back sometimes because all that muscle memory you've had before where these offensive linemen that have been in that spot aren't there anymore. I feel like right now where we're at right now, he's learning from specifically offensive linemen standpoint what all we're capable of, and I think it's helping him a lot.

Q. Do you ever catch yourself shaking your head at some of the things he's able to do?
RYAN BATES: Oh, my God, all the time. He's a freak athlete, but altogether he's a great guy. That's what makes him so special.

Q. What's he like in the huddle? Is he serious, laughing? What's his demeanor?
RYAN BATES: Well, we really don't have a huddle. But on the sideline he's a good leader, and he's so humble about it. That's what makes him so special, and everyone loves him for it.

Q. What's the biggest -- if you had one thing that Limegrover brought to you guys this year?
RYAN BATES: Like teaching standpoint?

Q. Well, the biggest difference, most effective.
RYAN BATES: What Limegrover is, he's a teacher, and that's what I like about him most. He wants us to know what we're going to do mentally more as physically. He's all about teaching what we have to do. He's not a real big yeller, but he can yell sometimes, trust me. But he wants us to learn, and he's all about us developing and us learning what we've got to do.

Q. You mentioned a good point about you lose some guys on the O-line, but heading into next year you don't lose many people overall. Do you think about that often?
RYAN BATES: I mean, we're focused on the task at hand right now, but sometimes you think about it, where we're going to be like in the future. We have Brendan Mahon coming back, Andrew Nelson coming back and they were a big part early on in the year of our offensive line core, and it's going to be nice to have them back.

Q. Who slides over to center?
RYAN BATES: That's a good question. Like I said before, right now we're just worried about winning this Rose Bowl, and you know what, I think that's a question to ask later on, maybe after the game. Probably Coach Limegrover or Coach Franklin or Moorhead, because that could be anybody.

Q. Could you do that?
RYAN BATES: Yeah, I could play center. I was a center when I first got here. I almost played as a true freshman at center. And so --

Q. Have you ever done -- from the shotgun, snapping?
RYAN BATES: Yeah, I've had a little bit of a problem with it before, but if I have to play center, yeah, I'm all for it. Anything that makes the team better.

Q. With all the changes that happened along the offensive line, where have you kind of seen you guys grow as a unit the most?
RYAN BATES: Just collectively. I feel like we're a lot closer group right now, and we have -- me as a freshman and all the freshmen coming in starting on the O-line over some older guys, I feel like that can be hard for the older guys sometimes, and as a younger guy, we're like, okay, don't be mad at me. So it can be hard at that standpoint sometimes, but I feel like everyone plays their role as a team, on the team, and I feel like we've all accepted that role, and that's what makes the team special.

Q. How much Pac-12 football do you guys get to watch during the season?
RYAN BATES: Not a lot. I mean, them being on the West Coast, us on the East Coast, the time difference and everything, they're three hours behind, and I don't think we get a chance to watch a lot of Pac-12 football.

Q. What would you say the perception is of the conference from where you guys are at?
RYAN BATES: The conference, I couldn't speak as a conference altogether, but USC specifically, they're a phenomenal team. They're a very good opponent we're going to face, and they have a good offense, they have a good defense, and they have a lot of people on the team that were All-Pac-12, and it's going to be a good game.

Q. They have a lot of similarities to you guys, kind of a slower start than both teams hoped for and then a strong finish. Is there anything you can point to that kind of explains you guys' turnaround?
RYAN BATES: You know, in the beginning of the year, we were trying to find the right people for the right places, and of course Pitt was a tough loss. There was really no excuses for that. Michigan we were losing some, I think it might have been seven starters altogether, and we have people, young guys developing in the beginning of the year, trying to get comfortable in the position. And right now I think from the fourth and fifth game moving forward, I felt like we've really grew as an offensive line, as a unit, as an offense, and as a team like all together. I mean, that's really helped all of us. The chemistry we have right now is really good.

Q. And then when you watched USC and studied those guys, what was the biggest thing for them as they went on their run?
RYAN BATES: Pretty much the same thing. I feel like I think their quarterback, correct me if I'm wrong, he's a freshman, and he was a starter, I think, over the past couple --

Q. Starting the fourth game.
RYAN BATES: Yeah, became a starter in the fourth game. Him coming in, they have to -- like I said, chemistry is a big part of playing football, and I feel like you have to get comfortable with the people next to you and the people you're around, and I feel like that's a big part of football, and so it's very similar to us, trying to get used to each other.

Q. I know it's been a long time since the Big Ten Championship Game, but if you can kind of think back, the conversation you guys had at halftime, because obviously you guys came back huge after halftime in that game. What went into that halftime?
RYAN BATES: I think it's the same conversation, the same halftime speech we get every halftime. You know what, people call us a second-half team. That's not a great thing to think about. If we're losing in the first half, then we come out in the second half and do great, that's awesome, but to have the mentality is not the best thing. Just to think about, okay, we'll just get through the first half, and the second half we'll ball out. But it's the same speech we get all the time. Trace and DaeSean and Nyeem and Cabinda, Saquon, they're big leaders, as well as Brian Gaia, they're big leaders for the team, and they come out, they say the same stuff, keep your head in the game, what we can do. It's the same thing over and over again.

But obviously it helped.

Q. So you don't necessarily want to be a second-half team, it's not a terrible thing --
RYAN BATES: Yeah, it's --

Q. Worse things in the world?
RYAN BATES: Yeah, it's hard to have that -- well, it's not good to have that mentality, to be a second-half team. You want to come out -- what football teams want to do is you want to come out and you want to get up early on them, and that's what everybody wants to do. But to have that mentality to be a second-half team is not the greatest thing.

Q. It's kind of like you're living life on the edge a little bit, playing with fire?
RYAN BATES: Exactly, uh-huh.

Q. How do you become a team that can play a full game instead of just a second half for this last game of the year?
RYAN BATES: We've just got to execute better. I feel like we've just got to get used to our opponent that we're playing earlier on in the -- like in practice before the game, we've got to go over better, execute better, know our roles.

Q. Have you seen at all a kind of different emphasis from the coaching staff emphasizing a stronger start this week as opposed to weeks during the season?
RYAN BATES: Oh, absolutely. We started emphasizing -- I think maybe it might have been the sixth, seventh game in the season, we started emphasizing we've got to start quicker because that's where it started us -- we would come in the second half and we would start doing better, and like I said before, the whole idea of playing football is you want to get up on a team early, so they really emphasized that around the sixth, seventh game.

Q. What's the number one takeaway on the USC defense?
RYAN BATES: They're a very fast defense. They're a very fast defense. They're big up front, very physical. They're a good opponent. They're a good opponent.

Q. Have you ever played anything as big this season as Rose Bowl?
RYAN BATES: In what sense?

Q. As big a game, Ohio State, something like that?
RYAN BATES: Oh, I mean, Ohio State was a great win, but playing in the Rose Bowl -- Big Ten Championship was a phenomenal win. It was exciting. Emotions flying around everywhere, and I feel like this game is going to be really similar to the Big Ten Championship. You know, it's the final game of the season, and everybody wants to go out on top.

Q. That game turned into a shootout. Are you guys ready for a potential shootout? You've got a great offense, USC has a great offense. What makes this team built to win that kind of game?
RYAN BATES: I mean, for us or USC?

Q. Both, you guys, your offense.
RYAN BATES: We've just got to come out and execute really. We've got to do our thing. We know what we can do, and we've just got to execute it.

Q. But you're confident if it does turn into a shootout that you can keep up with a team that scores as much as you do?
RYAN BATES: Absolutely. You know what, the individuals that we have and collectively as an offense and defense, what we've been doing lately, I feel like I'm very confident in what we can do.

Q. You mentioned the quick start; what can you do at this point in the season to to try to start faster?
RYAN BATES: I mean, not much. We've got to keep doing what we're doing. Coming into the game, we've just got to prepare better in the practice beforehand and walk-throughs and whatever we do, and we've just got to have the right mindset going into the game.

Q. Has it hit you yet that you're here at the Rose Bowl, and if not when is that going to come?
RYAN BATES: I have had that oh, wow moment, walking around LA and seeing all the sites, and wow, I'm in California right now. I've never been here before, and it's exciting. Playing a Pac-12 game in the "Granddaddy of Them All", Pac-12 team, in what they say is the "Granddaddy of Them All".

Q. What's the biggest challenge that this USC defense poses now that you've seen a little bit of film?
RYAN BATES: It poses to us? They're a very fast defense. They have, I think, defensive Player of the Year Adoree' Jackson and they have a big nose guard up front, Stevie. I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce his last name. Very big, very fast, and I feel like we can do really well against them.

Q. How have the last two practices been going relative to the regular season?
RYAN BATES: Yeah, practices were great today, actually. We feel like we came out fast, and we finished strong.

Q. I was asking Coach Moorhead what were his thoughts about moving you to tackle. Did you have that feeling from the couple snaps you've had outside or why did you think you'd be able to step in there and succeed?
RYAN BATES: I'm confident at guard, center or tackle, really. I'm confident in my athletic ability and my size in what I can do. I feel like I know this offense really well, and I feel like I know every position on the offensive line right now, and I think that can help me a lot, playing all these positions, and whatever helps the team.

Q. How did you come to know all positions so well?
RYAN BATES: It's just like -- I came in here as a center, really. I played all last year I was center, and then until -- we went to Jacksonville, the TaxSlayer Bowl last year. That's when I started playing right guard, and then for the start of this season, I got moved to left guard, and I played all the -- I think the first half of the season, a little bit more of that, at left guard, and then I got moved to left tackle. It's all connected. You should know really as an offensive lineman, you should know everyone's -- you should know what everybody is doing next to you because that's just going to help you as an individual and perform as an offensive lineman. So just listening in meetings and just got to pay attention.

Q. How would you describe your growth at tackle specifically? Has it been steady all the way up?
RYAN BATES: Of course I've leveled my ability at tackle moving from guard to tackle. It's a bit of a switch-up. You're playing these quicker, more agile guys as opposed to playing 320-pound three techs and nose guards. Over the weeks I feel like I'm getting more and more comfortable at left tackle.

Q. Who's the most difficult lineman you've faced so far this year?
RYAN BATES: I feel like -- when I went back home I got that question. I had never thought about it before because I feel like -- I just never thought about it before, and I thought about it, and at guard I think the toughest opponent I faced might have been Minnesota's nose tackle.

Q. Richardson?
RYAN BATES: Yes. He was a very big guy. It was difficult at times to move him. In the pass rush, he had a good pass rush. He was strong. But at tackle it was probably T.J. Watt.

Q. Any guys that you see comparable to either one of them here with USC, or different styles?
RYAN BATES: Stevie, I'm not even going to attempt his last name. He's very similar to the dude from Minnesota, and he's a big guy. He reminds me a lot of AJ, Austin Johnson from last year. I feel like I've gone against AJ, I don't know how many times on scout team, and just thinking about how he played and what he did. He's very similar in that aspect.

What was the other part of the question?

Q. With that experience against AJ --
RYAN BATES: Against anybody else, yeah.

Q. Has AJ been in contact with anybody else during the season?
RYAN BATES: Personally I have not, but I know he's kept in touch with Coach Spencer and all the defensive linemen on the team. But that's the only person I can compare him to right now.

Q. How did you big guys handle the heat today and that sun?
RYAN BATES: It's different. It's different.

Q. When was the last time you saw that kind of heat and sun?
RYAN BATES: When was the last time? Probably summer camp over in State College. Central PA gets really hot during the summer, and it was kind of a shock coming down here. We're going from 30-degree weather coming down here to I think it might have been 80 today, and so -- and not a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful, but being in pads and running around, it makes it difficult at points. But I feel like we can manage, and we've seen it before.

Q. It won't be that hot next week I don't think.
RYAN BATES: No.

Q. What's been the best part off the field so far of the trip?
RYAN BATES: Disneyland was pretty cool. We got to see Disneyland, and I feel like just getting around, just walking around LA, seeing the different places they have, and I remember -- I was talking in a previous interview about what was my -- what I've been looking forward to coming out here, and it was going to In-N-Out Burger because I have a friend out here that's all he's been talking about, and I got it last night actually, and it was pretty good.

Q. Scale of 1 to 10?
RYAN BATES: I can't really put it on a scale, I feel like, because I've had a lot of different types of burgers, I guess. But it was very good.

Q. What was your favorite coming into this trip? What would you say your favorite burger would have been?
RYAN BATES: Oh, there's a place called Ted's Montana Grill back home. They have really good burgers.

Q. Was it as good as this?
RYAN BATES: Not as good I don't feel like, but it was very good.

Q. The best thing about Joe, his biggest impact on you?
RYAN BATES: Him coming in -- I give Joe, Coach Moorhead, him coming in, it's really changed our offense as a unit. But as a team, I feel like he's had a big effect on our offense and the coaching staff, and the energy he brings at practice I think is awesome. He's a great guy, he's funny, and hopefully he's here in years to come.

Q. What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge that USC presents to your offense?
RYAN BATES: They have a lot of speed. They're very fast up front, big, physical on the front seven. Challenge-wise, we've just got to get our run game going I feel like. That's the biggest thing for our offense right now. We've got to get our run going, get Saquon down the field.

Q. What is going to be the key to success to beating a team like SC?
RYAN BATES: I mean, just like it would be against any team. We've just got to execute. We've got to do our thing.

Q. I don't know if you've been asked about this already, but Coach Moorhead, what do you remember the first time you met him and sort of how you've gotten to know him a little bit more as the year has progressed?
RYAN BATES: First time I met him, I just remember all this energy, all this energy in him, and a lot of positive attitude I felt from him. He brings all that to practice every day. He's a big contributor of what we've been able to do as an offense and as a team collectively, and hopefully he's here for years to come because I know everybody is trying to get him.

Q. I was going to ask about that. Have you been following these last couple of weeks, sort of other schools being interested?
RYAN BATES: I have not. You know, it's not my place, really. I'm just trying to focus on the task at hand, really.

Q. But it's nice to know that he's going to be coming back?
RYAN BATES: Absolutely, of course.

Q. As an offense, how much of it is like Xs and Os versus just sort of a mentality, a personality, sort of intangibles of an offense?
RYAN BATES: It's a lot of Xs and Os. It's all about scheme and what the defense presents itself to us and what we have to do to overcome what they present us. And it's all about preparing and, you know what, like watching film and going over the game plan over and over, and it's repetition over and over and over again.

Q. Where do you feel like this offense has grown the most from Game 1 until now?
RYAN BATES: I feel like this offense overall has grown a lot closer, chemistry-wise, and getting to know each other better, because we have a lot of younger guys starting and playing next to these older guys, and that's a big thing, and you've got to trust the person next to you, especially on the offensive line.

Q. And heading into Monday, have you thought at all about the scene and what it's going to be like running out of the tunnel at the Rose Bowl?
RYAN BATES: Not really. It should be -- I feel like for me personally it's going to be another game for me. We've played in front of a bunch of huge crowds before, especially in Beaver Stadium, holds 107,000, Michigan holds over a hundred thousand, and you know what, it's just going to be another game for me.

Q. What is it about USC's front four that's going to be so challenging?
RYAN BATES: I mean, it's just like us playing any other front four. We've just got to watch film, we've got to go over the game plan, in practice we've just got to take reps. It's all about repetition, and like I said, watching film. It's just another defense for us. We haven't seen anything. I feel like we haven't -- we have seen this type of defense before, like as in personnel-wise.

Q. Trace was saying that the way that they -- right before the snap, how athletic they are, they can kind of switch things up.
RYAN BATES: Yes, of course, yeah.

Q. How difficult is that, and how have you guys kind of planned on dealing with that?
RYAN BATES: As I said before, it's all about execution. I use execute a lot. I use that word a lot, because as an offensive lineman that's what we have to do. It's all about Xs and Os and what type of personnel we have going against their personnel. They're very athletic, they're very big up front, but it's nothing we haven't seen before.

Q. How different is this offensive line now than it was at the beginning of the season in terms of gelling and mutual understanding?
RYAN BATES: Of course it's different. We've gone through, I think, three offensive tackles have got hurt, and I had to move to left tackle from left guard, and we've had multiple guards start throughout the season, and it's different. But I feel like right now, our chemistry right now has been really close lately, and I feel like I'm real excited to go into the game.

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