Notebook: News and notes from Penn State’s Friday media availability
Update: Penn State junior linebacker Brandon Smith announced Friday evening that will forgo the Outback Bowl and declare for the 2022 NFL Draft.
When Manny Diaz was fired by Miami, he didn’t know what was coming next. The former head coach was let go by the Hurricanes after the university openly courted another head coach, despite Diaz still being employed.
That stretch of time — from their open chase to hire Mario Cristobal to Diaz’s opening press conference on Friday as Penn State’s new defensive coordinator — took its toll on Diaz, who said the last month had been a long year. The new defensive coordinator was unsure about his future at that point.
“I had no idea,” Diaz said in his introductory press conference. “I think everything was on the table. When you came out of the situation like what we came out of at Miami, you don’t really know where you’re going to go next.”
The former Miami head coach is now tasked with moving forward as the Nittany Lions’ new defensive leader and play caller, a role he’s quite familiar with. Diaz spent three seasons as Miami’s defensive coordinator before he became the team’s head coach and held the same position at multiple other schools prior to his time in Florida.
Part of the appeal in taking the new job was the vision he shared with Penn State head coach James Franklin.
“Really going back to Coach Franklin’s days at Vanderbilt, I think he’s established a style of play that’s been very aggressive,” Diaz said. “It’s presented as very multiple to the offense, trying to create negative plays while trying to limit explosive plays allowed. Those are all things that are in my background. ... I think when he and I started speaking about who we were and what we wanted to be, we were all speaking the same language.”
While those two coaches share a vision, it does not mean the defense will look exactly the same as it did under former defensive coordinator Brent Pry, who left the staff in early December to become the head coach at Virginia Tech.
Instead, Diaz will be imparting his own tactics and leaving an imprint however he sees fit on the Penn State defense — even if he doesn’t know how that will look quite yet.
“I think that’s still be determined,” Diaz said about making his own impact. “I am observing this week. I’m really finding out who they are and what they were. ... Everywhere you are, you’re always looking to improve on yourself week in and week out. ... That’s really what spring will be out, is finding out what we’re good at with the 2022 version of this defense.”
Clifford returning for sixth year
Penn State redshirt senior starting quarterback Sean Clifford announced his decision to return for a sixth season in early December, but took the time to elaborate on why he made the call Friday morning. Clifford, who has started for the Nittany Lions over the past three seasons, should once again have that role in 2022.
“There’s a lot of factors that played into it,” Clifford said. “...I thought that just coming back was my best decision and one that could help the team as well. I’m definitely excited about it.”
His return sets up Penn State to succeed in 2022 at the quarterback position in a way it hasn’t since he became the starter. The senior has never had the same offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach in back-to-back years since he became the starter in 2019.
Next season, with Mike Yurcich returning in both roles, will present that opportunity to him. That is something he wants to take advantage of in his final year.
“That was definitely one of the most appealing things and factors that played into it,” Clifford said. “...I have yet to have that as a starter. To be honest with you, it has been difficult at times because you can’t really go back to the last season and look at the tape and say, ‘all right, we’re gonna grow on this play, this play and this play,’ because there’s new plays coming in the door.”
There will still be more football to be played for Clifford, who hasn’t lost sight of the core reason for his return.
All of the time he has spent preparing, getting healthy, staying healthy and improving has been because he loves the game and because it gives him joy.
“I love the game,” Clifford said. “I love what football has brought to me, the opportunities that it’s given to me. ... I want to keep playing football for as long as possible. So every day that I get to play this game, I’m extremely appreciative of the opportunity.”
Future of bowl games
Franklin spoke at length Friday about the future of bowl games and how meaningful they are. The games have begun to be less indicative of how good a team is now that high-level players are opting out to protect their futures as they pursue a career in the NFL.
While Penn State has not had any players opt out as of Franklin’s press conference, the program’s opponent in the Outback Bowl has had them. Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks chose to opt out of the game with the support of his head coach, Sam Pittman.
“Not that he needed it,” Pittman said, according to 247Sports, “but I supported him. And the first that goes along with that is you find out where he is projected in the draft. You start talking that at first. At the end of things he visited with his family and he made a decision, and we are 100% behind him and support him in that decision.”
While Franklin said he understands why players opt out, he’s hopeful that there’s a way to make more bowl games mean more moving forward.
“We’re talking about eight playoff spots or 12 playoffs spots,’ Franklin said. “In my mind, you make it as big as possible, because once we expand the playoffs, in my opinion, we’re gonna continue to de-emphasize those other bowl games. To me, if we’re gonna expand the playoffs, we should expand it as big as we possibly can to allow more teams the opportunity to play for the title. But also to be able to protect those bowl games by including them in those process as much as possible.”
Offense in review
Yurcich spoke Friday for the first time since the season ended and was blunt with his assessment of how his unit played.
“Not good enough,” Yurcich said. “A lot of room to improve. We didn’t execute at the level we need to execute at. I take the blame, it solely falls on my shoulders. We’ll get better and I’ll get better. We’re going to work really hard to get us to a championship level offense. We’re not there yet. We’re going to continue to strive and drive and do all the things necessary to compete and get to that level. Or I’m gonna die trying.”
The Nittany Lions ranked 69th in Bill Connelly’s SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency, well below where it has finished in recent years of Franklin’s tenure as head coach.
Yurcich was able to find success in the passing game for a large portion of the season, but the team struggled mightily on the ground. The offensive coordinator said some coaches would have been fine with that balance and trudged forward, but that wasn’t going to cut it at Penn State.
“When you’re trying to run the ball and be successful, you’ve got to give it chances,” Yurcich said. “You can’t just abort it. I think maybe some people may have. Maybe some coaches would have said ‘Screw it, let’s try to throw it 60 times a game and it is what it is.’ We’re not gonna do that. We’re gonna try to run the ball.”
While his offense may have struggled in his first year at Penn State, Yurcich doesn’t believe that’s necessarily indicative of how it will perform in the Big Ten moving forward.
He was confident that the issues at hand can be fixed with adjustments. Part of that adjustment will be the continued establishment of an identity for his offense to hang its hat on.
“At the end of the day we’ve gotta have something to put our hat on,” Yurcich said. “And you’ve got to have that identity. And we tried to establish that identity. We wanted to come downhill last year and we wanted to get under center at times and we wanted to be physical. We’re gonna continue and stay steady in the boat with our plan. We’re gonna be able to adjust along the way on things that we feel that we need to adjust based on our personnel.”
Quick Hitters
- Of note, Jaquan Brisker, Jahan Dotson, Arnold Ebiketie, Brandon Smith, Rasheed Walker and Ellis Brooks were all not made available to speak despite being six of the team’s best players. None of the six have confirmed if they’ll play in the bowl game or if the four with remaining eligibility — Dotson, Walker, Brooks and Smith — will be back in 2022.
- DE/LB Jesse Luketa said he intends to play in the Outback Bowl but has not made a decision about whether or not he’ll return to Penn State in 2022.
- S Ji’Ayir Brown has not made a decision about whether or not he’ll return to Penn State for next season. Brown has one year of eligibility remaining.
