Everything Matt Campbell said from Penn State's fourth week of spring practices

Penn State football head coach Matt Campbell had a quick turnaround between his last meeting with reporters and returning to the Lasch Building for another rundown this week. But even within the brief Thursday to Tuesday span, one that included practices Saturday and Tuesday morning, the Nittany Lion leader had much to discuss.

Taking on a defense-centric tone, here’s everything Matt Campbell said this week:

Everything Matt Campbell said on Tuesday, April 14

(Topics paraphrased, with Campbell’s answers lightly edited for clarity.)

On Penn State’s defensive ends:

I think when you talk about Alex McPherson, he played a ton of reps at Colorado. He actually started against us last year when we played them out there.

And so, I think it was that fine balance of seeing there were some really talented young players here. I just think when you watch and you see what Yvon did. Obviously, you had to go back a year and watch what Max Granville did, but you saw Max working in the weight room.

Ikenna Ezeogu’s a guy that, you talk about a guy that has maybe flashed every single day so far. That group’s really grown.

And I think it was that fine balance of getting production – guys that have played quality reps – and yet knowing that you had some really great developmental football players who had proven to play quality reps in critical moments really for Penn State football.

And then obviously you saw LaVar. You saw this group starting to grow. So I’m really excited about what this group’s got the ability to look like.

We talked about Jackson last time. He’s a guy that continues to grow and probably flashed maybe a little bit sooner than maybe we would have even known as a freshman.

But that room’s got some really talented players. And then, I think some of the position flexibility too of those interior guys – there’s some guys that can slide out and play. Alijah Cornell played some defensive end last year for us at Iowa State. So you’ve got some guys that have position flexibility.

But I think the biggest thing was the strength and physicality on that defensive line that we really would like and kind of wanted to grow forward.

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On Ikenna Ezeogu’s development at Penn State:

I think it’s twofold. Number one, structure has really helped Ike. When you’re playing the defensive front, the three-man front at Iowa State, it’s a little different playing defensive end in a four-man front.

We asked Ike to play as a three-technique and a four-I at times. And to have him on the edge, it’s almost probably played to what his strengths are.

Ike was a guy that we recruited out of high school. He was a player of the year in basketball in Kansas City. You watched his progress. We had a kid named Will McDonald that was kind of the same way at Iowa State, that came in as a basketball player, and his development by his junior and senior year was outstanding.

And I think Ike is – I’m not saying he’s Will – but I’m saying he’s made those jumps. And really what you wanted to see is coming into a place where you’re starting over, you’re gonna have to earn every rep you get, to the ability of what you would expect a young man that’s playing his fourth year of college football and has played really good football.

I think what we were looking for was consistency. And I think he’s put together as impressive of a spring as anybody on the defensive front. So we’re excited about where he’s at, for sure.

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On Rocco Becht’s progress:

I think it’s been really good. Rocco got seven-on-seven reps on Saturday. He got seven-on-seven reps again today.

Obviously, my biggest thing with Rocco is just getting him back out there with our wide receiver group and being able to throw and catch the football, command the offense, be able to verbalize a new offensive system to others, and be able to teach.

What you love about Rocco is every day you walk past here at four o’clock and he’s got the entire receiving corps and tight end corps meeting with those guys and going over practice. I think those are the things that you want to see.

Where is he ready to play? That’s probably tougher for me. He’ll be ready to rock and roll. I think the fact that we’ve gotten this much out of him was way ahead of probably where we thought we would have been.

So I think that’s really big for him. It’s just his leadership out on the football field, in this locker room. I think it’s critical, number one for us.

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On Penn State’s defensive installation progress:

I think both sides of the ball, and really on special teams, my whole mission for us is, let’s get good at something that we can lean into and make sure we can evaluate our football team.

And then whatever adjustments we have to make as we get into the summer, that’s kind of our responsibility.

But I think anytime you’re coming into a situation and you really like to find out what your guys can do, and feel like you have a pretty good idea going into it, and kind of tailor-make the foundation of it around that, and then really build so you don’t build too fast so you have a bunch of mistakes.

I think what’s been positive is, especially on the defensive side, the minimal amount of mistakes that you see from practice to practice. And I think that’s where you evaluate the mental missed assignments, alignments.

And offensively, they’re getting a lot. You’re getting so many different personnel. So to have the ability to make those adjustments, not have missed alignment and assignment mistakes.

I really thought Saturday – I thought great defense. Probably our most amount of live reps and consistent reps that we’ve had all spring. Again today, got some really good reps out in practice.

So I think the value of, are you aligned correctly? Are you assigned correctly? Do you know what you’re doing? I think that’s how you know kind of where you’re at. And I think we’ve done a really good job defensively doing that.

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On the Nittany Lions’ running back position:

I think the one thing is, I think Carson’s grown, which has been really big for us.

I think, again, another guy going into his fourth year playing critical reps. His freshman year, he was like the third-down back and kind of did some of those things for us. As a sophomore, he starts. And as a junior, he starts.

And you kind of watch every game he’s played – he just got better and better and better. To watch him kind of come here physically, I think he’s in the best shape of his life, which is awesome to see. I think he’s really done a great job.

James had a great day today. I think he’s kind of in the system, grown every single day. Probably the guy that’s gone through the most change of new offense and the new environment.

And then Quinton – again, I think in some critical moments, he showed up and made some big plays.

So I still think that’s going to be great competition all the way through fall camp. But I think the one thing all three have shown is all three have shown really great things.

And I think even Cam has done a great job. I think he’s had a couple really good runs. I know his health has been a thing here in the past. He looks healthy. He’s consistently been on the field.

Even Saturday, the one touchdown the offense scored was Cam. So it was great to see him kind of show up and continue to make great headway forward. We’ll need all of them.

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On Penn State defensive players who have emerged in spring:

I think the biggest group that’s been overly impressive to me is this defensive front. If you’re going to be great in college football today, you better be able to be great on the defensive line.

I think the interior of that defensive line – the progress of Keanu. Obviously, in the system, knows the system, played in the system. But his growth – I think he’s in the best shape that I’ve seen him, just even on the videotape during his time at UCLA. It’s been awesome to watch what he’s done.

I know I talked about Alex McPherson and Ike. I think those guys have proven that those guys are really good football players.

Armstrong Nnadim has been really impressive. Alijah Carnell has had flashes and some really good stuff. I just think the depth – there’s going to be great depth.

Siale, obviously, is a young man that’s got a lot of talent, played a lot of good football. The physicality of that group – you better be right on every snap, or they’re going to make you pay.

And I think it’s been really fun to watch that group just grow forward, and we’ll need them to continue to grow forward.

On the flip side, I think the O-line – that’s a good battle every day, those two units going against each other. And that’s what you hope to see in spring practices, iron sharpening iron.

And I think both those groups have really shown up and done some really great things.

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On the mission of defensive tackles:

I think on the defensive front, especially the interior D-line, the physicality to hold the gap – the physicality to allow those guys behind you to play from sideline to sideline – I think that’s really big.

I think you have to have guys that have the ability to hold up on double teams, to be able to hold people off of second-level players, and yet also be good enough when the opportunity shows and the opportunity presents itself to get off the block and make the play.

I think that’s when great defensive line play really starts to show up. There’s been flashes with this group to show the ability to do both—hold double teams really well, but also have the unique ability to use their hands and be able to shock and shed and be able to run down the line of scrimmage and make a play.

So I’m excited about the growth of that group. Coach Malloe has done a great job with that group so far.

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On team camaraderie:

You’re going to find out when real adversity hits, right? I think you’re building that every single day in our program. You try to create that as much as you possibly can.

But as you guys know, there’s nothing like the storm of the college football season – good days, bad days, good quarters. It’s all going to happen. I wish it wasn’t. I wish this was a game where we could come out and play perfect football in 12 games. But that’s not real.

What is real is adversity is going to hit. You’re going to have a bad quarter, you’re going to have bad moments, and we’re going to find out then how close have we come together.

We want to be tough. We certainly need to be disciplined. But the biggest thing we have to be is together. If you’re together, you’ve got a real shot.

So we’ll see that. We continue to work on that every day. Senior leadership, it’s the buy-in, it’s coaching, it’s all of us pulling in the same direction, and we’re working really hard to get there.

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