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PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL: PENN STATE VS WASHINGTON

December 27, 2017

Brent Pry

Glendale, Arizona

Q. (A question about replacing Jason Cabinda.)
COACH PRY: ... and he takes coaching very well and he wants to understand more and more. He's what I would say is a 400 level player mentally. And he's like a coach on the field.

I think that that's one of the challenges this spring. We're fortunate we've signed three guys at the position that will come in early as well as the guys currently in the unit. Cam Brown is a candidate, has played a lot of football now to this point. Of course Ellis Brooks, a young man that we redshirted that we're really excited about. Jan Johnson is another guy very similar to Brandon Smith -- a guy that walked on and really caught our attention, physical guy that gets the game, that's smart.

So it's obviously a challenge replacing somebody like Jason. But we've been able to recruit at a high level and we'll have -- I'm excited about the candidates, the pool we have to draw from.

Q. How much does it hurt not having (indiscernible), not have his athleticism on the field. Unfortunate to not have him (inaudible)?
COACH PRY: Manny is a very good talent. Still a lot of developing to reach his potential. But when you have a guy like Brandon Smith that's able to step up once again and play with the maturity and execution that he does, as I mentioned, we're three, four weeks into this and really haven't missed a beat. So feel very fortunate to have Smitty in the house.

Q. What have you seen from Myles Gaskin on film, the shiftiness --
COACH PRY: Too much. Yeah, too much. I woke up thinking about him this morning. He's just a very dynamic back. We've seen backs similar, that model. But I don't know that we've seen one as good at it, just the cuts and the explosiveness, the balance, sees the hole, can catch the ball out of the backfield. Super impressed with him.

Q. Who would you liken him to (indiscernible)?
COACH PRY: I'd say some guys, one of the guys that stood out to us in that model is the tailback from Maryland. One of those guys you really have to capture. He beats angles.

Q. Todd Johnson?
COACH PRY: No. It wasn't Johnson.

Q. Harrison?
COACH PRY: Yeah, Harrison. And if you asked our players they'd tell you the same thing. Harrison would be similar type back. This guy does things at another level. That's one of the biggest challenges we face in the ballgame.

Q. Looking at film, anything unique about them that stands out, that you haven't seen for a while?
COACH PRY: They're just well balanced. There's elements of Michigan, Michigan State, Pitt, and there's elements of Ohio State. They do a very good job. Multiple personnel groupings, multiple formations. They make you defend a lot and prepare for a lot.

They're able to run the ball. I think they're a bread-and-butter run team that sets up the play action. And they on third down and second and long, they can spread you out with the best of them. They have the athletes to do it. And they have a quarterback that is a super game manager, can make all the throws and makes great decisions.

Q. In your career, have your paths crossed with any of the Washington staff, recruited any of those guys on the other side?
COACH PRY: I don't think so. We have a young man named Koa Farmer that starts at field backer for us. And Koa was recruited by the University of Washington. He's a California kid. Other than that, which I think I'm probably thankful for because last year's Rose Bowl, Clay Helton and I had worked together, and we saw how that turned out for us defensively. So we're glad.

Q. You mentioned Ellis Brooks a couple times today. What have you seen from him in his redshirt year that makes him a candidate next year?
COACH PRY: Ellis has some qualities that remind me of Jason. Very bright. Very mature understanding of the game.

He is a physical player. He is a very good tackler. So there's qualities of Ellis that remind me of Jason, which is obviously a positive. And we've seen that through this redshirt year.

Coach does a good job of putting guys in position where we can evaluate them during that redshirt season and develop them. So he'll be a guy right in the mix. Going to be right in the mix.

Q. Coach has a reputation of dialing something up once a game. How much time -- you're smiling already -- how much time can you really spend worrying about that kind of stuff?
COACH PRY: Let's put it this way -- we've rolled back about 10 years and covered a bunch of different tricks and gimmicks and gadgets. And I'm sure we won't see one of those. We'll see something.

We've tried to incorporate it every day into our practice where the guys aren't surprised when it occurs.

Q. Any of those that are your favorite that you saw?
COACH PRY: It's a laundry list. I don't like any of them.

Q. Staying with Washington, what's been your thoughts on Dante Pettis as you watch him as a receiver and in the return game? What's in the discussion about staying within your scheme but at the same time paying attention to what he does too?
COACH PRY: You have to know where he is obviously. A side note, I think 26, their freshman, you have to know where he is. Oh, my goodness, he's a good football player. And they use him, he could line up at receiver, at slot, tailback.

But Pettis is a highly gifted guy. When I think about the better backs we've seen over the last couple of years he's right there in that top list. He just breaks angles. When you got guys you can coach, coach, coach, and vice a guy and be in your gap and be on the edge, and he beats your leverage and beats your angle. And that's tough.

So you have to go above and beyond to leverage this guy. And we've worked very hard the last couple of weeks at capturing our backs in scout work. And again we're fortunate we've got a guy like Josh McPhearson and a guy like Journey Brown, very good backs in their own right that can beat angles and do things. So he's been obviously a focus of ours in our preparation for these guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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