Head Coach Scott Linehan and Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Billy Devaney

Head Coach Scott = Linehan and Executive Vice President of Player Person= nel Billy Devaney

Press Conference = No. 2

April 27, 2008

(On fourth-round cho= ice Justin King)

Billy Devaney: We selected Justin King, a corner from Penn State. Keeping with the theme that we set early in this process, he is a smart character guy. He is passionate and productive. This guy is a guy that meets all those requirements. Justin has good size and is a big time speed guy in= the 4.37s. He’s got man cover skills. He is a smart guy. He graduated fro= m Penn State this past December with about a 3.0 GPA. He has been a Dean’s List guy and a good character guy. We thought, especially in this point of the draft= , to get a good sized corner, who can run and with that kind of smarts and character, obviously we feel really good about it.

(On King being raw)<= /span>

BD: He was a wide re= ceiver his freshman year and he went back and forth between DB and wide out. So, I wouldn’t say that he is raw, he has started every game his last two years at corner, but his background is on offense. = So that’s the only thing we could think of and obviously we don’t = view that as a negative because the way we look at it, he will only get better, = the more he plays at corner.

(On how he compares = to Jonathan Wade)

Scott Linehan: I think he made the move a little sooner than Jonathan (Wade). He has been playing corner since the end of his freshman year. He played a little bit h= is first year, but the last few years he has pretty much primarily been a corn= er. He has great speed and has got the size requirements you need for the posit= ion. The great thing about this guy is that he is making those steps that you wa= nt to see him make as far as improvement from his position in college. He is an early up player that’s all part of it, that probably it more than anything. The guy already graduated from the Dean’s List which shows = you that he has got a lot on the ball as far as that goes. He is a very very top notch guy with talent. I think the biggest t= hing is that we are adding speed to our football team at the skill positions and really it is going to be vital to our ability to win. We’ve drafted t= wo skill guys that can flat fly now.

(On King’s ret= urn ability because of his speed)

SL: He has done some returning. I think that he has a chance, but he has done some. It’s n= ot going to be his primary position but he will definitely get a chance there, just like I think Donnie (Avery) will get some shots in there returning too, maybe kickoff returning.

(On King’s abi= lity to play inside)

BD: He has been on t= he outside, but there is no reason he couldn’t. He is a tough guy and is smart and that is part of the requirements playing inside, so there is no reason, that if we lined him up in there, that he shouldn’t be able to play inside.

(On his physicality = and his tackling ability)

SL: That is a big pa= rt of what we do. We use our corners in the run support part of things and he is a very willing tackler. He played at Penn State, so the first day of pract= ice he was probably going through the West Point drill. He understands what’s required of corners. He is a sure tackler and he gets guys on the ground. The other thing is that I think last year he had 15 pass deflections which is a high number, which is good. He is a stic= ky coverage guy and is around the ball and that is a big part of his evaluation was that he had nice coverage skills.

(On how King’s= speed ranked compared to other corners)

SL: He was one of th= e top speed guys at the position. I think he ran in the mid 4.3s in the combine. He’s got some.

(On King’s off-the-field character)

SL: These guys are <= span class=3DGramE>all the top character grade you can get. All of them. Stay with that theme and I think we can win with that.

BD: We have been emp= hatic about that. When we started this process, we’ve had sort of a zero tolerance policy if you will, regardless of the level of ability. High-round guys, late-round guys, free agents, we aren’t compromising on that.

(On the King playing= in the Big Ten)

SL: It always helps.= The level of competition, fairly or unfairly, is always a big part of it. This = guy has been playing in one of the best conferences in football and is playing = at a high level. We just really think a lot of him.

(On the rest of the = draft, addressing needs or best player available)

BD: It is a little b= it of both. You want to stick to your board as much as possible now because it st= arts really falling apart and if you have a guy graded at a certain position eve= n if it’s not a primary need position right now, the gap now becomes so big that you can really violate the process if you start drafting just need specific. We’re going to stick to the board as much as possible hopin= g that there’s options there of course, but we will stick to the board as mu= ch as we can.

(On why they chose a= corner)

SL: I just think cor= ners are a position that you really need to put yourself in good position with. You = got to have four. You really have to feel good about having four corners going = into each game, if there is such a thing. Sometimes you have to go with three but you’d like to start the year with five if you could. Corners are a commodity. We have a division that is challenging match up wise. You get gu= ys that can that have good coverage skills and can do all the other things and= can play, then that definitely helps us.

(On King being ready= right away)
SL: I think that it is going to be a while. We will see. I always go back to other players. I thought Jonathan (Wade) started off very well last year and then took some development and came on to play better at the end of the year and really contributed on special teams. You don’t really set a time table for these young, skilled athletes. I think you’ve got to have a little bit of patience. It is unrealistic to think that he is going to do anything right away. I promise you that he will be starting off on core spe= cial teams and learning the position and when he is ready, we’ll put him o= ut there. We have a little bit of depth there on the roster so we can be a lit= tle smart and patient with the guy. I think that is a luxury we have right now.=

(On cornerback compe= tition)

SL: There is going t= o be great competition. That’s the one comment I made upstairs. This is a great pick and we’ve got some great competition at corner. That’= ;s never a bad thing, seeing your abilities when the competition heats up.