COURTESY OF PENN STATE ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Peyton Ramsey | QB | RS JR
Q: You guys did a good job getting up and down the field, especially answering their scorers.
A: Yeah, we did a good job executing for the most part. There were sometimes where we would move the ball and the drive stalled and that’s what happens when you play against good defenses. You know, we executed for the most part, but there are still a lot of little things that we have to get cleaned up.
Q: How did you adjust to not having Whop Philyor for the rest of the game?
A: I mean David Ellis, he played really well. He stepped up. We knew what he was capable of doing. He’s a really good player and young guy and he kind of showed everybody what he’s all about tonight.
Q: Peyton, what have you seen in the emergence of Ty Fryfogle? He was clearly a big threat for you down the field.
A: I mean I’ve always been high on Ty. He’s super athletic, crazy ball skills and good hands. You know, we have so many good receivers and sometimes he’s not getting the ball as much as the other guys. So, today he showed you what he was really all about and is a really good player. I’m super high on Ty.
Q: Do you feel like your mobility with your legs was more of a factor today than in previous weeks?
A: I think when we got into obvious passing situations, they would rush up the field with good D-lineman and good pass rushers, so if I can step up and take off. Earlier in the game, they weren’t coming as hard and they were blitzing a little bit more so the gaps kind of filled up, but when I had those lanes later in the game, it worked out well for me.
Q: I guess, at the end of the day, how do you guys feel about this one? Obviously, you came into a tough environment and battled, but it kind of slipped away at the end. How do you feel about it?
A: It hurts. I mean, so many opportunities on both sides of the ball that we just didn’t capitalize and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about. When you get your chances, you have to make them and we just didn’t do it often enough today and it hurts.
Ty Fryfogle | WR | JR
Q: How do you bounce back on those mistakes so quickly knowing Michigan is coming next week?
A: We just get in the film room, talk it out with the coaches, figure out what we have got to do and get better at practice next week.
Q: You personally found a lot of success against Penn State’s defense today. Why were you able to have that level of success?
A: Just all week, the coaches giving us good plays and figuring out the holes in Penn State’s defense. That set me up to have a great game.
Q: Peyton Ramsey threw for 371 yards today. What did you see from him as a wide receiver with his performance?
A: He’s a really great quarterback and works hard week in and week out. He continues to get better as the season goes on.
Q: Did you guys feel like coming in, I mean you kind of talked about it, but after watching the film last week against Minnesota that they have bigger receivers kind of throwing the fade balls and those kind of things where you guys could do the same thing against them?
A: Yes sir. We feel like as a receiving core, we can line up against anybody and compete no matter who it is.
Micah McFadden | LB | So.
Q: What was something that struck you about Penn State in terms of maybe making it difficult to get them off the field there with that 9-minute drive there at the end?
A: Yeah, there was a few key third-down stops that we really needed to capitalize on, and we didn’t. But they’re a great team, they’re going to make great plays, and you know, it just tipped their way.
Q: Anything surprising about the way they [executed] on offense?
A: No, they kind of did a lot of the things that we expected them to do, they did a lot of things really well. They kind of picked up their running game in a few key drives that we needed to stop, but they kind of gave us everything we expected to see.
David Ellis | WR/KR | Fr.
Q: When Whop [Philyor] comes out, how quickly are you like, “this is my spot, to play in the slot?” How ready are you for that opportunity?
A: Every day in practice the mindset is that I’m going to be playing on Saturday. Whenever there’s an opportunity for me to go in, if he needs a breather, if he unfortunately gets hurt, then that’s when I have to step up for my team, for my brothers and just play hard.
Q: You figure you’re going to be pretty active in the offense, I mean you see Whop out there gets a lot of receptions, a lot of targets, do you figure, “I’m going to get the ball out here?”
A: Yeah, definitely. In practice they don’t hold anything back, we all run the same plays, we prepare the same ways. Whoever is playing, obviously this season it’s been him. He got hurt today, so I had to step up. Like I said, play for my brothers.
Q: I know you weren’t involved on the play but, as a guy who also returns kicks, how difficult is it to maybe judge what Whop went through at the start of the game, where you’re trying to maybe field the punt but then backing away at the last moment?
A: On punts, you know especially in the Big Ten, they have a great special teams unit, all of their units are very good. They just put a lot of hang time on the ball and then when it bounces, sometimes the ball takes an unlucky bounce and so it tries to get out of the way, but unfortunately the refs said that the ball touched him, so they got the ball back, but it can be difficult at times.