Here are Mike Locksley's quotes from earlier. I'll get the video up as soon as I can, but my video editing software crashed on me and we've still got men's basketball availability to go.
Interim Head Coach Mike Locksley
Opening statement:
“It’s Penn State week and our guys are excited about getting back on the field. We got a couple of early practices in last week with the bye week, as a staff we were able to go through and evaluate where we are in all three phases. Right now, I feel really good about the energy of our team. We’re coming off our first really big work day today, the guys were moving around pretty well. I noticed that they’re excited about the opportunity to go play up in Baltimore this week in front of our Baltimore fan base. We’re going to face a really good Penn State team, a team that Coach Franklin has planned pretty well. Even though they had a little setback last week, they’ve been playing good football in all three phases and I expect them to give us everything they have on Saturday and we’re excited about the opportunity.”
On recruiting implications and rivalries:
“Rivalries take some time. Obviously, we’re pretty new in the conference. Fortunately for us, we were able to get a jump last year with the win, but it’ll take some time to build this thing into a rivalry that I’m sure our fans will like to see. Rivalries are usually started with being competitive on the field, and we got a pretty good start last year with coming up with a win in a tough place to play.”
On defending Penn State QB Christian Hackenberg:
“The big thing with Hackenberg is he can make all the throws. He’s a big, strong, pro-style quarterback … he’s pretty accurate as well. For us, we have to do the big job of getting him off his spot. He’s one of those guys that if you allow him to sit back there, he’ll pick you apart. So we have to do a pretty good job of mixing pressure and making him move off that spot and try to make him throw on the run. They do a pretty good job of protecting him with how they call the game. There’s a lot of quick passing to get the ball out of his hand, and again, he’s pretty accurate.”
On making changes during the past nine days and being head coach:
“The big thing with the changes for us is obviously - when you have the change that took place a week ago - you don’t want to try to do too much. As a staff, we’ve tried to focus on the mindset of the team. These guys are still young men and we’ve really worked on the mindset that sometimes life throws you curveballs and you have to keep pressing forward. We’ve tried to emphasize “go out and have fun.” We have the underdog mentality. Right now, I’m sure there’re not that many people that give us a chance to go out and have any success, but our guys are resilient. We have a really good core set of players that I think you’ll see on Saturday. They’ll come out and play with the passion that our fans deserve, they’ll come out and they’ll play hard, and the thing that we really stress is to have fun and play football in its purist form. It’s back in the day when you’d go out and play with your friends in the backyard and you just let it all cut loose: that’s the kind of mentality we want to play with because we really have nothing to lose as a program.
“For me, it is all about the kids and I’ll continue to make it about the kids. Stepping into the role of leading the program, there are a few things that I have to adjust and our staff has done a really good job picking up the slack from having me in and out of the meeting room with the offense, and then having to also play a role in making sure that the special teams and the defensive side of the ball are organized from the standpoint of preparing our players. I don’t expect it to be any different from any other game for me as coach, whether you’re leading the program or coordinator. The big thing is just going out, enjoying it, and having fun with it, and that’s what we’ll do.
“Whether the change happened or not, you have to look at each game as a one-game season and not look too forward to the future and enjoy the present. We’re at the halfway point, we’ve evaluated where we were in all three phases, we’ve tweaked some things to tailor the things we need to win against Penn State. That’s where all of the energy and focus has been, and that’s where it will remain for us.”
“A team takes on the personality of its leader and with me being the leader for the next six to seven weeks, you need to lighten the mood up a little bit. I don’t want our guys playing tight. I don’t want them thinking that they have to go out and play to win, to save people’s jobs, or to get a guy a job. I want them to go play football in its purist form, and that’s what I’ve talked about each day with these guys. The things we’ve done is make things really competitive at practice, every opportunity we get a chance to compete, we take it. Today, we took the scout team offense and scout team defense and put the ball at the ten and said “it’s third and go from the ten” and let them run two plays live against each other. Those guys haven’t had a lot of work other than being the look team for both the offense and defense, and they got excited about that… It starts with me having a high energy about how you go about doing things like practice, and I think we’ve seen a bit of change.”
On recruiting in the Baltimore area:
“I know our players are excited about going up and playing in Baltimore. Any chance we have the opportunity to go and play before our Baltimore fanbase is great for our program. Obviously a win against a good team like Penn State will have some effect in helping recruiting. But there are so many different programs that come in here and recruit because of the talent that is in this area. We have to continue to do our share of the battle.”
On previously working with James Franklin:
“James has always been an enthusiastic guy and has been very passionate from the times that we’ve worked together. From afar, I’ve seen how he’s matured and grown as a coach, and the success that he’s had as a head coach. I have a lot of respect for the job that he’s done. I’m excited about having the chance to go compete. It’ not about James, it’s about those players competing against Penn State. I know our players are really excited about the opportunity. He (Franklin) has them playing really well up there, and we have to get our guys to come out and execute at a high level and see how it all unfolds on Saturday.”
On concern of offense becoming one-dimensional:
“I don’t know where just moving Shane [Cockerille] to quarterback makes us one-dimensional. Those guys are going to have to throw the football. I doubt that we’ll just line up and get in a single wing and just run the ball every play. We’re going to have to throw the football at some point, so the move with Shane has something to do with Daxx [Garman] being banged up as a third quarterback, so we moved Shane back to quarterback. When you look at the hits that Perry [Hills] took in the Ohio State game, I don’t think his Mom would be really happy if we continue to let him get beat up like that. Shane asked to be moved to fullback this summer, so then I asked Shane to move back to quarterback. It gives us some depth and a big body, and the ability to execute this offense. It’s the same thing we did last year with CJ Brown. We’ll still have some throws in there, we’ll still be able to run it, but obviously we’ll run it to match the skill set of the guy out there, and that’s Perry.”
Interim Head Coach Mike Locksley
Opening statement:
“It’s Penn State week and our guys are excited about getting back on the field. We got a couple of early practices in last week with the bye week, as a staff we were able to go through and evaluate where we are in all three phases. Right now, I feel really good about the energy of our team. We’re coming off our first really big work day today, the guys were moving around pretty well. I noticed that they’re excited about the opportunity to go play up in Baltimore this week in front of our Baltimore fan base. We’re going to face a really good Penn State team, a team that Coach Franklin has planned pretty well. Even though they had a little setback last week, they’ve been playing good football in all three phases and I expect them to give us everything they have on Saturday and we’re excited about the opportunity.”
On recruiting implications and rivalries:
“Rivalries take some time. Obviously, we’re pretty new in the conference. Fortunately for us, we were able to get a jump last year with the win, but it’ll take some time to build this thing into a rivalry that I’m sure our fans will like to see. Rivalries are usually started with being competitive on the field, and we got a pretty good start last year with coming up with a win in a tough place to play.”
On defending Penn State QB Christian Hackenberg:
“The big thing with Hackenberg is he can make all the throws. He’s a big, strong, pro-style quarterback … he’s pretty accurate as well. For us, we have to do the big job of getting him off his spot. He’s one of those guys that if you allow him to sit back there, he’ll pick you apart. So we have to do a pretty good job of mixing pressure and making him move off that spot and try to make him throw on the run. They do a pretty good job of protecting him with how they call the game. There’s a lot of quick passing to get the ball out of his hand, and again, he’s pretty accurate.”
On making changes during the past nine days and being head coach:
“The big thing with the changes for us is obviously - when you have the change that took place a week ago - you don’t want to try to do too much. As a staff, we’ve tried to focus on the mindset of the team. These guys are still young men and we’ve really worked on the mindset that sometimes life throws you curveballs and you have to keep pressing forward. We’ve tried to emphasize “go out and have fun.” We have the underdog mentality. Right now, I’m sure there’re not that many people that give us a chance to go out and have any success, but our guys are resilient. We have a really good core set of players that I think you’ll see on Saturday. They’ll come out and play with the passion that our fans deserve, they’ll come out and they’ll play hard, and the thing that we really stress is to have fun and play football in its purist form. It’s back in the day when you’d go out and play with your friends in the backyard and you just let it all cut loose: that’s the kind of mentality we want to play with because we really have nothing to lose as a program.
“For me, it is all about the kids and I’ll continue to make it about the kids. Stepping into the role of leading the program, there are a few things that I have to adjust and our staff has done a really good job picking up the slack from having me in and out of the meeting room with the offense, and then having to also play a role in making sure that the special teams and the defensive side of the ball are organized from the standpoint of preparing our players. I don’t expect it to be any different from any other game for me as coach, whether you’re leading the program or coordinator. The big thing is just going out, enjoying it, and having fun with it, and that’s what we’ll do.
“Whether the change happened or not, you have to look at each game as a one-game season and not look too forward to the future and enjoy the present. We’re at the halfway point, we’ve evaluated where we were in all three phases, we’ve tweaked some things to tailor the things we need to win against Penn State. That’s where all of the energy and focus has been, and that’s where it will remain for us.”
“A team takes on the personality of its leader and with me being the leader for the next six to seven weeks, you need to lighten the mood up a little bit. I don’t want our guys playing tight. I don’t want them thinking that they have to go out and play to win, to save people’s jobs, or to get a guy a job. I want them to go play football in its purist form, and that’s what I’ve talked about each day with these guys. The things we’ve done is make things really competitive at practice, every opportunity we get a chance to compete, we take it. Today, we took the scout team offense and scout team defense and put the ball at the ten and said “it’s third and go from the ten” and let them run two plays live against each other. Those guys haven’t had a lot of work other than being the look team for both the offense and defense, and they got excited about that… It starts with me having a high energy about how you go about doing things like practice, and I think we’ve seen a bit of change.”
On recruiting in the Baltimore area:
“I know our players are excited about going up and playing in Baltimore. Any chance we have the opportunity to go and play before our Baltimore fanbase is great for our program. Obviously a win against a good team like Penn State will have some effect in helping recruiting. But there are so many different programs that come in here and recruit because of the talent that is in this area. We have to continue to do our share of the battle.”
On previously working with James Franklin:
“James has always been an enthusiastic guy and has been very passionate from the times that we’ve worked together. From afar, I’ve seen how he’s matured and grown as a coach, and the success that he’s had as a head coach. I have a lot of respect for the job that he’s done. I’m excited about having the chance to go compete. It’ not about James, it’s about those players competing against Penn State. I know our players are really excited about the opportunity. He (Franklin) has them playing really well up there, and we have to get our guys to come out and execute at a high level and see how it all unfolds on Saturday.”
On concern of offense becoming one-dimensional:
“I don’t know where just moving Shane [Cockerille] to quarterback makes us one-dimensional. Those guys are going to have to throw the football. I doubt that we’ll just line up and get in a single wing and just run the ball every play. We’re going to have to throw the football at some point, so the move with Shane has something to do with Daxx [Garman] being banged up as a third quarterback, so we moved Shane back to quarterback. When you look at the hits that Perry [Hills] took in the Ohio State game, I don’t think his Mom would be really happy if we continue to let him get beat up like that. Shane asked to be moved to fullback this summer, so then I asked Shane to move back to quarterback. It gives us some depth and a big body, and the ability to execute this offense. It’s the same thing we did last year with CJ Brown. We’ll still have some throws in there, we’ll still be able to run it, but obviously we’ll run it to match the skill set of the guy out there, and that’s Perry.”
