Penn State Nittany Lions College Football Pregame Quote, 12/26/2024

Q. You have two talented running backs [Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen]. How do you, as a unit, look to make sure you block for them to make sure they can have the best yardage possible?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Mostly, I give all the glory to Coach [Phil] Trautwein, our O-line coach. He’s big on having pride, blocking and giving our running backs space and giving them the opportunity to go out and score and play their game. So for us, we just come out every game, and we try to play our hearts out for them.

Q. When did they first approach you about lining up out wide? And how much fun has that been for you to be able to do as a 350-pound guy? We usually don’t see too many dudes your size doing some of the things that you do.

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Coach K [Andy Kotelnicki] has actually introduced that play back in spring ball, and we actually ran it once during practice. I would say it’s pretty fun. It’s pretty fun lining out there. Every time they call the play, I just tell them I’m ready to do it and line up outside. Motion in and try to kill somebody every play. It’s pretty fun.

Q. To follow up on that, how much fun has it been in Coach K’s [Andy Kotelnicki] offense? And was it difficult to learn starting back in the spring?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: I mean, a new offense coming in, everybody’s got to learn. Everybody’s got the same process. So going into it, we and the O-line, we relied on each other learning the plays. We were in the Oline room extra hours, after practice and things like that. It was hard, but it took a lot of time to learn. It’s pretty fun. His offense give everybody a chance to prove themselves, gives everybody a chance to go out there and shine. So it’s pretty fun.

Q. It feels like in the Big Ten, the standard across offensive and defensive lines is size and also athletic ability. But when you do play some of these teams that are not in the Big Ten, how imposing and important do you believe that size in the trenches really is?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: I would say it’s a really important thing. But going into games like that with teams who aren’t Big Ten teams, big teams like that, we approach every team the same way. We approach them like they’re the best D-line we’ve ever faced. So I guess that makes up for a lot of it. We prepare the same way we do every week. We go out then and try to impose our will on everybody.

Q. In terms of getting ready for game 15 compared to game 1, from a physical perspective, anything change for you, either in the weight room, during practice, things like that, as you try to balance taking care of your body with getting ready after so many games already this season?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: It’s more important now than ever. Early in the season, we’re coming off of camp. Everybody is banged up a little bit, but still pretty fresh coming into the season.

Now it’s week whatever, we’re later in the season. So it’s a lot more important now to keep your body prepared, keep your body right. We preach it in meeting rooms. Coach [James] Franklin preaches it every meeting. So everybody has just got to make sure that we’re on top of that and we’re on top of our A-game, preparing our body for the next game.

Q. When you look at Boise State’s defense, what do you think makes them unique? What do you think are their strengths?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: From an O-line perspective, I say their D-line is pretty good. They’ve got some big athletes up front. They play the run really good. They’re out there trying to stop the run every play. The athletic guys, their linebackers are pretty good. We’ve got to come out playing our game, prepare the right way this week.

Q. Just sort of going off that, I was just wondering if there’s anyone specifically you noticed on the Boise State defense that stands out to you?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Hard to think about it right now, but we heard a lot about their defensive ends. They combined for like 20 sacks or something like that. So they’re good athletes. We’ve heard a lot about them. We come out every game, we treat everybody the same way. It’s a competition game.

Q. A few months ago after the Illinois game, you told us how, by the end of the game, it really felt like Illinois had been worn down by what you guys were doing up front. Do you feel like that’s something that’s become frequent this season, with what you guys are doing to other teams? If so, how much pride do you take as an offensive lineman when you’re getting late into the game and it feels like your opponent has almost waved the white flag because of how tired they are as a result of what you’re doing to them up front?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Coach [James] Franklin preaches it at every team meeting, going into almost every game. It’s always one of the key victories to us, our O-line, D-line up front, hailing the trenches from our perspective.

For us, going out there and dominating the guy in front of you, it’s a great feeling for O-linemen up front. It’s about the same feeling as a receiver or running back scoring a touchdown or a quarterback throwing a big pass for a touchdown. We’re up there and we’re dominating the guy in front of us. We feel like they’re quitting, we feel like they don’t want to play anymore, we keep our foot on the pedal and we just keep going even harder.

Q. One, do you feel like you guys are handling the pressure knowing that you guys made the playoffs this year and you’re two wins away from potentially playing for a championship? Secondly, how do you think the O-line has handled the pressure this season, especially with everything that’s been happening this year in college football?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: I feel like our O-line has handled everything perfectly. Like I said, all the praise to Coach [Phil] Trautwein. He gets us prepared every week. We come into the O-line meeting room, getting our minds ready for practice, getting our bodies right, going into practice, going into games.

But I feel like playoffs, it’s all about being 1-0 every week like it’s a new season. We’re not worried about the national championship just yet. We’re worried about this week; for example, we’re worried about Boise State. So it doesn’t matter if we’re not going to make it past this game. So everybody’s focus is on Boise State in that game.

Q. Coach [Andy] Kotelnicki told us that he challenged the offensive line to lead this team to where it wants to go. He talked about the physicality showing up in the first playoff matchup. How has your offense line put yourself in a position to take another step this late in the year? What’s the importance of Nolan Rucci, as he’s had to fill in one of those positions?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Nolan Rucci is a baller, man. I’m pretty sure most of y’all have seen it, highestrated O-lineman in the first round. That’s impressive for a guy like. Me, myself, and the other four starters throughout the season, we talked about how we’re really impressed with him, what he’s been doing since he took over that starting role.

But going into game, it’s all about our mindset and all about our preparation. That’s the biggest thing. The little things matter most, rather than the bigger things. It’s us preparing, for example, we have a meeting in about an hour. We’re probably going to probably be in there for maybe two, just looking over D-lines, moves, stunts, everything like that. So it all comes down to preparation. It’s more of a mental game. And then when we go out there, we’re just playing football.

Q. What’s it been like playing with Nick Dawkins this year as the starting center? And we hear so much about him as an off field presence. But what’s he like on the field as the center?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: He’s a leader, man. He’s a warrior. He’s a guy that’s born to be a leader. We’re out there. He’s the guy that -he’s the glue to the entire O‚Äìline. He’s out there communicating for everybody. If we’re not ready for anything yet, he’ll be out there just calling things- out. So having that guy in the middle holding us together, it’s really important for us. That’s probably the most important guy on the whole line right now. He’s been working at it for however long he’s been here. He finally got the chance and took advantage of it.

Q. I want to follow up on Tyler’s question about [Nolan] Rucci. You know, with Anthony Donkoh’s injury, how did that maybe bring you guys late together late in the season? What was the message from that group? What was it like to kind of work through that adversity?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Yeah, one of the biggest messages that Traut [Phil Trautwein] always brings up constantly is being ready when your number is called. So he’s a guy that’s been preparing since he gotten here, transferred in during camp. Him, Drew [Allar] and Donkoh would be working everyday on the playbook, sitting in meeting rooms extra hours, work on that, and trying to simplify things for him so that when his chance came he was ready.

And I guess one of the biggest things that we try to imply to our game as an O-line is being confident in each other. Once it was time to step up, we were all confident. We were telling him that we have full trust in him, just go out there and play your game. That’s exactly what he did.

Q. Vega, how important was Stacy Collins in getting you to end up at Penn State? Do you keep in touch with him? And how much are you looking forward to maybe saying hello?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: I’m looking forward to saying “What’s up?” to him. He definitely was probably the biggest part of me coming here. West Coast guy, he was the first one to reach out to me. We talked a little bit. He got me out here, he got the coaches involved, and got me in contact with Coach Traut [Phil Trautwein]. I’m grateful for him and everything he’s done for me. I wouldn’t be here at Penn State without him communicating with me back when I decommitted from the University of Washington. I’m looking forward to saying “What’s up?” to him.

Q. Do you feel like the grind of the Big Ten season prepared you for whoever you’re going to be facing in bowl games and the playoff?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Yeah, I would say so. Us preparing from winter workouts, summer workouts, spring ball, fall camp, all that. It doesn’t really matter who we go against. It’s all about preparing yourself, preparing your mind, preparing your body for everything that’s at hand in the future.

Q. Following up on Nolan Rucci, you mentioned what he’s done so far since becoming the starting right tackle and the mentality that has helped him in filling in for Anthony [Donkoh] when he went down. But from a physical standpoint, what does he do well technique wise, physicality wise, et cetera, that makes him so effective as a right tackle in the Big Ten?

OLAIVAVEGA IOANE: Playing under Coach Traut [Phil Trautwein], his biggest thing is technique. We focus on little things in practice every day, like during indy periods. I would say his superpower are his hands. The hardest thing for an O-lineman is getting hands inside of a D-lineman, because they’re really good at that. Every time I watch Nolan Rucci do a drill, his hands are inside. I don’t understand how they do it yet. I always ask him how he does it, watching film on him from the game.

I think a couple of days ago, I rewatched the SMU game, and I just focused on him and his hands. I don’t think at all one play his hands were outside the D-lineman’s hands. So that’s a really big thing for him.