Nov. 3, 2015 Angelo Mangiro | Senior | Offensive Lineman
Q. You said you had a list of things you wanted to accomplish or you wanted to get things checked off before the last game. Are you able to share any of those items with us yet?
AM: No, I still don't like to share. I think ask me after the final game. Maybe bowl preparation I'll probably share something for you. But not right now. Thank you.
Q. When an offensive line works as one unit, how do you get the running back involved in the pass protection just in terms of the communication and just getting everyone on the same page?
AM: It starts with the front identification with the center. Then it works to Christian [Hackenberg] and the quarterbacks and the center of where the "Mike" point is, and then depending on the protection scheme and the formation, where the line is sliding to. In our offense, our backs are responsible for protecting also, and it's a tough responsibility because we're locked into one or two guys and they kind of have to read the safety rotations and things like that to have an understanding where the place might be coming from. They have a tough job, but they do a really good job of picking things up.
Q. Last couple weeks it seems that Christian has had more room to step up in the pocket, instead of left to right. What have you seen up there in the last couple weeks?
AM: Yeah, I don't know. I can tell you this: You want your pocket -- you want your center and your two guards to set the depth of the pocket and then your tackles to set the width. Yeah, from what you're telling me, we've done a good job of doing that, so we're going to keep it up.
Q. You've seen a lot of offense during your time here at Penn State. I was wondering if you could evaluate the growth from game one of the offense as a whole, the different moving parts that seem to kind of fit together a little bit better this last weekend, from then to now.
AM: I think growth with personnel, you know, we're playing a lot of young guys, and obviously you see the success of Saquon [Barkley] and [Brandon] Polk and DeAndre [Thompkins], just a couple young skill guys that have matured a lot and have had growing roles in the offense. So that's helped a lot.
And then you communicate with your coaches as players, and Coach Franklin always preaches what we like to do and communicating that back and forth, what we're comfortable with, what we want to try and things like that, and I think that communication has grown and has helped our offense progress. And I think Coach [John] Donovan has done a great job of each game understanding the defenses that we're playing and understanding our personnel and ways that we can try to attack them and exploit them.
Q. At what point do you see that development to a point where these young guys are starting to put it together, they're on the same page a little bit more, and they're able to handle more and make you guys more variable as an offense?
AM: Yeah, I think you see spurts of that during camp, and I think that's part of the development of seeing young guys, and that's part of the evaluation process of, hey, is this guy going to redshirt or is this guy going to help us. The more consistent they can be during camp, you know, it gives you more confidence in a young guy, and throughout the season you see things in practice, and now you're starting to play in games, and it's like, "okay, we see the evaluation process in practice," and is the guy a hard worker, is he being coachable and things like that. But now it's like do we also see it in the game.
When guys do both, it helps the team out and elevates the play of everyone else around them. And from an older guy, seeing younger guys do that, you appreciate it, because it's your senior season, and you count on those young guys to help us to get wins.
Q. A lot of guys who don't normally get game reps got game reps on Saturday. Talk about how important those game reps are.
AM: You know, and as a redshirt freshman, I was able to get a lot of game reps. I think offensively, as an offensive line, I'm stuck in my box sometimes, but normally a young guy gets his PAT reps his first year and gets a couple game reps. But moving on to next year, when each year you get older, the more you're expected to perform, getting those game reps early and experiencing the stadium and the crowd and the noise and competition from someone else, being able to deal with the pressure and anxiety of performing in front of everyone, handling that and just not doing anything outside of your technique and fundamentals, not doing anything that you're not coached to do and perform is something that it's not as easy as you would think.
You go out there and you want to play well, and a lot of things going on in your head. So for young guys to get reps like that now with sometimes the score being skewed in our favor, it's huge for them just to be able to experience the field.
Q. When Wendy [Laurent] is at center and you're at guard, how does the communication work because earlier in the year you were at center, and I'm sure you're making a lot of line calls. Are you doing as much talking now as you did earlier?
AM: Yeah, you know, I told Wendy that he's got the ball, and it's his game to call. In the beginning I was making the majority of the calls. Now being from a left guard perspective, I don't want to overstep him and make calls because I might not be able to see something on the right side of the line. But anything that's coming in a way that I can see, then I'm going to help him out as much as I can.
I think the communication has been pretty good between him and -- between the guys up front, and we obviously need to continue that.
But I'm going to help him out as much as I can, and to be honest, he's been around a while, and he doesn't really need much of my help. He's extremely capable.
But like anything, overcommunication is a good thing. Up front, at least.
Q. Coach talked before about criticism, and he said when a coach criticizes a player it's more about the performance than the person. How would you evaluate the way they critique you and how responsive the players are to that?
AM: I like our coaches here at Penn State, and I don't think they're critiquing us as people. When you do get corrected on the field, they're not attacking your character at all. I think they're just trying to critique you as a player, not as a person, in most circumstances. But they want you to get better.
Coach [Herb] Hand, I can speak for him because I deal with him on a daily basis, he's an energy guy, intense guy, and he always tells us, like we're his guys and he's going to do whatever he needs to do to get the best out of us and make Penn State better. You know, if it's correcting your technique and yelling at you about your technique because you repeatedly do it wrong, then if he needs to yell at you to get it across to you, then that's what needs to happen.
But at the same time, a lot of times that's not the case. We talk and talk things out and perform that way.
Malik Golden | Junior | Safety
Q. I'm wondering, if you've watched any film so far of the Northwestern offense, what have you seen from them so far?
MG: They've got a good, solid line, a mobile quarterback, a very good running back, and some receivers that make plays when the ball is thrown to them. So we've got a tough task.
Q. Coach Franklin said that he was going to be introducing or I guess throwing it -- I don't know if you guys have seen it before, Trace and Tommy, to kind of play that dual-threat role. Has that been done in the past when you guys were preparing for Ohio State, for Maryland, or is this going to be something newer you guys have been working on?
MG: We've talked about this. This might be the first week we've really did it. But Trace is a tough task, too, the way he -- like especially in the summer, the way he just extended plays against us. Trace is pretty good.
Q. Can you talk about your role in nickel and dime coverage, and is it difficult to have to always kind of be ready to run in there and contribute kind of at the spur of the moment?
MG: I enjoy it. Nickel and dime, it's basically about passing situations, getting more speed on the field. Just to be ready at a moment's notice is no big deal. I kind of enjoy it to be honest with you.
Q. Malik, you've played here a while, played for a lot of different defensive coaches, I guess, over the years. How does playing for different coaches affect your overall thoughts on football, how defenses attack, how defenses are schemed up, and maybe Coach [Bob] Shoop in particular, how has he maybe caused you to think of the sport overall differently?
MG: Playing for different coaches, you kind of learn different schemes and master different schemes, so I learned Coach [John] Butler's scheme. I started to learn Scrap, Coach [Tom] Bradley's scheme, when I was getting recruited, and then when Coach Shoop came in, I learned his new scheme. What I learned from Coach Shoop is just about techniques, not tactics, just being in your position and doing what you're asked to do of the defense.
Q. When you're going against dual-threat quarterbacks, what specifically do you, if anything, make adjustments to? Do you make adjustments? And secondly, you said you're pretty sure you got this one against Northwestern. I'm just curious where does that confidence come from and why is that?
MG: You've got to play with confidence. You've got to think that you're going to win every game. Northwestern is a very good team. This quarterback especially, along with like Maryland and Ohio State's quarterback, they can extend plays and it's pretty tough for the DBs because you have to stay on your man a little bit longer, stay in coverage, not go up and try to attack him and he throws the ball over your head. That's what mobile quarterbacks can do.
Q. You guys have probably some of the more outgoing personalities I'd say in your meeting room. Can you take me through what's that like?
MG: You've got Jordan [Lucas], who goes by "Drop," so if you ever see Jordan, just say, "what's up, Drop?" He'll be like, "Yo, what's up." You've got Marcus [Allen] who's the class clown, too, but the younger guys like Ayron Monroe, a guy named [Brian] Tomasetti, who we call "Bubba," in like the safeties room, we're always just cracking up, and then you've got Coach Shoop, who is a funny guy himself. I'll just say that.
Q. What's maybe the funniest thing that Bob has done, because he's got a pretty dry sense of humor, right?
MG: Yeah. Actually if you go on Twitter, you'll see his son actually posted a video of him dancing. Coach Shoop can't dance, but the video is pretty funny. So that's probably the funniest thing.
Q. Did you guys bust him pretty hard about that video?
MG: Yeah, we're just like amping him up, telling him he can dance, and he's just believing us. But Coach Shoop is a great guy.