Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki on his relationship with Drew Allar, Beau Pribula, and PSU's culture

one of the challenges and I may said in the big room was like just like when to shut you got to shut up yeah you know what I mean like like they like when I found is just going to tell them what the play is remind them why we're calling the play tell them what the play is that's it and let them do their de this is something Tyler Warren was telling me out in Indie and I hadn't heard this before but that You' kind of had the guys stand up or you've still been having them stand up in front of the team and say Hey or in front of the offense rather like this is what we're doing you're trying to make them be more vocal is that the well I just I think coach Franklin will tell you this too part of our responsibility to them is to develop them Beyond I just okay we all remember being young we all remember not being able to stand in front of a group of people even amongst your peers and like be able to say things so so one of our objectives in the spring to your point um was we wanted to really try to to develop our leaders and so identify guys who who have leadership potential and qualities and then after every practice we have what we call a we are and a we are not tape and so the we are tape is examples of great effort or physicality that are kind of weaning behaviors we are not obviously we' be the opposite so we have guys like Tai War we'll have them stand up in front of the room and run that tape and say he these five plays of the examples of you know techniques or effort that are going to win his football games and then here are hopefully very few one or two that aren't going to win us football those come from your practice you're not showing like from Kansas or other no no they come from Every After practice we reevaluate that so so it's them right so when Ty or Drew or whoever is standing in in front of the room person he's talking about either a positive clip or a negative one is in the room with have you done that before yeah we started doing that you know I've done that other place where I've coached but that's not super long but um I think what I've learned about developing leaders you need to empower them and giving him a voice or making him use a voice is one of the first things hey Andy those skills what's unique about them the quarterback position and your philosophy on trying to work in two quarterback well well I I think fundamentally he had you know all the guys have to be passers right they all have to have the ability to throw the football well enough to be a division one quarterback and then there's this this spectrum or sliding scale if you have your throwing SL arm talent and you have this Mobility SL foot Talent all right well there's a threshold in each of those that we have to cross right so in ability to be a throw a football right right and be able to be mobile enough to do things right okay so while the further up they are in the arm Talent right in theory the less they have to be mobile and vice versa that am I kind of making sense here a little bit like that but there still has to be a threshold have problem so b b obviously has some Elite athleticism and you have to tap into that and I you know you get asked question all the time about how do you utilize players how do you do well if you have Elite athlete you have them do athletic things right you know what I mean and so I said this before whatever we have to do if our if we have eight o line that are going to help us win a football game and are good enough we're going to find ways to put on the field what's he best at was B yeah yeah he's like like he's really he's change of direction is Elite for his position his ability to change direction his speed is really good it's great I don't know if it's elite right and I say elad I'm talking about like guys who legitimately can run great track times she's fast she's really fast he's one of our fastest skill players but his change of direction for his position is Elite probably the top 1% and he mentioned leadership guys still have talking I guess where Drew kind of Falls in that where have you seen him grow in that and what you just said right there about uh being vocal about understanding that that he can't wait to embrace that part of being the quarterback and that's something that everyone kind of grows through to do um you know he's taken it upon himself to to to meet with and spend time with receivers and other positions to grow and make sure they kind of see and they're watching film together and he's doing those things to um you know to generate some connectivity but also say here's what I'm saying you here's what we see here's why we should do it this way right he's he's collaborating with them um and he needs to do that and that's what a good quarterback should do when he's he's like there's like no push to do that you know what I mean like you're not having to force him or kind of motivate him to go do those things cuz he's so uncomfortable he's very comfortable doing it he's motivated it he's doing that so that that's really special and then as a player from the guy that you come in in the and start film watching you b game to quarterback is now I don't know if it's a huge difference but is there anything that you've seen you know in terms of his growth there on the field well I I would tell you you know um there are some things I think you know there's a natural maturity and growth that occurs with any human at that age I think his understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing as a football was already high to begin with but there's natural growth there that's occurred um I think credit to him and coach Losi in the strength staff his his Mobility right now even first two practices was watching Spring football he's got like so much more athletic right for you know for for his position and then he's continued to grow like you would think naturally through being a college program at least a good one of of his his arm talent and what he's doing with his decision making you know what's explosive about him what's explosive about Drew well his ability to get the ball down the field first right so the arm Talent piece to be able to get it and and get it to explosive players right so that that's typically what a quarterback would do that makes him explosive but then his processing speed to be able to get that done quick enough that he can get that ball to that player to make it be exposed sorry how does that processing speed show up out maybe off the field when you guys are in meeting rooms can you see that like that that things are clicking for him up here like how does that well I I think I yeah okay that's a great question so like when you're having interactions and you're having meetings and there's dialogue in the room right okay and there's conversations the kind of questions that are asked to you as the coach and the kind of questions you asked back are great ways to kind of check for high level of understanding and those are the like we're having conversations with him and Bo that are really high level you you know what I'm saying so like so like that right there tells you there's an understanding and then there's a then there's some film that you're watching film and you're going okay what was this I saw this this is a blank life right you know what I mean like to be able to kind of rehearse and recite exactly what was happening right and then now and then when you're wrong right like to see it recognize it and grow for it you know have you watched Kansas film with him or other stop film that you've done previously withdrew with oh like other other other maybe plays or sches or things yeah sure like we you know maybe plays or schemes that we've implemented we use it as a teach tape you know I mean like like we'll watch them we'll watch anyone that we're stealing plays from you know what I mean we'll watch NFL film like like we I think part of our job and Daniel Bry does a great job of this of like using model performance is what we want it to look like and what he can look like like Danny is like a film dork and so he's just grabbing film from all these different spots like oh here's look this is our you know whatever play he's doing this you know what I mean like like we're always looking for model performances to show them right right of all different types of people do you let them grade you the quarterbacks take grade me yeah I I seek feedback you know what I mean I don't know if they give me a grade and say well you're kind of more of a B minus you know than a C+ but but I always say like I I CH matter of fact coach Hagen was having with the receivers day I think this is this is healthy uh relationships with with the people you're like what like what more do you need from me did I explain this the right way I think uh if I make a mistake I'm like hey I F this up you know what I mean I should have said this to you you know what I mean or made this tag in the play or whatever it might be um I think that's just part of having a good relationship with people do you know what I mean you touched on it a little bit what is some of that feedback they've been able to provide for you drew embo uh hey Bo what would be some of the feedback that you've given me other than my looks smile and sense of humor charm and width um I don't know I pretty much just all the ones you on yeah those kind of feedback I typically get from them yeah looks looks are a big one no but now seriously like uh I don't I know I can't think of anything specific but like if they're uncomfortable yeah with something coach explain this to me again I I always wanted to be in a healthy enough spot with all of our players that they're like they they can they can say I don't quite get why this and I think I what I've tried to really change or evolve as a teacher through the years is on the front end try to really explain why we do things so hopefully can proactively answer that question for him at the gate what's the most obscure place you've taken play from obscure obscure a small high school and I think is either in Kansas or Missouri you know what high school uhuh what was the play I don't to tell you is something you saw live or you no we saw it on recruiting F yeah saw it on recruiting F that's kind of cool we stole it it's a unique formation that's good yeah call a bob SL just of your interactions with Drew and Bo obviously right there how quickly did you guys develop such a great Rapport and how is it continue to develop uh I well I mean I don't I think it's like any relationship you know what I mean like I think if you have you know similar goals if you have at least somebody and I think this is probably the responsibility of adults to make sure that they understand um what vulnerability looks like I guess a little bit just to kind of be real and authentic I think opens the door for communication make sure they understand it's a two-way deal um you know I think those things kind of Happ naturally with just humans but I think the first thing is to kind of have a shared goal and vision of wanting to grow and be better and you know what I mean and be the change right in the program starting there and then that everyone kind of embody and I don't think anyone would be in this program if they didn't because of how coach Franklin you know wants to run it from a staff to a player standpoint for everyone to embody the idea of daily Improvement do you know what I'm saying so like if I can go in and say I don't have all the answers all the time which I don't and they can say that you know I me that they going to be open and willing to learn um I think right there you should just it's pretty easy regardless of how different or similar you might be with a person if you had those shared goals you're open and honest and authentic and you you have a growth mindset should be to get along with better anybody you know what I mean but they're fun from just from a standpoint like like the quarterback like I I really enjoy our offensive room as a whole like they're we have good players been the same with the wide receivers tight end blast they're all good dudes they a lot of fun James said uh I guess