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

Q. Wanted to ask about your role in slowing down Ashton Jeanty from Boise State. Obviously, you have played a lot around the line of scrimmage, and your tackling ability on the edge has really helped Penn State’s defense. What’s your focus going into the game against Boise State and trying to slow down Ashton Jeanty?

JAYLEN REED: I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do. He’s a great running back, great player. He’s a Heisman runner-up. Kudos to him. He’s a great player. He has 1900 yards run after contact. He does well with his balance and stays on his feet. I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do. Whatever they assign me to do, I’m going to do and make sure we win the game.

Q. How would you describe your season personally? From the KJ [Winston] injury early. You had to step up to a leadership role and then what you’ve done on the field throughout the season.

JAYLEN REED: I don’t think I ever had to step up my leadership. I was always a leader. Just because K.J. went down didn’t mean I had to step up my game. I’ve always been here.

It’s been a great season. I had a really productive season. We’re winning right now, that’s the main thing. Us winning provides me more stability in the back end towards my future NFL career. It’s been a great year. I ve made a lot of plays. I’m excited about this game and excited to see what comes next.

Q. What does it mean to you personally to be playing at this time of year, to be at this stage of the College Football Playoff?

JAYLEN REED: It means a lot. It’s something that we’ve been wanting. This is my first time being in the playoffs. We made a joke last week in practice, we were practicing on Christmas, everybody was a little mad, but it was a blessing in disguise, that we’re able to still practice right now where we have an opportunity to go win a national championship, which we will [attempt to do].

Q. Coach [Tom] Allen was just on and said you took the loss to Oregon personally. I was wondering if you did that and why? How did you manage to bounce back from that? Because, obviously, the defense played really well last week.

JAYLEN REED: We just regroup and refocus. That type of game and that type of environment, I definitely took it personal. It was a Big Ten championship. I don’t think I ever had a chance to play for that since I’ve been here. That’s something I was waiting on. We ended up coming up short. It’s something we gotta work on. Some stuff we need to fix. We had to regroup and come back out and play SMU.

We took it all seriously and took it upon us to let out our anger against them. We just came off a loss. No one likes to lose. We took it like that. Coming up against Boise State, we’re just going to keep going.

Q. You mentioned a couple of questions ago about some of the individual plays this season. You had big moments this year. What are some of those moments you’re going to remember? When we look at the bigger points of this season, you were more often than not involved in those plays.

JAYLEN REED: I would definitely probably say the USC interception, for sure. I mean, I call it multiple picks. Probably the USC interception. Everyone probably says the Wisconsin one, but the USC one meant more. I feel like our season was on the line. That game was really battle-tested.

Right before the play, I told Ji’Ayir Brown, who was at the game, he told me a little phrase we always say in the safety room: Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time moments. He said that right before I went out on the field. It was right before I caught an interception.

It was kind of like a movie. It kind of gave me little chills after I caught it. It was just a great moment and a great situation to be in, specially making a big-time play for my team. They were driving down the field, about to get a field goal with less than 10 seconds left in the game. We could have lost the game.

Being a big-time player for my team and making those type of plays in those moments, and showing everybody in the world what I’m capable of. It was just a blessing, and I’m happy for it. That was my favorite one, for real.

Q. As someone who knows a thing or two about tackling, what makes Ashton Jeanty so hard to bring down? What do you want to prove in this upcoming game?

JAYLEN REED: His balance. One thing I notice, he’s very low heavy. He’s shorter than what everybody thinks of him. I didn’t know he was that short. He’s real compact, and he runs very hard. He’s not easy to bring down. Going against a guy like that, you’ve got to wrap up. You’ve got to wrap up and bring your arm. You’ve got to make sure everybody is swarming to the ball.

That’s something we’ve been emphasizing on. And what I’m willing to prove? Nothing really. Just try to win the game in a good-fashioned way. Stop the run, stop the play action pass that they do, and just win the game and just move on.

Q. You mentioned being thankful to practice on Christmas and having a chance to play and win a national title. What gives you the confidence that this Penn State team is a team that cannot only win Tuesday, but can also win this whole thing?

JAYLEN REED: The resilience that we’ve had throughout the whole season. We been through every situation. We’ve been through adversity. Right now, we’re at our peak where we should be. Going into the playoffs, I feel like we’re playing great football right now. We’ve just got to continue to do it and take it one game at a time.

Q. In what ways has Dom [Dominic] DeLuca made your defense better? How valuable has he been this season?

JAYLEN REED: Dom is very valuable. He’s just someone who goes by the Penn State tradition; to do your job when you’re out on the field. He does his job at a high level each and every time. He doesn’t complain about what we ask him to do. If he’s a starter, not a starter, how much he’s playing. He never complains. He just does his job and keeps going about his day.

Him doing his job puts him at a high level, getting NFL eyes, getting all types of eyes to the world. Just making himself better for his career. Having that type of guy on your team, who’s willing to give up more than he gets, it’s great.

Q. Jaylen, this is going to be game 15 for you guys, which is the most that you’ve played in your four years here. How do you feel physically at this point in the season? What has it been like to be in this grind now at this point in the year?

JAYLEN REED: I ll keep it short and sweet. I feel like Week 15, that’s what my body feel like. It feels like Week 15, you know? I feel like my body ‚Äì you know how it is, wear and tear on the body throughout the year. We keep playing all these games. It s gotten more and more physical throughout these games. It’s real tired, but I continue to push through, continue to believe in the process we have here at Penn State, and that they’re going to take care of us and take care of our bodies.

Q. Jaylen, you kind of talked about the Penn State tradition. Obviously, playing a safety position, you follow Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown. How do you feel like you’ve been able to uphold the standard that they set and be a playmaking safety and leader for the defense?

JAYLEN REED: I feel like I uphold the standard pretty well. Those guys text me all the time telling me what I need to do right and what I’m doing wrong. It’s just a tradition that we have here in the safety room at Penn State. That will be an ongoing tradition. I just feel like I’m upholding the standard well, doing it my own way and own fashion, and going about it my own way, like how the other guys before me did it.

Q. We heard from Coach [Tom] Allen that Daryus Dixson and Braswell Thomas are on campus. What are your early impressions of them? What do you think this experience is like for them, the importance of being able to see a team preparing for a playoff game?

JAYLEN REED: Oh, the young guys. You’re talking about the freshmen, right, the early enrollees?

It’s probably just them getting a head start in their career, just seeing how we operate here, how we do things, how we go about our business here, and them getting a head start before early enrolling and spring ball. It’s a great thing. I wish I could have gotten that when I was younger. It’s a great thing, and it will help their process to get on quicker and follow faster.

Q. You mentioned for yourself from a leadership standpoint, losing KJ [Winston] didn’t impact too much individually from that aspect for you, because you felt you had leadership qualities. But from an on-field standpoint, was there an adjustment period with the safety’s room on not having him there? If so, how long was that adjustment period for you, Zakee [Wheatley] and the rest of the group?

JAYLEN REED: We had to adjust to it for sure. To have a guy like that, big-time player that leaves the season with an injury, other guys had to step up. It really didn’t change me and Zakee [Wheatley] that much, because we always played safety since we’ve been here.

At first, we were doing the three-safety package, when it was Zakee, KJ and I. I had to go back to my roots and go back to playing deep safety. There was nothing in particular that we had to change. It would have been good to have KJ out here. It’s been a great fit, but that’s what happens in the game of football. Other guys have to keep going.