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What We Learned From Penn State Interim Coach Terry Smith's Press Conference · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Ohio State Penn State game kicks off on Saturday
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: at noon inside the Horseshoe, which constitutes a big game
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: week here in Columbus, no matter what Penn State's record
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  Speaker 1: might suggest. So on today's we're doing a little bit
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of a bonus episode of the Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning Podcast
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: because there's just a lot to talk about this week.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you hear a little bit from Penn
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  Speaker 1: State interim head coach Terry Smith on this episode. You
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: get to hear from him a little bit last week.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: That's interesting stuff to say during his Monday press conference
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  Speaker 1: this week as well, so you're getting an extra episode.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: You're welcome, slash sorry, depending on how you feel about that.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So we're going to start with just Terry Smith thought
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  Speaker 1: on Ohio States wide receivers. Terry Smith himself was a
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  Speaker 1: college wide receiver at Penn State back in the late
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  Speaker 1: eighties early nineties, as coach wide receivers at various points
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  Speaker 1: at Penn State over the years as well, so he
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  Speaker 1: had some insights there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this week will be an extreme challenge. You know
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: how State has a long history of great receivers. Arguably
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: these two are two are the better ones in that list.
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  Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith is as good as they come. We were
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: hoping he'd go through this sophomore slump, but obviously he's not.
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  Speaker 3: He's just got everything.
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  Speaker 2: He's big, strong, fast, runs, great routes, competes.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we have our hands full.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, our job on the back end is
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  Speaker 2: to make those guys earn it. We have to limit
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  Speaker 2: their explosive plays, keep the ball in front of us,
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  Speaker 2: make them earn their way down the field, and not
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: give up one play.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Scores or Obviously a lot of challenges facing Terry Smith
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  Speaker 1: and the Niitney Allons this week. Obviously they're coming to
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  Speaker 1: Columbus to take on the number one team in the nation.
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  Speaker 1: You can put that at the top of the list.
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  Speaker 1: But he's also just tasked with trying to just keep
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: this team together. Because Penn State came into this year
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  Speaker 1: with huge expectations, big ten shamp in national championship. All
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: of that is completely out the window at this point.
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  Speaker 1: They've lost four games in a row and now they
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  Speaker 1: have to go play Ohio State in Indiana back to back.
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  Speaker 1: That is no one's idea of a good time, even
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  Speaker 1: in the best of times, and This is not the
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  Speaker 1: best of times for Penn State. So how is he
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  Speaker 1: working on keeping this team together? What kind of challenge
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  Speaker 1: has that been, and why does he feel like they'll
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: be ready for what is ahead of them on Saturday
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  Speaker 1: in the Horseshoe.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's challenging to keep us together. You know, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: you know it starts with my title. I'm the interim
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  Speaker 2: head coach. You know, that could be portrayed as the
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  Speaker 2: substitute teacher. You know, there's just someone that's different at
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  Speaker 2: the helm. You know, our routines are the same, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, I've tweaked the schedule slightly. We're going to
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: do things a little bit different in the sense of
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  Speaker 2: how I would like to do it. And those guys
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  Speaker 2: in the locker room have bought into it. So each
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  Speaker 2: day we continue to get more camaraderie, each day we
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  Speaker 2: get closer, each day we continue to work harder. We
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  Speaker 2: have great leadership in the locker room. Even a guy
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  Speaker 2: like Drew Alar, you know, has been around and been
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  Speaker 2: very very present. He actually stopped in to see me
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  Speaker 2: this morning and ask how can he help support And
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  Speaker 2: you know, we have that type of leadership. So the
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  Speaker 2: guys have been great. They've worked hard, we had a
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  Speaker 2: great bye week. They're buying into it. How do we
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  Speaker 2: go up and beat Ohio State, a number one team
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  Speaker 2: in the country. We have to do it together. We
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  Speaker 2: have to be as one. We cannot make mistakes. Well,
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  Speaker 2: we have to be fishing with the football. The most
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  Speaker 2: important thing we have to do is be able to
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  Speaker 2: run the football. We have to outrush Ohio State to
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  Speaker 2: have a chance. Obviously, They're defense is elite, their number
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  Speaker 2: one defense in the country.
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  Speaker 3: They've got a lot of elite talent.
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  Speaker 2: They're big upfront, they're fast in the middle, and you
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  Speaker 2: know they can cover on the back end. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: we have to be creative on offense to run the football.
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  Speaker 2: Get k Tron Allen going again. We have to find
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  Speaker 2: a way to get Nick Singleton going because we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: need those two guys. There are two best offensive weapons,
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  Speaker 2: and we just got to continue to play mistake free
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  Speaker 2: football and then when we need to make a play,
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  Speaker 2: we have to be able to come up with some
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  Speaker 2: type of scheme to make a play.
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  Speaker 1: Now, an update on the quarterback situation at Penn State,
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  Speaker 1: and it is kind of a complicated situation. Obviously, no
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  Speaker 1: Drew Aller. You know, he's out for the year, although
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  Speaker 1: he has apparently, according to Smith, been at the facility
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  Speaker 1: this week trying to help the team get ready for
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  Speaker 1: this weekend's game against Ohio State. The third stringer now
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  Speaker 1: second stringer, Jackson Smollick. He played a little bit last
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  Speaker 1: week against Iowa as they're running kind of a two
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  Speaker 1: QB thing.
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  Speaker 3: He got hurt.
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  Speaker 1: Er Smith did not have any update on his availability
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  Speaker 1: for this weekend. If he can't go through freshman Bellum Critza,
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  Speaker 1: who entered the season as a fourth quarterback, he would
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  Speaker 1: then be available as the backup, so he could go
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  Speaker 1: from fourth string to second string depending on how Smollos
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  Speaker 1: available fused, hopefully not the starter. This is simple. That's
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  Speaker 1: going to be Ethan Grunkhemeier. He is a native of
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  Speaker 1: Central Ohio. Played his high school ball at Olin Tangi
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  Speaker 1: High School up in Lewis Center, just north of Columbus.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the next step for him on Saturday after
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  Speaker 1: his first career start last week or two weeks ago
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  Speaker 1: against Iowa.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, grunk the next step for him is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: obviously we got to put him in position to succeed.
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  Speaker 2: We can't ask him to go out there and you know,
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  Speaker 2: throw the ball forty five times and be effective and
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  Speaker 2: win that way. We've got to create the run game
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  Speaker 2: and you know, have some pass plays off the run game.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to be able to give him some throws
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  Speaker 2: that are you know, some one or two red type
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  Speaker 2: throws and not over complicated for him. You know, Beckham Chris,
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  Speaker 2: you know he's coming off of an injury. He's available
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  Speaker 2: this week. If he had the opportunity to go into
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  Speaker 2: the game, you know, the game plan would be very similar.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we'd have to keep it simple for him
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  Speaker 2: to have success and you know, not demand a lot
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  Speaker 2: from him and the other guys have to step up
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  Speaker 2: the offensive line as a veteran crew, you know, we're
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  Speaker 2: led by those guys. So we have to run the
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  Speaker 2: football and you know, continue to focus on k Tron Allen.
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  Speaker 1: Penn State is similar to Ohio State, where they're not
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  Speaker 1: underdogs very often, and this weekend they are about three
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  Speaker 1: touchdown underdogs coming into Columbus. That really doesn't happen very
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  Speaker 1: often for Penn State. So is something like that motivation
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  Speaker 1: or is that something they don't really talk about around
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  Speaker 1: the lash building.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you use it as motivation, but I don't know
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  Speaker 2: if we're allowed to because with these gambling rules now,
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  Speaker 2: can can I even talk about point spreads?
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  Speaker 3: You know?
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know we you know, obviously, no one's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: given us a chance, and I'm gonna, you know, reemphasize
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  Speaker 2: that to our team. I don't think we've ever been
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  Speaker 2: twenty point underdogs since I've been here.
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  Speaker 3: But it's a motivation.
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  Speaker 2: You know, no one believes in us, and we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: come out and fight like we did at Iowa, or
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna fight a little harder.
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  Speaker 1: Penn State has for decades been known as linebacker you
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  Speaker 1: you know all the names. I don't need to go
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  Speaker 1: through them, but this year the linebacker position has been
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  Speaker 1: an issue. They lost Tony Rojas to injury and they
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  Speaker 1: were already kind of thin there as soon as Rojas
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  Speaker 1: rent and that went down, that created some big injuries.
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  Speaker 1: Former walk on Dominic DeLuca has been thrown into a
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  Speaker 1: bigger role as a result of Rojas's injury. But if
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  Speaker 1: you listen to Penn State fans Penn State media, there
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  Speaker 1: has been you know that there has been some issues
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  Speaker 1: there with Dominic Deluca's play. So does that mean it's
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  Speaker 1: time to maybe run out some of the younger guys
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  Speaker 1: at linebacker and see what they can do. You're gonna
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  Speaker 1: hear in this answer, he's gonna mention Cam Smith. He
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  Speaker 1: was actually teammates with Isaiah West at Saint Justine's Prep
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  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, and brace yourself. One of the freshman linebackers
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  Speaker 1: in the linebacker room for Penn State this year is
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  Speaker 1: LeVar Arrington.
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  Speaker 3: The second.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Cam Smith is another kid that has an opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Alex has had, you know, a good start
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  Speaker 2: to his freshman year.
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  Speaker 3: He's a talented kid.
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  Speaker 2: He's big, strong, fast, you know, he's learning the system
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  Speaker 2: as they all are, and we just have to create
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  Speaker 2: more depth at the linebacker position. You know, when Tony
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  Speaker 2: Rojas went down, that was that's a big gap that
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  Speaker 2: we haven't really replaced yet, and so we're just searching
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  Speaker 2: for some answers to to be able to help the
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  Speaker 2: defensive line, you know, to stop the run game, which
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  Speaker 2: is critical in this game. If they get going in
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  Speaker 2: a run game, it'll be a long day. So we've
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  Speaker 2: got to be able to protect that front seven.
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  Speaker 1: Smith has taken out a much bigger and a much
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  Speaker 1: different role this season. He's been coaching a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: different positions on both sides of the ball over the
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  Speaker 1: last ten or so years in Happy Valley. But obviously
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  Speaker 1: that role has really changed now now that he's gone
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  Speaker 1: from position coach to interim head coach. So how has
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  Speaker 1: his relationship with the players changed with that job title switch.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's a little bit different.
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  Speaker 2: You know. I was always coach T, you know, as
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  Speaker 2: cornerbacks coach, and my role prior.
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  Speaker 3: I got along with everyone.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone saw me as coach T, kind of the og
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  Speaker 2: coach on one of the older coaches on staff. And
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  Speaker 2: now they see me in a different light.
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  Speaker 3: You know. It's like the building sees me different.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of like every way one gets
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  Speaker 2: quiet when I walk in now. So it's it's just different,
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  Speaker 2: but it's positive in the sense of, you know, I'm
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  Speaker 2: still coach T and I'm the guy that you know,
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  Speaker 2: still gets along with everyone. It's my job to rally
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  Speaker 2: us together. I want to give the players a voice
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  Speaker 2: to how this story ends and how do we write
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  Speaker 2: this next chapter, and so you know.
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  Speaker 3: It's all about those guys.
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  Speaker 2: So I told the staff, you know, there was a
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: video that Urban Meyer was talking about one of his
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  Speaker 2: former coaches is now the interim head coach at Florida,
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  Speaker 2: and the video basically said that we have hiver many
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: opportunities games left in the season. We have to put
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: it on film that if we want our next jobs
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  Speaker 2: as coaches, we have to coach so that the film
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  Speaker 2: shows we're deserving.
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  Speaker 3: Of our next job.
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  Speaker 2: And so I showed that to our staff, and we
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: owe it to these guys to pour into them and
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  Speaker 2: to give everything we can. So we're gonna work our
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  Speaker 2: tails off. It's my job to make sure that the
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  Speaker 2: staff doesn't come up short. We're going to demand excellence
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  Speaker 2: as we've always have here. And you know I promised that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when we went to Iowa, we were going
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  Speaker 2: to play hard. You know I'm gonna double down on
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  Speaker 2: that when we go up here to Ohio State. Effort
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  Speaker 2: will never be an issue that for any team that
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  Speaker 2: I coach. This week, we're going to try to figure
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  Speaker 2: out how to give that maximum effort with victory.
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  Speaker 1: Earlier in the show, you heard him talking about Ohio
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: State's wide receiver position and the incredible talent that they
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: have there wide receivers. At Penn State, not so much
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  Speaker 1: they have been an issue for several years at Penn State.
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  Speaker 1: They were a little bit better this year than they
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: were last year. So what has he seen from that
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  Speaker 1: group this year and has he been maybe in more
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: involved with them over the last couple of weeks. He
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: was the cornerbacks coach beforehand, but obviously now he's in
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: charge of the whole team, so has he taken on
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: a bigger role there?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so our receivers.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously the production isn't where you want it
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  Speaker 2: to be, all right, That's that's the truth of the matter.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: How do we get it better? You know, part of
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: it is established a run game so that now we
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: can play action pass and you know, throw some balls
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: in behind the linebackers and into that intermediate zone. You know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: obviously there's always chatter about we got to throw the
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: ball down the field, and we do want to take
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: calculated risk down the field and throw the ball.
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  Speaker 3: We've got these young receivers.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to give those guys an opportunity to try
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  Speaker 2: to inject some life into that past group. You know,
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  Speaker 2: Ethan Grunkamer, you know, new quarterback at the Helm. There's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: just a lot of dynamics with the pass game. I
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: do think we'll be able to throw the ball a
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: little bit better this week at Ohio State. You know,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: I'm demanding from coach Kolinniky that you know he's creative
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: in the past game in the sense that you know,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: we don't want to throw the ball so much horizontally,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: we want to throw it vertically.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Earlier this year, James Franklin called Terry Smith the ultimate
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: truth teller? So has that meant that Terry Smith has
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: maybe had to have some hard conversations with people over
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks after he took over James
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Franklin's job.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I am known in the building as the truth teller,
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  Speaker 2: and you guys probably can tell because I tell you
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  Speaker 2: the truth as well.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, We've had.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Some tough conversations. You know, it's just the only way
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  Speaker 2: I'm built. I would want to know if I was
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: falling short so that I can fix it.
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  Speaker 3: And it's how I was raised and brought up.
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  Speaker 2: The one thing that I worked very hard on in
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: my truth telling is trying to not be so direct
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: and deliver such a hard mess. I'm working really hard
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: on that. I'm a work in progress, so please bear
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: with me. But we've had those conversations with with staff members.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: They've been great. Everyone's understanding, everyone's open to it. We're
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: going to continue to work and push forward in no
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: sense and just try and figure out how to get
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: the victory. So, you know, tough conversations are part of
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: our business and they're necessary.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Though, talked about the quarterbacks earlier in the show, We're
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: going to talk about them again and never get too
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: much quarterback talk. The Netanellons ran out some two quarterback
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: look at Iowa with Ethan Grunckemeier and Jackson Smollick both
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: taking snaps there was that what made that something that
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: they went to in that situation? And if Jackson Smollick
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: is out this week, is that something that they'll still
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: stick with.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the two quarterback you know, came up the offensive
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: staff and myself, we were in discus. We thought it
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: would be something more for the opponent to prepare for.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: We felt like it was successful and you know how
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: it went down. You know, going forward, you know, we
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: want to be multiple, we want to be creative. We
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: want to find different ways to make teams prepare for
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: us and get the ball to our guys in space.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, it's still an option and open on
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: the table.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Terry Smith has talked a couple of times about the
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: fact that he's really basically demanded that they throw the
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: ball down the field more. He feels that's something they're
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: just going to have to do. They're going to have
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: to try and make that happen in order to stretch
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the field and maybe open some things up in the
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: running game. So what have those conversations with offensive coordinator
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Andy kotal Nikki been like, as he's demanded more downfield passing.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: He's been awesome.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: There's not been any challenging or anything like that. And
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe the manding is probably not the right word.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm you know, when I go to him,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I'm saying, hey, listen, you know, this is what I'm thinking.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, you know what, I was thinking the
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: same thing, and like we're on the same page. We're
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: thinking alike. You know, in this profession, you know, when
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: you lose four games in a row, we're all humble.
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  Speaker 2: We're all trying to find the problem and find a solution,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, we're just working toward that and trying
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: to figure out what's the best thing for us to
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: move forward, and Coach k has been awesome with that.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: All right, So there you go. A little from Terry Smith,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: interim Penn State head coach. You get to hear from
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Ohio State's head coach Ryan Day on Tuesday at noon.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: We'll have that streaming live at YouTube dot com slash
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Bucket Huddle. Those are always a great great interviews. Get
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: a chance to talk to him for twenty thirty minutes,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: get some real in depth information from him as well.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: On the other side of this game, kind of a different,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: different situation, the buck guys a lot more stuff on
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  Speaker 1: the line for them. We'll be talking to Ryan Day
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: about all that all on Tuesday at YouTube dot com
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: slash Buckey Huddle, and then of course you can join
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the conversation with us afterwards at Buckeye Huddle dot com.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: That's where we've got our whole team of insiders covering
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: the team, covering recruiting, covering X's nose all let him
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: more all at Buckeye Huddle dot com. Thanks for joining us,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.