Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith met with the media on Thanksgiving Eve inside Holuba Hall to provide updates on his team leading up to the final regular season game at Rutgers.
Smith discussed the status of freshman defensive end Chaz Coleman as he works back from injury, the struggles of recruiting without a permanent head coach and details about his background which shaped the coach he is now.
Could Coleman be cleared?
For the first time in weeks, Coleman returned to the practice field during the media viewing portion of practice.
Coleman has missed the previous three games against Indiana, Michigan State and Nebraska and wasn’t seen at practice, sparking debate about his future with the program. Smith previously stated he was dealing with an injury and was “day-to-day.”
When asked about his return to the practice field, Smith called Coleman a “game-time decision” against the Scarlet Knights.
“He practiced today, so we’ll see how he recovers from that, and then we’ll see how it goes tomorrow, and we’ll take him all the way up to game time to see what happens,” Smith said.
Recruiting rollercoaster
Penn State’s recruiting losses have stacked up following James Franklin’s firing and subsequent hiring at Virginia Tech, with over half the Nittany Lions’ 2026 class and all of its 2027 class decommitting, along with several staffers who followed Franklin to Blacksburg.
In addition to preparing for Saturday’s game, Smith and the remaining staffers have worked to maintain relationships with prospects. But with the timer to Early National Signing Day (Dec. 3-5) dwindling down and uncertainty swirling, it’s a difficult task.
“We continue to recruit all those guys,” Smith said. “It’s just challenging for any team with an interim head coach, because the recruits want to know what’s next. As you get closer to signing day, they get a little bit antsy and nervous, and they just want to know where their home is. So I don’t have a real answer for that.”
Smith said several coaches were on the road recruiting last week, and the others continue to call and FaceTime recruits throughout the process. It’s yet another reason for urgency in hiring a permanent head coach.
Terry Smith tough
Smith is known for showing tough love to his players, critiquing underperformance where necessary and pushing for high effort at all times. His coaching style stems from his upbringing, growing up on a street with six players who went Division I, including his older brother.
Together they played “street football,” tackling each other to the concrete in the road — a violent endeavor that taught toughness and resilience.
“I’m this little runt that’s running around with these big guys,” Smith said. “And they were all older than me, so I had to compete with those guys. You get knocked down … My dad said you can never lay down on the ground because you will never get a shot again. That was my mentality.”
Earlier this week, Smith called tight end Andrew Rappleyea “Terry Smith tough.” The team has embodied his personality, and Smith said it’s his job to instill that in the players.
“You got to have something in your soul, and we have to teach you how to bring it out,” Smith said. “It’s like building calluses on your hand when you first start working with your hands, they hurt and they bother you, but when you’re working with your hands for years, it doesn’t affect you at all. And that’s how toughness grows, right? We have to teach them and put them in tough situations so that they can physically be tough and mentally be tough as well.”
