Nittany Lions are of one mind on defense
Spend enough time around any of Penn State’s defensive players, and you’ll eventually hear them call their unit “reckless.”
It’s a word that, by definition, could be seen as a negative, potentially implying a lack of care or attention to detail.
In this case, though, it’s simply a mindset, implemented by defensive coordinator Brent Pry to encourage his team to let go of any fears or worries and simply play football.
“For us, it’s about being sound, being aggressive and then playing hard and fast,” Pry said on Thursday. “I think, when you get all those things together, you’ve got a chance to be a reckless defense that’s excellent on the line of scrimmage, a lot of minus-yardage plays, physical style of play that can be intimidating to offenses and help take over a game when you have opportunities to.
“It should be a positive for us. Recklessness is having no regard for your body. Give it up for your teammates. You’re not worrying about banging an elbow or busting a knuckle or banging a knee. You’re running back to get to the ball, and you’re gonna have heavy pads when you get there.”
In addition to the recklessness mantra, Pry has used buzzwords or awards to help motivate his defense and communicate what he wants from them.
There’s the mayhem king award, which is somewhat ambiguous, but it essentially gives points to certain positive, individual defensive plays that, well, cause mayhem. There’s also the takeaway king award, which is self-explanatory.
This year, Pry and coach James Franklin have added the cornerstone award, which goes to a defender who might go unnoticed on the stat sheet but does the dirty work.
There is a fine line between these competitions and slogans being corny or forced and them being something that a group of college kids is willing to embrace. It’s like the difference between a company-run event and a voluntary one.
For the Nittany Lions, the buy-in was immediate. Pry’s values align perfectly with how his defense plays, and the competitions have just added to their enjoyment.
“I think we all have fun with it,” fifth-year senior safety Garrett Taylor said. “You talk about mayhem king, takeaway king, playing reckless, stuff like that. I think we just have fun on defense and have some friendly competition with stuff like that.
“I also think it’s how we practice. Throughout camp, spring ball, we were flying around, running to the ball, reckless, and it’s just something that we took and we made it fun. And I think that’s what allowed guys to buy in to that. You’re not out there feeling like you have to do something, you’re feeling like you want to do it.”
It also surely helps the buy-in that Penn State’s defense has been extremely good this season. It has allowed 8.2 points per game and 259.7 yards per game, ranking it the second-best scoring defense and the fourth-best total defense in the country.
It shouldn’t be surprising, though, that Pry doesn’t really care about all of that. Even if his terms and awards are his own doing, he still coaches under Franklin, whose pronounced focus is on going 1-0 each week.
“I just told them yesterday that I know they hear it from everywhere,” Pry said. “It’s even coming out of our office. There’s graphics and things like that. And I’m proud of them. I want them to be proud and feel accomplishment, but at the same time, the pats on the back have to go pretty quick on Sunday and Monday and we need our focus and energy and efforts on the next opponent. So it’s about staying humble, staying hungry, practicing hard and playing hard.”