Opening Statement: I appreciate you being here covering Penn State football. I’m looking forward to getting back in Beaver Stadium after a week off. This time of year it’s kind of unusual, this early in the season, to not be playing. We’re able to get out and get a ton of recruiting done. We’re able to take care of our guys from a rest and recovery standpoint, and we’re able to get some depth guys some work, some guys that are a little bit further down the depth chart, which was good. Then obviously being on the road recruiting.
We’ve got Kent State this week and Kenni Burns coming to town. Obviously Kenni is very familiar, not only with Penn State from what he studied us this year during his time at Kent State, but obviously also from his time at Minnesota with P.J. Fleck. Tremendous opportunity for both programs. We’re excited about having him. Obviously, they’ve had some challenges early in this year, but we’ve seen some good things on tape that we need to be prepared for, and we need to be ready for.
When you talk about their offense, Mark Carney is their offensive coordinator. They’re an RPO, tempo offense trying to base out of the spread—mainly out of 11 personnel. They will mix in some 12 personnel in as well.
Guys that we’ve been impressed with are their running back; No. 3, Ky Thomas, who is a Kansas transfer, their wide receiver; No. 0, Luke Floriea; and then also their wide receiver, No. 2, Chrishon McCray. Guys that they are trying to get the ball to in a number of different ways, and we’re going to need to be prepared for that.
Then defensively, Kody Morgan, he’s a North Dakota State guy. A lot of his career was there. He’s been at Kent State the last two years, but everybody has so much respect for the North Dakota State guys. They’ve done a really, really good job.
They’re a four-down front, which we’re used to from our defense. They use variations and middle of the field opening cover four and cover six. They will also close the middle of the field up with cover three and cover one. Again, things that we’re familiar with. Pressure overall about 33%. It spikes up a little bit on third down at 37%.
Then guys that we’ve been impressed with, their defensive end, No. 6, Stephen Daley; their linebacker, No. 8, Khalib Johns; and then their linebacker, No. 4, Rocco Nicholl. Rocco is from Philadelphia, Pa. He’s from St. Joe’s Prep. Then their defensive end, No. 11, Kameron Olds. Kameron Olds is a big kid, 6’4″, 245…
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