Utah Football Quotes: Penn State (Dec. 29)

Defensive Coordinator and Safeties Coach Morgan Scalley
On Wednesday's festivities at Disneyland…
"(It was) Awesome. I'm a Disneyland guy. My family goes every year. We kind of know the route. It was a neat experience, and for the guys on the team that haven't done it before, you could tell who loved it, who didn't by how many hit the first bus out. It was great."

On similarities with Penn State…
"I would say fairly similar. They pride themselves in running the ball. The quarterback is a smart, savvy football player that understands coverages, and they are a physical football team. Offensive line is very well-coached. The wide receivers, you can tell they block. So you can tell a team that plays physical and is coached the right way."

Does it feel weird to face a team that resembles you?
"I think we've faced those teams before. Oregon State is very similar to what we do. They're a physical team, a lot of shifts and motions, eye tricks and stuff like that and pride themselves on running the ball, so we've faced teams like that. This is a high-caliber team. They've won 10 games for a reason, and we're excited for the opportunity."

On how playing Pac-12 quarterbacks can prepare Utah for this matchup…
"Yeah, the other thing, too, is just the different types of offenses that you see in the Pac-12. We've had our running quarterbacks, and then you've had the teams a lot like us that pride themselves in running the ball. They're a play-action team, will hit you deep. So they're a lot more like Oregon State than maybe like a USC.

"But if a team can play smashmouth football and beat you up around the ball, it's a long day. It's no fun."

On how Utah's defense is different now from the beginning of the season…
"Yeah, at the beginning of the season, you had Lander Barton (as) a true freshman, Mohamoud Diabate, getting his feet wet in our defense, some miscues early. But this is a fun group to coach, and they take to coaching. They take to hard coaching. Every week they've come ready to prepare.

"I thought they got better every single week, and usually that happens when you have leadership and guys buy into the process and understand, okay, the film is going to show you everything; don't listen to the outside noise, the film will show you everything you need to know about what we need to correct, what we need to fix, and they've done that, and I'm proud of them."

On what stands out in the progression to this point…
"I would say just their buy-in to each other. You saw early on a bunch of guys just trying to do their 1/11th and trying to get their job done instead of playing together as a complete defense, and you see that a little bit in the celebration now. They all celebrate together, and they're having fun together. They're buying into each other, understanding that, okay, not only am I understanding my 1/11th, but what that 11th does for the other guy.

"If you come watch practice, it's fun. They're having fun. It's a group that if you don't have that camaraderie, it makes it really difficult in this defense, so proud of them."

On Clark Phillips III and what he's meant to this defense…
"Yeah, again, he came in and did nothing but buy into the process, buy into what we were doing.

"I wish I had a million Clark Phillips. I'm proud of him for what he's accomplished. I'm grateful for what he's brought to our program. I've learned more from Clark than he's probably learned from me, and wish him and his family nothing but the best."

On Utah's trajectory as a program since his playing days…
"Yeah. Yeah, we joke about it all the time. We had our old facility, we had one bathroom and you had to go downstairs to use it.

"Just from the facilities to just the depth on your team of athletes, your ability to recruit. I remember going to Houston, Texas, and really people asking Utah what conference are you in? And now it's "Hey Scalley, I've got a guy for you." So just completely different.

"I remember going to a coach, we were playing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and he said, be careful what you wish for, and then we beat Alabama, and you go on and have some of the success that we've had, and those same coaches look at you a little bit differently now.

"Coach Whittingham and just the athletic department, the faith they've had in him, he had two 5-7 seasons in a row, but just their belief in him to get it where it needed to be, credit to this university and the administrative staff and credit to Kyle Whittingham who's just done a phenomenal job of creating a culture, sustaining a culture, recruiting to it, and just continuing to have success."

On the R.S.N.B. identity of the Utah defense…
"Well, our culture is something that we take pride in. R.S.N.B. – relentless, smart, nasty, ball hawks. It's something that we established I think my second year as a defensive coordinator, but it really ties into Coach Whittingham's team-like culture. Culture is everything in my opinion, and if you don't create it, it's going to create itself. Sometimes a lot of the time it's not what you want.

"Our guys understand that being relentless makes up for a lot of mistakes on the field. Playing smart is not – smart situationally, understanding an offense, how they're going to attack you in certain situations. Nasty is not blowing snot rockets and yelling and screaming; it's taking ownership in your role, not giving excuses, not making excuses, and then ball hawks is just the ball is meant for our offense to have it, not for their offense to have it, and we've got to get it back."

Sophomore Safety Cole Bishop
How is everything going so far?
"Good. We went to Disney and everything yesterday. That was pretty sweet. Back to it today."

Are you excited for Lawry's?
"Yeah, I'm excited because last year we just sat at the hotel. It's going to be a little better this year. I'm excited. It's going to be cool."

On game prep…
"I think it's better this year just because everyone -- we did it last year already, so everyone is more focused on the game. But I'm excited for it."

On what he sees from Penn State's offense…
"Definitely very physical team. They like to run the ball a lot. The quarterback's good. You got a good receiving corps as well. But mostly a physical, running the ball team."

On last year's Rose Bowl Game performance motivating the defense this season…
"More than anything. Last year was such a close game. Everyone is always saying like, oh, that was such a good game. But on the defensive side, we played terrible. We gave up all those points, yards, interceptions.

"And it's just -- that's all I've been thinking about, for the most part, is we can't do that again. And us being not nearly as depleted as last year I think is going to help us do that.

"So having our secondary, pretty much everybody, for the most part, will help us succeed, I think."

On progression of the young guys on this defense…
"Yeah, definitely. I mean, guys like Lander Barton, Connor O'Toole, guys that this is their – like Connor switched to defense, and then Lander, being a freshman, just the more and more game experience we're getting, just the better off our defense has been.

"Early on we had a lot of mistakes, missed tackles, missed assignments. But as the weeks go on, those definitely minus out, and we've been playing some good defense."

How would you describe last year, just being in that environment?
"It was awesome, being able to run out, and all the fans and everything. I don't know the exact percentage, but it felt like there was a lot of Utah fans there. And just knowing that I'm pretty sure we've got a lot of guys traveling this year for the fan base.

And I think it will be cool having the red and the blue, different colors, so that way you can see the – because last year everyone was in red, so it was hard to tell. But, I mean, it's an amazing atmosphere."

What is the main key against the Penn State offense?
"Owning our 20 square feet. That's a big thing that Coach Scalley harps on and we all try to practice in our everyday lives. If everyone just does their job, beats their guy, does their assignment, then we can win this game."

Did you envision this would be your trajectory two years into Utah?
"Not necessarily. I mean, last year everyone would always, say, oh, this is a once in a lifetime -- my family, friends were like: That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You better enjoy it. And then losing just really sucked because you never know if you're going to get that chance again.

"So, yeah, I played in the Rose Bowl and we lost, so it's not that cool, but having another opportunity to do it again this year and just being able to redeem ourselves is special for me."

Senior Safety R.J. Hubert
On what he's seen from Penn State…
"Yeah, they're going to run the football. They're going to try to establish a healthy run game. Run play-action off of it, as they should do if you have a good run game going. So they're a really good team, well-coached and they do their assignments really well."

On being back in the Rose Bowl again and coming back from injury…
"Last year was a little bit tough. Being in the Rose Bowl I wasn't part of the game that got us here which was the championship game. So to know that I played a part in the whole season and then having a 9-3 record and going to win a championship and being a big part of that, it really kind of helps -- it's gratifying to say the least.

"It helps me to realize I'm part of the reason that we're here. Let's take advantage of this opportunity. Just really grateful to be in this position."

On Wednesday's parade at Disneyland…
"It's amazing. It's something I've always dreamed of doing. I've always loved Disneyland and I've always been the one watching the parade. To actually be in the parade is just a mind-blowing experience."

On the team's mentality being back for a second Rose Bowl…
"It's fun. I mean, you want to enjoy the bowl experience, but I think a lot of us are thinking of this as a business trip. There's a lot of fun things that we get to do, like Disneyland, like go to the wax museum and things like that.

"But for the most part we just have to separate that from the work that we're doing, the meetings that we're having, the film that we're watching and the practices. And I think we're doing a pretty good job of that so far. We've just got to keep on that course."

Senior Defensive End Gabe Reid
On quarterback Cameron Rising…
"I think for me Cam plays a big role on our team obviously, but something that maybe you guys don't see from the outside is he is a very genuine person. I think he takes the time to get to know every one of the guys, and that really fuels our team where everybody knows that we're a tight-knit group and everybody cares about everybody.

"Yeah, it's been great to have them on offense just being successful the way they have been this year because it fuels us as a defense to get a longer break on the sideline, and that momentum builds across the ball."

On what he's seen from Penn State…
"They're a really good offense. I think across the board. O-line, running backs, quarterbacks and receivers, they're all really good. So we're excited for the challenge. Just, yeah, it's going to be a good game, so we're excited."

On Utah and Penn State mirroring each other…
"Definitely. I think we had heard that from the beginning when we found out that we were going to play Penn State. And as I have continued to watch film and study, prepare for the game, I've seen a lot of carry-over.

"I haven't watched a lot of their defense. I've heard their defense is legit and tough, and I feel like that's similar to our program.

"And what I have seen from the offense is the same type of scheme, same type of physicality that I have seen from our offense."

On what needs to happen to be successful next week…
"I think just do what we've been doing all season. There's going to be ups and downs throughout the game, but as long as we continue to rely on each other and just focus on the next play, the next drive, we'll be good. We have the guys.

"And obviously Penn State has a good team, but I feel confident about our abilities and think we'll make the plays we need to make."

On his impressions of the Penn State tight ends…
"They're huge. I think they're an integral part. Very similar to our offense both in the run game with blocking and opening holes up for the running backs as well as the pass game in terms of play action and other route combos.

"So they're a good group of guys that work well together with the O-line and the running backs, so we're definitely going to have our hands full about."

On ending his college career at the Rose Bowl Game…
"It means the world to me, man. I feel like I couldn't write a better ending to my college career. Yeah, I'm very excited. Especially an opportunity to play with my brother. Yeah, I'm super excited."

On Utah winning back-to-back Pac-12 Championships…
"I think it speaks volumes. Utah has really established itself as a top tier program in the Pac-12 and in the country. And being able to have continued success over however many seasons, that span, it's really impressive."

Sophomore Linebacker Karene Reid
On what he draws from last year's Rose Bowl Game…
"Yeah, I hear that from fans all the time, like one of the greatest games to watch, right? But as far as being on the defensive side, if we could have gotten just a couple more stops, right, totally different game.

"I think is a as defense we have a lot to prove to be on this stage again. I hope it's a lot more of a defensive game than it was last year."

On balancing fun with taking care of business during bowl week…
"Yeah, man, Coach Whitt's been praising that all week long. Like you deserve to have fun, right, you made it this far, but what's going to determine who wins the game is who can focus when it's time to focus.

"So we've been -- we've already felt that in the first practice, how intense and serious the coaches were. As fun as everything is, it's still a business trip. It's still about the game."

On similarities he sees among the Penn State running backs…
"10 seems more physical in my opinion; 13 has a little bit more juice to him as far as side-to-side movement.

"But outside of that, they seem pretty similar to me, to be honest. Both can make it happen. They get down the field, so I've been impressed both of them."

Sophomore Defensive Tackle Junior Tafuna
On coming back to the Rose Bowl…
"I mean, to be able to come back here and do it again, I think it just has more meaning, just because now we're here again. Now it's time to take advantage of it. Last year was kind of our first time. Especially for me -- I still consider myself a young dog, it's weird, but it just has more meaning because we're here now, so we've got to take advantage of it. We're all grateful to be here and be able to have the opportunity to play Penn State. It's amazing."

Does coming close last year motivate you this year?
"Yeah, it most definitely does motivate us just because there's a lot we could have done defensively. We're just going to learn from that and just go into this one and just see what we can do."

On how important the start of the game is in terms of slowing them down…
"No, it's very important. I believe the first drive kind of sets the pace for momentum, even the second and third. But I think as we come out there and do our jobs as we plan to do, it's only going to help us get the ball back to our offense, hopefully we can get momentum going, as well, too. Do our jobs, do assignment sound football, and hopefully everything takes care of the rest."

On the identity of the Utah defense…
"I would say it's the just culture we live along -- RSNB, Relentless, Smart, Nasty, Ball hawks. That's something that Coach Scalley has instilled in our defense and that's what we live by and we try to push ourselves everyday in practice to do, so you just see a lot of people running to the ball, playing smart and just playing as a team on the defense."

Does it feel like a business trip?
"No, it definitely feels more business trip like. I'm grateful you brought that up, just because I feel like we've all taken that first initiative, just we're here for business. All the festivities were new to us last year. It's definitely a business trip, definitely feels like that more than a trip this year. I'm grateful for that, too. You just kind of separate the two. When it's time to work, work, when it's time to have fun, have fun, but not too much, though."

Transcripts provided by ASAP Sports/FastScripts

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Players Mentioned

Lander Barton

Cole Bishop

Mohamoud Diabate

R.J. Hubert

Connor O'Toole

Clark Phillips III

Gabe Reid

Karene Reid

Cameron Rising

Junior Tafuna

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