Penn State DB Zakee Wheatley talks Tom Allen's impact, personal development

best safety room in the country what do you think when you he your coach say that uh I mean it sounds great knowing he he's confident on three of us uh really not listening to the outside noise or even Coach Frank saying that just keeping our blinders on day by day getting better and better um all three of us sharpen you know sharpen each other make each other better and really just noten to the outside noise but just keep showing everybody something it seemed like all three of you guys were able to play either deep in the slot in the Box how important is that for disguising coverage and being able to do all those things all three of you guys and not have to like pigeon hole somebody into one role uh it shows offense uh different looks variety kind of make it harder to game plan you know all three of us doing different things sometimes in a flat sometimes in a post sometimes blitzing and when you're doing it every play is kind of hard like with a game plan James just called jayen one of the smartest football players he's he's better around what what is it like playing with Jaylen from the M perspective uh me and me and J re came in together the same class he's taught me a lot of things he's always been smart on the field uh playing with him and just you know communication things faster quicker he's a good person to have on the field next to you you know he going to have the right thing going what's your journey been like cuz you kind of flashed early and then we didn't hear from you for a little bit um so what's your journey over the last couple years been like uh I'll say ups and downs just stay in the course just continuing to get better uh I came in freshman year as a corner so the Run was way different and transfer to a uh safety behind Brizzy TIG and just going through the ups and downs kind of made me player I end of the day and I'm still developing just like I said really just focusing on keeping my blinders on coming in every day and getting better in the long run you'll see the uh increase do you still talk to those guys BR and brown oh yeah definitely I was talking to bridet the other day he was talking about some football and T me and him real close now what point did you realize how much three safety looks Tom Tom Allen likes to to use did you know immediately or was it sometime in the offseason when did that kind of occur to you I mean when he first came in we had discussions about what he was bringing to the team uh one of the first things he mentioned was how he liked the three safety look and of course in our room we love to hear uh love to hear that and then ever since then uh he stood on it he showed us how we was going doing the looks and yeah like we out there running it now you guys did a lot of three safeties last week against one of the best rushing teams in the nation last year so a lot of people think wow you're playing all these safeties there's going to be a trade-off but there wasn't how much pride you take and what you guys were able to do against the Run we take big pride in that just not trying to play us or like a lot of times with three safety looks they want to get an extra linebacker in there or whatever the team may how they disguise it but with us we want to make sure when we got three safties and we playing it better than how a team would have linebackers and just showing them and proving it like we doing everything on the field like he said earlier uh we all doing different things and just trying to be the best at each one you would take away King three times now I think a couple years ago twice how do you how do you keep P pulling this together and there's so many guys on defense what is it that's clicking with you that's allowing you to do this over and over again um I think it's just a neck for the ball it's not something I really come out here every day like turnover king or get the turnover it's kind of just natural just flying around stacking days and at the end of the camp the result be the result what do you focus on improving at because obviously that is something we've known about you for a while but what are the areas where you've been kind of grinding at uh I've been grinding really on just recovery I think as I got older I've learned how much recovery matters and just taking care of your body so you can fly around on the field um also like I feel you never smart enough you always can learn and grow in the game and just learning like different coverages and knowing the parts has improved my game a lot how did you maintain your confidence when you weren't playing as much last year as I'm sure you would have like to be playing how how do you keep your your head together uh I'll say just having a good relationship with God talking to him knowing that this is all part of the journey uh coming in day in and day out and just trying to get better still like I said and no matter what I was trying to improve get better show my coaches you feel me and then over time it worked out talked a lot about uh dejon Lane and and his progression so far having been a you know summer enroll Le what have you seen from him and what's impress you or where do you think he can improve and help the team u i mean being a young player he definitely can improve on like all are and everything but uh definitely coming in uh he's listening he's very coachable he flies around and you can tell every single day that he tries to get better he's looking at the older guys and he trying to model his game after that in his own way but he tell he's showing us he cares every single day you talk about how AJ and Kimber kind of adapted to this program going out and getting the start but um probably isn't an easy thing to do come into a new program how do you think they did in that first game uh I think they did really good I didn't really see too many too many things happening out there you feel me but uh I think they did a great job I think I mean I practice with them every day they're both dogs I feel very confident seeing both of them beside me I know they going to do what they got to do uh so that's a good feeling and then since they came in they all they was ready to work first day they came in the summer we was in here getting extra working at the workouts after a conditioning day so that off rip showed me what type of guys they were so when you say they're dogs give me examples of of what made made them stand out to you in that regard for me it's big on consistence consistency you know what I'm saying um I seen him com in every single day and work you know I've seen the trans for you coming in it's a big competition in The Corner Room especially with Coach T and every single day them including others were just working every day to get better it worked out for