BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Catching up with Jamelle Cornley

July 24, 2009

Nate Bauer
BlueWhiteIllustrated.com Editor

Today, we're continuing with our multi-part interview with former Penn State forward, Jamelle Cornley.

In this second part, Cornley talks about his changing role throughout his career, the transitions made within the Nittany Lions' basketball program, where it's headed, and it's immediate future - junior point guard Talor Battle.

BWI: You've been a mentor to so many guys in your time here. Who were your mentors when you first got here?

Travis Parker, from a one-on-one talking standpoint. As far as watching somebody play it was Geary Claxton because he played extremely hard on both ends of the court.

But, understanding the game was Travis Parker from Penn State, and then you had other players like J.J. Sullenger at Ohio State and Ron Lewis from Ohio State and some other guys around the country that I know. But, at Penn State, it was Travis Parker.

BWI: When was the transition that you noticed you were becoming the mentor?

I think it was one day just in practice. I caught myself just talking, talking and talking a lot more. Yelling at people, toward the end of my sophomore year. I don't know what happened because coach had been on me at the end of my freshman year about leading guys... he wanted to make sure I stayed on Milos and Nikola and Jonas and my other freshman teammates.

And then at the same time, he wanted me to make sure I was a good example for the upperclassmen, too, and that was tough because I didn't really understand that. But, towards the end of my sophomore year, I was in practice one time on the main floor and I just caught myself just yelling at guys and making sure they were playing hard. I think it just gradually went from there.

BWI: Was that weird directing guys that were older than you?

Yeah, it was, but nobody took it the wrong way. Everybody knew that I cared about them and it was about the game. We never try to take issues off the court and I think that by that time, with them not saying anything and even reacting in a positive way, I think it showed where the respect level was and I think I had earned the respect by the way I had played.

BWI: Did Geary's injury take it to another level your junior year?

It did. It did because the first mindset, anytime you're the second leading scorer or the second option, whatever you want to call it, you're first thinking, 'Wow, he's down, I gotta step up.'

But, I had to step up in different ways. I had to step up in playing even harder and step up in making sure everybody was involved and I had to step up by continuing to stay grounded and not getting frustrated and trying to take matters into my own hands because sometimes you can just get out of hand.

But, I think his injury really hurt me at first because I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting that for the following year and it came early.

BWI: Did that propell you into your senior year though? You had that extra practice?

In some cases it did because it allowed everybody to really figure out their role early on. You have that injury against Wisconsin, the third game into the Big Ten season and then you have 15 games after that not including the Big Ten Conference Tournament and all that.

So, everybody's able to figure out, OK, now it's time for me to shoot this shot or now I have to get more rebounds.

It allowed other players to really figure their identity out and then it allowed me to trust them. So, it was hand in hand.

BWI: Ultimately, how seriously did you take that responsibility to be the captain of the ship?

I took it very seriously because I remember what my goals were and I remember all the things that I wanted to accomplish. As soon as that situation happened, I looked at myself and said, What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to try to help the program?

Then, I made a decision to make sure that I left everything out there which I always did, but I wanted to make sure the team understood what the situation was and what we wanted to be remembered by.

So that's how I pretty much took the injury as, Now it's time to do something about it and now it's time to be who you said you were going to be.

BWI: When you're with a group of teammates that, I'm not sure even three years ago, that everybody would have been on board with your same ideals, how difficult was the transition of convincing everyone to align with the goals you had set?

How difficult was it? (Was there any resistance to it? Was it a tough transition?) Well, one, I think it started off with the recruiting because the coaching staff did a great job recruiting players that wanted to win and that were willing to work hard. So, it really wasn't that hard.

You sit down and we're in the locker room and I tell everybody, If you're not ready, if you're scared, don't come out here. And I really mean that. If you're out on the court, I'm going to call you out if you're not playing hard.

So, I didn't have to do that too many times. Every now and then, you do it especially with a player who maybe had a bad day or something like that but overall, it wasn't difficult at all.

BWI: When you're taking on the role of calling other guys out, how hard is it to focus on yourself? Are there ever moments or practices where you can't notice yourself slipping or is it just natural for you to go full go all the time?

No, I try my absolute hardest to make sure that I never call out anybody unless I'm taking care of my responsibility. I would never try to contradict myself in any way, shape or form when it comes to effort because, one, I don't see myself ever giving half of an effort and two, it just would be wrong if I did that to somebody.

I make sure that if I'm going to say anything, I'm going to think it through and then I'm going to make my judgment the best way possible.

BWI: What was the No. 1 goal you wanted to achieve when you came here?

No. 1, and it's somewhat broad but the No. 1 was respect. I caught a lot of heat coming to Penn State from certain people. People were saying that the program was terrible, I don't know why you went there, you can't play in the Big Ten.

So, it wasn't just my personal goal, from a statistics standpoint, it was more of a, 'OK, I'm going to make some people believers by going out here and leading the team to a winning record.' That was the ultimate goal but then you get here and you see the environment.

Of course, everybody knows about my curtain call. I wanted that. I wanted the NCAA bid. Toward the end of my career, there was the Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State goal to beat those teams, which I was able to beat one out of those three but, it happens. A Big Ten Championship, that didn't happen.

But, the thing is, people ask me, You didn't get it. You didn't achieve all of those goals. I say, OK, well, good. That's fine. I'd rather set a goal and know that I tried my hardest to do it and fail rather than not set a goal at all and not get anything out of it.

BWI: Do you look back on the goal of earning respect and see the changing culture at Penn State as having been achieved or is it still unfinished?

I think it's still unfinished. (You had kids caring about this team last year whereas two, three years ago that wasn't the case.) Well, I guess it really depends on who you are because right now, I think people say, We've arrived.

We haven't arrived yet. I think it's right there on the cusp. If we can get around that corner then great but there's some people who still believe, and I hope they continue to believe, but it's not there yet. I hope it is. I hope within the next year you can say, OK, yeah, Penn State has honestly arrived.

BWI: So what does it take?

It takes consistency. With success comes maturity and people that are willing to sacrifice but continue to work hard. All in all, I think the next year or two is really going to prove whether or not the program is here.

BWI: How do you feel moving forward? Do you feel like you left it in good hands?

I think so. I think that I was able, not just me, but I think that the people who are leaving have set a standard to how to play and why you should play hard and everything that needs to happen in order to have some type of success.

But, the team, they're going to have games where they lose and they're going to have games where they win. But, it's all about how you bounce back from all of those situations. I would never understand why we lost 13 games straight my sophomore year. Now I understand why. Because there were things that people weren't doing and I transitioned that into what to do. Now, it put us in a situation where we had a season like we had.

BWI: At the senior banquet, you gave a pretty impassioned speech. Was that the first time you had done something like that or had you tried to convey those messages before? It was pretty intense.

First off, it started off with Talor, his whole thing where he broke down and his message to me. That speech was something, honestly, I can say I thought about that speech for four years on what to say and what I was going to be able to say.

I remember thinking about it my freshman year like, What am I going to say come my senior year? What will I have to show for it?

But, that message to the team was just, that was me. That was everything that was built up inside me because... I can't even really explain. I was so emotional because I can just remember trying to fight every day in practice to put the program where it needed to be. The coaching staff, they worked extremely hard and a lot of people don't really know and appreciate what is done behind closed doors.

Now, the message to the team is, There are so many people and there's so much that you can do that as long as you give effort, you can answer a lot of questions.

BWI: The next guy is Talor. Is his leadership capable of replacing what you brought to the floor? Is he wired that way or is it going to take a team effort to bring that same focus and intensity?

First off, he's a great player. He's so mature that... the kid is about to turn 21 years old in September. You would think he's 23, 24, with the way he plays and the knowledge that he has.

His leadership is different because he plays off of so much emotion. Sometimes he can be up, he can be down, and there's times where as you grow, you've gotta be able to play at a certain level all the time, especially mentally because there's going to be times where you're just not making shots and things like that.

But, from a leadership standpoint, he does have what it takes to allow the team to be successful because he understands the game and he can share his knowledge with everybody. There's going to be certain times where he's going to have to approach certain people in different ways, though, because you can't yell at certain players and you can't ignore certain players. He's got to understand how to cater to everybody and be able to communicate with everybody and be able for everybody to be cohesive. That's his biggest thing.

BWI: How long does that take to get that understanding of your teammates though and how to handle them?

It takes a good deal of time but it's a matter of really hanging out. I'm talking about simple stuff - movies, dinner, anything. Because, at the end of the day, I can tell you everybody's favorite food on the team. I can tell you that Chris Babb doesn't like ketchup. Drew will eat anything... I can tell you everything because there's certain things that you just need to know about everybody.

You can't really put a time frame on it but I think it's just a matter of being around each other. Now, with him playing on the USA Team, I don't know. I think that causes a little issue because he's not around the team, he's not around the freshmen, but as long as they're out there and they feel comfortable around him, the team will be fine.

BWI: What is your view on the World University Games? Will he come out of that being a better player?

I think it's a really good thing for him because he's able to see where he's at. He's able to test his ability against the best people in the world and he's able to be with a different coaching staff.

He's able to be around different athletes, so he's able to see a total different perspective on certain games and styles of play. I think he'll be able to find certain skills and assets that he can incorporate into his own game. So then, when somebody out there, Robbie Hummell or whatever is knocking down shots and you got Booker tearing up the glass and everything, if that happens here at Penn State, now he's able to know, now I don't have to shoot, I can just get everybody involved.

So, he's able to be around different players but at the same time, he's able to incorporate new skills and put new things in his arsenal to where he can bring it back to Penn State and be an even better player.

BWI: What are the general improvements he has to get better at before he becomes the player he's capable of being?

He's gotta make sure that he gets everybody involved and make sure that he keeps the players confident because there's going to be times where he's going to be trying to get everybody involved and they're not knocking down shots. So, he's got to pick and choose his spots.

I tell him all the time, pick and choose. Sometimes, you can't shoot 15 times. You can shoot six times. He's gotta work on his shooting percentage, quality of shot, staying consistent on the defensive end.

At the end of the game, as good as he is offensively, he's even better defensively because he's getting in passing lanes, he can guard anybody on the court, he's quick enough and he's got the desire to win. So, making sure that everybody else has the same mindset.

I always tell him this and he can even tell you, take what you want until they take it away. If they take it away then you take what they give you. That's he and I. That's what we talk about all the time.

Penn State NEWS

[More]

Latest Headlines:

Resources:

FEATURED PRODUCT