Ryan Day Discusses Haskell Garrett, Justin Fields, Traveling to Penn State in Weekly Press Conference
Here are a few quotes from Ryan Day during his weekly press conference. You can watch the press conference in its entirety in the video above.
On Haskell Garrett's ability to play and impact on Saturday
"While I think everybody gets a lot of credit for that. I thought that when the incident happened, our medical personnel here were on top of it right from the jump. We were able to get him in with a great surgeon and the recovery was excellent. And then I thought our people here - Mick Marotti, Larry Johnson, our training staff - did a great job of getting him to be able to play in a game without a ton of contact leading up to the game. And ultimately, it's a great job by Haskell getting his body and mind ready too play well without getting a lot of those reps. So it was a team effort, but at the end of the day, you've got to give Haskell a majority of the credit."
On how the running backs played
"I thought they were solid. I thought as the game went on, they played better. Same thing just with the run game in general. I think early on, it was just okay. It was the first game and we are really looking hard to take the next step in game two. One of the things you just don't get used to is going against those different fronts in terms of a scout team. The look just isn't the same. But as the game went on, I thought it got better. The more we go against different looks, the more comfortable we'll get. And then the running backs have to continue to get tackled and get a feel for what that's like, keep their pads down, see the different cuts that are there. So I don't think it was great early on, but I think as it went on it got better."
Preparing to play on the road for the first time
"It's very, very different in a lot of areas. Just going to the hotel, we have to have protocol in place for how we handle the food, where do we come together, where do we eat, all those things ... the plane rides, the bus rides, how do we space that out? It's a lot of stuff. Brian Voltolini, Quinn Temple and so many people here are working hard to make sure those logistics are good. It's our job to make sure we cover all that stuff so the players don't have to worry about it. We want as few distractions as possible, because like you said we've got to go get our first road win - and no matter what happens, it's hard to win in Happy Valley. We've learned that before. We'll work hard to make sure that plan is organized and run smoothly and the players are able to focus on the game."
On if he's comfortable with Justin Fields running the ball 15 times
"Yeah I thought he did a great job. Most of those runs were scrambles and that's about what we do in terms of the run game - he'll pull it some. But a lot of the running was passes. I thought he extended some plays really well and that's part of his game. There's going to be sacks, but there's also extended plays for huge plays and that's the game for Justin. It was different for Dwayne (Haskins) and different for other quarterbacks. But for him, for every sack you're going to get two or three extended plays. There's three in particular: one was the touchdown run and if you tell him to throw it away there he doesn't scramble for a touchdown. So there's a give and take and I think as the year progressed last year and even into this year, he's doing a good job of it. He's taking care of the football and making decisions at the right time. I think there are times he can keep his eyes downfield a little longer, but overall I thought it was a really good game for him."
------
You may also like:
Penn State Loses Second Running Back Ahead of Ohio State Game
