The Lions' Pride

Junior right guard was last call of the morning.

What have you noticed about competition between Adam Gress and Mike Farrell?

"I feel like in football competition is always good and we've been blessed to have a lot of good offensive linemen on the team and have competition in both the spring and training camp. Both have been pushing each other and doing extremely well this training camp."

When was Rick Slater's speech and what impressed you most about him?

"That was maybe a week ago. I was thoroughly impressed. His dedication to his country and how much Penn State football truly meant to him. The guy has done some great things in his life, and it was great to see such a great person like that really care so much about Penn State football."

Who has been working behind you and Miles at the guard spots?

"As far as interior linemen to, first person that comes to mind is Angelo Mangiro. Has been getting some good work in at guard and center. I think he's going to give us great depth at the interior positions and I think he's going to be a great football player. Frank Figueroa can play both guard and center and Eric Shrive can play guard."

Would you rather be the voices for the university or would you prefer to play football?

"We're obviously football players first. At the same time, I feel it's our obligation to represent the university as best we can and show people what kind of place Penn State is."

How anxious are you for next Saturday and how do you use the emotion of that in a good way?

"We're obviously extremely excited for Sept. 1. We've been handling a lot of different things this offseason, things that aren't football related. We're excited to get back to things that are football related. We're excited for Sept. 1 and I think it should be a good game for us."

Talk about Mac McWhorter and how he's helped you guys grow as a unit.

"I have the utmost respect for Coach Mac. He's been coaching football for about 40 years now. That's longer than some of our other coaches have been alive. He really knows his football, at the same time he's a great motivator. Brings great positive energy to the film room and the football field. I feel he really motivates us to do our best every single day. He's really an expert on techniques. Done a great job of teaching us different things and at the same time teaching us slightly different systems."

Compare where the offense is now to where it was when camp started.

"We've made some great progress. It's always a work in progress. Nothing's ever going to be perfect. In the spring we had a great camp, got introduced to offense. In camp I feel like it's been less of an introduction and more working on little things. I think our offense has come together pretty well."

Does having Stankiewitch's experience at center take pressure off the rest of the line?

"I feel like his senior leadership definitely helps us. His experience will help us out in the fall when we're playing games."

What are some of the biggest differences between O'Brien's offense and what you've done last couple of years?

"It's hard to compare our current offense to our past offense. We're obviously doing different things. Bill O'Brien is a great offensive mastermind. It really comes across how focused he is on details, on every single part of the offense."

How do you see cohesion and chemistry of line in camp?

"I feel we have great chemistry. We're a really close group of guys. We've been practicing together and playing together for years and we've been coming together in the offseason. I feel like though we're slightly unproven that we can be an extremely successful offensive line this season."

"There's a lot of better people who could represent Penn State. But we've been blessed to be in our position and we're trying to make the best of it, to show people what a great place Penn State is."

How have you seen Matt McGloin change from last year to this year?

"He's always been confident guy. One of the biggest things is how much of a leader he's been. He's stepped up and taken control of the offense. I think he's going to put us in a great position to win some football games this year."

Run blocking or pass blocking -- which needs to improve more?

"That's a tough one. To be honest, I think I'd have to say that varies from player to player. I think we've balanced in both run blocking and pass blocking. As offensive linemen we obviously enjoy the run blocking more than the pass blocking. I feel like we're strong at both. We should be pretty balanced this year."

No one ever touches Tom Brady. How much do you guys feel like you'll have to get to that point to have success in that offense?

"We aren't the Patriots and certainly aren't the Patriots offensive line. But I feel that we can be successful in this offense and we're going to do our best to be good pass protectors and make sure Matt's secure in the pocket."