Penn State Nittany Lions College Football Pregame Quote, 12/27/2024

Q. In what ways has [Dom Dominic] DeLuca made other guys better on the defense? What have you seen from him over this whole year and how he’s dealt with some adversity as well?

DVON J-THOMAS: I mean, just consistency day in and day out. Just in terms of who we are as a defense, our resilience and our effort. Dom exemplifies all of that. Day in and day out, he’s the same person every single day. He’s the first person to the rock. He’s the first person in the building, last one to leave. He’s a Penn Stater, truly from his core outwardly.

His development as a leader, as a player, has truly been tremendous. If you just look at his path to get here, he’s a Penn State-recruited kid. He gets injured his senior year. Then he gets here, he isn’t on scholarship, and then he just proves himself day in and day out. Then he earns a scholarship, and now he’s a just a productive leader and mentor for the young guys.

He’s done a tremendous job with his work ethic and how he’s pretty much chosen to be a leader day in and day out. You guys see it in his plays, his attention to detail, especially in this last week with the two picks. He had a batted pass to himself for another pick. That’s just a tremendous play by him. It’s transitioned from practice to the game. It’s just a pleasure to see him grow and develop and see how he’s been able to capitalize on the time that he’s given.

Q. Looking back briefly, you and Abdul [Carter] took a lapper. You walked off the Beaver Stadium field after the SMU game, long after everybody had gone. What were you thinking, feeling, experiencing in that moment walking off the field?

DVON J-THOMAS: I was just thinking about the good, the bad, and the ugly and how I appreciate it all. There’s not too many people who get to say they’ve come into a situation, grown with a program, to the point where you’re doing things that the program has never seen before. It’s just been so many ups and downs. That’s with any college career. Those were the things running through my mind.

Also getting another opportunity to play 64, 65 plays on average. Those are the things that was kind of running through my mind the entire time.

Then I was just embracing it, being appreciative for the time that I had. You look at the league, in the league you play with, what, 60,000, 70,000 people watching? In Beaver Stadium, the average is 100K with 70K for a spring game. I just took that lap, looked around, and appreciated every moment that I had in that stadium one last time.

Q. I wanted to ask about Ashton Jeanty. Obviously, so much of their offense goes through him. What are some of the challenges that you’ve seen from him on film? What, if anything, maybe excites you about playing against a guy like that?

DVON J-THOMAS: First and foremost, it’s the Heisman runner-up. I consider myself to be a run stopper, so to go against the Heisman runner-up, who’s also the best running back in the country, that’s a treat for anybody who considers themselves a competitor at my position and what we do in terms of stopping the run.

In terms of who Jeanty is as a player, from what we’ve seen on film, he’s a very explosive player. The biggest challenge is pretty much just making sure we tackle him. His yards after contact are 1,944 yards or something like that? That poses the biggest challenge. You see it on film. Finishing tackles, that’s the biggest thing. That’s what we harp on.

Q. Beyond [Ashton] Jeanty, what has stood out about this Boise State offense, including in terms of what their quarterback can do, all of their wide receivers. How do you see it challenging you guys?

DVON J-THOMAS: A lot of it is centered around Jeanty. I think they play well off of that. I think that they understand their defense’s game plan for Jeanty. You have to. He’s the number one running back in the country, and I think they use that to their advantage just in terms of spreading the ball around, giving different looks and different directions and sending it the opposite direction to Jeanty, doing things of that nature. Tricking your eyes in terms of their run/pass schemes.

It’s not anything we haven’t seen before, but I think they just do an incredible job of scheming up defenses around Jeanty and utilizing the skills that they have at wide receiver, at QB.

Q. Coach Allen said he felt Coziah Izzard played his best game against SMU. What have you seen from him this season? How would you say that he has stepped up particularly over the past month since Hakeem Beamon and Alonzo Ford are no longer available?

DVON J-THOMAS: We’re in a three-defense tackle rotation. Coziah has done a tremendous job of stepping up with the reps that he’s getting, and just making the most of it. He had five or six tackles on Saturday. He did a tremendous job of playing to his strengths. Coziah is an incredible player. He’s strong as an ox and very quick off the rock. I think you guys seen that this past weekend.

I think he’s doing a tremendous job. He stepped into that role of having more reps, helping with the younger guys a little bit more, and really just embracing the moment.

Coh [Coziah] has had many years in the past where he’s stepped up as a player. You’ve seen it in 2021, 2022. He stepped up and had some incredible years. This is no different. He’s stepping up into his role and making the most of it, making a lot of plays and doing it well.