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Speaker 1: It is Quite Franklin with LeVar Errington each week and

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Speaker 1: state head coach James Franklin and Penn State legend LeVar

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Speaker 1: Arrington will discuss game strategy and other insights on Penn

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Speaker 1: State football. Quite Franklin with LeVar and Arrington. It is time.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So this is a special Quite Franklin in person.

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Speaker 2: In person, I got the whole thing going here. We're

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Speaker 2: in state college. Welcome everybody, Welcome to Quite Franklin. I'm

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Speaker 2: LeVar Arrington, but more importantly that's coach James Franklin. So

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Speaker 2: a big win. Coach, we're coming off of a big win.

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Speaker 2: You go into a hostile environment. We talked about your

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Speaker 2: familiar familiarity with everything, and you guys get the win.

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Speaker 2: What was your biggest takeaway from the game this past

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Speaker 2: week versus Maryland.

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Speaker 3: Well, kind of like I say every week, we gotta win,

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Speaker 3: but we gotta get better, and I thought we were

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Speaker 3: able to do that. I thought we played complementary football

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Speaker 3: offensive defense and special teams. Defensively, I thought it was upfront.

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Speaker 3: You know, we played really really well up front. That's

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Speaker 3: going to be important for us moving forward. You know,

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Speaker 3: you look at the interceptions that we were able to

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Speaker 3: get specifically at the linebacker position was huge. Some young

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Speaker 3: players were able to get in there, and that was

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Speaker 3: even without one of our most explosive players and Chob Robinson,

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Speaker 3: so having him back will be valuable. But I thought

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Speaker 3: we took a step offensively. We made some plays in

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Speaker 3: the passing game that we hadn't been making. That was

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Speaker 3: that was really important step for us in the right direction.

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Speaker 3: And I also think it helps not only with Drew's

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Speaker 3: confidence in those settings, but also the wide receivers and

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Speaker 3: specifically Dante cefhaz so that was big. Our tight ends

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Speaker 3: continue to play well. And then from a special team's perspective,

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Speaker 3: I thought we played great being three for three on

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Speaker 3: field goals and six for six on pats that was

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Speaker 3: that was significant.

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Speaker 2: Too, So there was balance. Like a lot of the

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Speaker 2: criticisms that have been coming obviously has been talking about

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Speaker 2: how explosive can the offense be, I saw some amazing

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Speaker 2: We know that Drew has amazing arm talent, his arm

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Speaker 2: strength is amazing. But you mentioned Cephas, how important was

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Speaker 2: it to establish that second receiver to ke Andre heading

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Speaker 2: into this stretch of the most important games that you're

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Speaker 2: going to play. Because quite frankly, we get an injury

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Speaker 2: that hurts us, but then Cephas steps up and really

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Speaker 2: provided that balance that well seemingly what will be needed

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Speaker 2: to be able to open up the center of the

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Speaker 2: field for the tight ends and get key Andre going.

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Speaker 2: How important was that to have that dynamic develop in

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Speaker 2: this last game.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Obviously trade coming into the year was the guy

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Speaker 3: Trey Harrison that we thought was going to be the

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Speaker 3: number two. He got an injury early on, came back,

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Speaker 3: and then got another injury, so now it was okay,

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Speaker 3: not only who's going to be the third receiver, but

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Speaker 3: who's going to be the second receiver? And Dante stepped

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Speaker 3: up and stepped up in a big way. We had

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Speaker 3: a lot of confidence coming into the season with him.

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Speaker 3: There was some things that he was still getting comfortable

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Speaker 3: with with the offense. But now that you have Dante's

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Speaker 3: established himself, KeAndre shown it and then obviously what we

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Speaker 3: have at tight end that gives us, that gives us

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Speaker 3: some parts to kind of work with with. Still another

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Speaker 3: group of developing guys that we also think of playing.

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Speaker 2: Curtis Jacobs is up for the buckets. He's a semi finalist.

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Speaker 2: I think he has played as as well as any

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Speaker 2: linebacker in the country, like Jeremiah's son is doing well

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Speaker 2: and at Clemson. But you look at Curtis Jacobs. He

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Speaker 2: has been a star warth for this defense for several

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Speaker 2: years now. So it's nice to see him get that

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Speaker 2: type of acknowledgment and be on that semi finalist list.

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Speaker 2: How have you felt about it? How has he handled it?

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Speaker 2: How does that? I mean, this is linebacker you and

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Speaker 2: so to have Curtis get that type of recognition, I know,

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Speaker 2: for me, I'm pulling for him, but it was really

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Speaker 2: really exciting to see that we're back in the running

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Speaker 2: for the award.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I think, first of all, you love when your

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Speaker 3: guys get recognized for doing what they do. But I

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Speaker 3: think on top of that, it's about consistency, you know,

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Speaker 3: for us as a program, but really as players as well.

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Speaker 3: There's guys that have maybe one week where they have

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Speaker 3: fourteen tackles, but then you don't see him in next

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Speaker 3: two weeks. Kurt's just been steady, consistent. He's really approached

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Speaker 3: his entire Penn State career the right way. His family

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Speaker 3: has been awesome. Penn State grad the whole package, and

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Speaker 3: this year he's really put it all together. There's been

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Speaker 3: less dips and valleys. He's been consistent every single week,

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Speaker 3: playing at a high level. There's a lot of confidence

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Speaker 3: that come from that for Manny, that he knows what

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Speaker 3: he's got at that position. With that guy, I think

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Speaker 3: he's been kind of a steadying force for our defense

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Speaker 3: as a whole.

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Speaker 2: I like that. I like that, I mean defense has

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Speaker 2: been playing awesome. It's a big one. This is I

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Speaker 2: mean and all intents and purposes, this is the season.

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Speaker 2: If you guys get past them, it's you gotta you

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Speaker 2: gotta win out of course, it's got to be one

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Speaker 2: to know. But get past this week, I'll say it.

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Speaker 2: We're we're heading towards a playoff bit and maybe possibly

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Speaker 2: a Big ten championship appearance. How do you manage knowing

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Speaker 2: that you got runway Ohio State people people want to

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Speaker 2: say doom and gloom. It wasn't doom and gloom this week.

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Speaker 2: It's almost like it's a playoff game. This is a

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Speaker 2: playoff for you guys. How are you approaching it? How

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Speaker 2: is the team approaching it?

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Speaker 3: Well? I think you go back to that Ohio State game.

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Speaker 3: They've been ranked the last two weeks to number one

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Speaker 3: team in the country in the in the college football

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Speaker 3: Playoff poll. We lost to them by one possession on

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Speaker 3: the road. You know, it's interesting the rankings come out.

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Speaker 3: They got people that have lost to unranked teams ranked

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Speaker 3: higher than us, which is which is hard to comprehend.

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Speaker 3: But that's outside of our control. Now we're playing Michigan

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Speaker 3: at our place at home. On film, I got to

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Speaker 3: give Michigan credit on film and on paper. They're they're

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Speaker 3: a good football team. I got a ton of respect

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Speaker 3: for what they do, how they do it, how they operate.

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Speaker 3: The quarterback makes them go. That's where defensively, we got

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Speaker 3: to try to make him uncomfortable. He has not been

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Speaker 3: uncomfortable all year long. They as a team have not

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Speaker 3: been uncomfortable. They've been ahead on the scoreboard for most

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Speaker 3: of the season. They've been ahead of a stick. So

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Speaker 3: we got to try to make them uncomfortable, not only

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Speaker 3: as a team, but also from an environment standpoint. People say, well,

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Speaker 3: it's twelve o'clock, I don't care between coffee and doughnuts.

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Speaker 3: You need to be ready to go, and we need

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Speaker 3: that place rocket on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: Will you guys use signs? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 2: I try to keep it straight faith and that was

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Speaker 2: a joke because it doesn't even matter, but you know,

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Speaker 2: the whole sign stuff going on. All right, here's my

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Speaker 2: last question. It's probably your hardest question of the interview.

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Speaker 2: And I always hit you with one that really is

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Speaker 2: like real difficult to answer. So I'm curious as to

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Speaker 2: what you're gonna hit me with this one. Who has

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Speaker 2: been the most influential person? And I take me off

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Speaker 2: the list? All right, don't put me on the list.

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Speaker 2: All right, I appreciate it, but don't put me on

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Speaker 2: the list coach, who has been the most influential person

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Speaker 2: to James Franklin being who James Franklin is.

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Speaker 3: Personally my mom, no doubt about it. Raised for the

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Speaker 3: most part by by single mom and my older sister.

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Speaker 3: She came to this country from England. I had no

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Speaker 3: support system and had no friends, no family, and then

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Speaker 3: it didn't work out with my dad, so she poured

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Speaker 3: her entire life into me and my sister. So she

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Speaker 3: had a huge influence. She worked at my high school

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Speaker 3: in a number of different roles, but no doubt my mom,

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Speaker 3: my mom, and the sacrifices that she made and then professionally,

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Speaker 3: I would say, Ralph Regent, oh wow, you know, we

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Speaker 3: just played the University of Maryland. That was my first

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Speaker 3: big break in the profession. I was there for five years.

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Speaker 3: We won a ton of games. I left and went

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Speaker 3: to the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and then

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Speaker 3: ended up coming back as a coordinator for another three years.

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Speaker 3: I was there for eight years with Ralph excellent football coach,

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Speaker 3: demanding guy. Again, that was my first big break, first,

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Speaker 3: you know, first experience with major college football. We went

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Speaker 3: to a ton of bowls. We were in a BCS

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Speaker 3: Orange Bowl. We did We did a ton of really

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Speaker 3: good things. ACC Championship. So he probably had the biggest

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Speaker 3: influence on me professionally.

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Speaker 2: Awesome, man, listen, make sure you guys are rocking and rolling.

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Speaker 2: It's a stripeout weekend, all right. We get to play

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Speaker 2: and be the hostile environment. Make sure you come out

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Speaker 2: and force. Make sure you support Happy Value United. That's

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Speaker 2: right on demand so you can see these awesome interviews

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Speaker 2: that take place. Hey, listen, it's a big week for us,

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Speaker 2: all right. That's coach Franklin. I'm LeVar Arrington. This is

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Speaker 2: quite Franklin. Make sure you subscribe and get that that

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Speaker 2: subscription at HBU and you can listen to the audio

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Speaker 2: on upon game Presents. All right, so make sure you

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Speaker 2: check us out. Coach, good luck to you, apiate you,

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Speaker 2: appreciate you, all right. We are Penn State. We'll check

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Speaker 2: you out next week. Take care,