How Penn State DC Brent Pry is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic while focusing on football
Brent Pry, Penn State football’s defensive coordinator, said Tuesday he doesn’t feel relief during his online meetings until his final player links up.
The coordinator, who doubles as the linebackers coach, has plenty of personalities to track. Some are dealing better with the global pandemic than others. Some might have an impacted family member, who either lost a job or is sick. Some might have a parent in the medical field. And Pry wants to make sure he stays connected.
“You just don’t want to see anybody kind of slipping away or giving into this thing,” Pry said Tuesday morning during an online face-to-face meeting with reporters. “And we’ve been really good. Everybody’s meeting with their guys across the board.”
Pry said he’ll start every meeting by asking his players about their families and lives. He wants to know how they’re adjusting to schoolwork and how they’re adjusting to living under the constant threat of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“This isn’t about just business; it never is,” Pry added. “It’s never just about football. It’s so much more, even though football is such a big part of these guys’ lives.”
For now, Pry said he’s taking plenty of walks with his dogs — “And we’ve tried to walk our cats a couple times,” he added — and he’s learning a lot of new card games and board games. But he’s also trying to keep one of the nation’s top programs humming, by continuing to teach installations, break down film and move forward.
Here are the highlights from his call Tuesday:
Fixing the pass defense
Pry said one of the primary defensive focuses heading into 2019 was stopping the run — and he wondered aloud, “Did we get too aggressive in supporting the run and creating some liability?”
The Nittany Lions’ pass defense was among the nation’s worst by the end of the season. In the final eight games, the Nittany Lions allowed an average of 290 passing yards per game and a 62.4% completion rate — which, if the yardage was the season average, would’ve ranked No. 125 out of 130 FBS teams.
“The biggest reason, or area of concern to me, was explosive passes given up and why those were occurring,” Pry said. “Was it lack of a rush? Was it inexperience at the position? Was it quarterbacks able to ID coverage too easily? Was it not enough coverage variety? Was it too many coverages and not playing any of them quite well enough? ... So there’s a lot of questions to be answered.”
Pry said his staff is studying teams that defended the pass well to find answers. He’s also looked at different formations to see if there were any patterns as to where and why they struggled most.
But the coach who’s been with James Franklin since 2011 also has a new face to turn toward for answers. Penn State’s first-year offensive coordinator, Kirk Ciarrocca, has been an invaluable asset for Pry — especially considering his Minnesota offense carved up Pry’s defense last season to the tune of 339 yards on a 90% completion rate.
“We’ve had a couple of discussions about some key plays in that game, where they were able to take advantage of some things and why,” Pry said. “So it’s been great. Very knowledgeable football coach. Just a great student of the game, and I’m anxious to learn from Kirk. I’m very glad he’s on board with us.”
Situation(s) at LB
As the linebackers coach, Pry sees plenty of Micah Parsons and Co.
The coordinator wants to utilize Parsons more around the line of scrimmage in 2020, getting “a little more mileage” from him coming off the edge or through gaps. That means using him much like he was in the Cotton Bowl, when he racked up defensive MVP honors with 14 tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups.
But the bigger question right now is who’ll exactly take over for OLB Cam Brown and MLB Jan Johnson at the position. In the middle, Pry said, Jesse Luketa is battling with Ellis Brooks. On the other spot outside, the race is between Brandon Smith, Lance Dixon and Charlie Katshir.
Of those five, Dixon and Katshir saw the least time last year — with two tackles and five tackles, respectively.
“There’s a lot of depth in the room and a lot of competition,” Pry said. “And, in my experience, that’s pretty good ingredients for a good unit. So I’m excited about the guys.”
Adding former DE to staff
Former Big Ten Freshman of the Year Deion Barnes, who won the award in 2012, recently joined the staff as a defensive graduate assistant.
Barnes, who hails from Philadelphia, went undrafted in 2015 but spent one season with the New York Jets. He also played last season in the Alliance of American Football, before it ceased operations. And Pry said the Nittany Lions are happy to have him back.
“He’s always been well-thought of by our staff and everybody in our program, but he’s just grown as a person and as a coach, and I couldn’t be more excited to have him join us,” Pry said. “More proud that he wanted to come back to his alma mater. It was important to him.”
Pry, who mentioned Barnes’ “great relationships” in his hometown, is expected to be a big boon to recruiting. With the offseason departure of defensive line coach Sean Spencer, Pry said Barnes’ addition is important.
“You know, it’s tough to lose a guy like Spence,” Pry added, “but when you can replace him or hire some guys in his spot like John Scott and Deion Barnes, it makes you feel really good.”
Moving CB to safety
Rising redshirt sophomore Trent Gordon moved from his usual spot of cornerback to safety this offseason.
When asked why Gordon was moved, Pry declined to offer specifics about the player’s strengths and weaknesses. But he said it’s all about minimizing a player’s liabilities while maximizing his assets.
“When you look at a young man that’s a corner and you look at all the techniques and skills that you’d like for him to be good at, if he’s not checking enough of those boxes, if you fly him over to field safety and you look at the criteria there, does he check more of those boxes?” Pry asked. “And, for us, I think Trent Gordon was a perfect example.”
Gordon, who battled injuries last season, played in 10 games and finished with 20 tackles and five pass breakups.
Other notes
- Pry said he’s meeting with his players several times a week to go through installations “just like if we were back in Lasch, in that linebacker meeting room.” As time progresses, he said the team is growing more and more comfortable with it since they can still share computer screens, go through diagrams and watch videos together.
- Pry declined to offer a direct answer when asked when players need to get back together, practice-wise, to be in good position for the Sept. 5 opener. But he said the program is planning for several different scenarios.
- When it comes to nutrition, the defensive coordinator said diets have been adjusted based on how workouts have had to change and what foods are available to different players now. “Our nutrition staff has been having their Zoom meetings just like our coaching staff,” he said.
- With several vocal players and leaders leaving the team, due to graduation, Pry said there’s still plenty of other candidates waiting to fill those shoes. He initially mentioned safety Lamont Wade, defensive end Shaka Toney and defensive tackle Antonio Shelton as positive influences before noting four others who could make a leadership impact in 2020: DT PJ Mustipher, LB Jesse Luketa, LB Ellis Brooks and CB Tariq Castro-Fields.
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 3:42 PM.
