The quirks, analysis and extras from the notebook of Penn State football beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue
The quirks, analysis and extras from the notebook of Penn State football beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue
The quirks, analysis and extras from the notebook of Penn State football beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue
The quirks, analysis and extras from the notebook of Penn State football beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue
Kicker Tyler Davis hit a 27-yarder to tie the game and McSorley dove for a touchdown to put Penn State ahead 20-13 by the end of the period.
▪ Davis broke the Penn State record (previously held by Sam Ficken) for consecutive field goals made with 17, and is 17 for 17 in his career. The kicker only began playing football after his first year in college, and was a former soccer player-turned-Penn State transfer.
▪ McSorley seems to find a new learning curve each game, and then he seems to adapt to it throughout and performs better as the game continues.
Statistically, this is actually true.
The redshirt sophomore leads the Big Ten in passing with 1,284 yards and almost 40 percent of those yards have come in third quarters this season. One-third of his touchdowns have been in third quarters, and McSorley has a 163.08 quarterback rating in that period.
He also is No. 9 nationally in comeback efforts when Penn State is down by a margin of 8-14 points, and has thrown for 281 yards in that situation and 208 yards when Penn State is down by a margin of 1-7 points.
▪ Not only did Penn State’s offensive line open a huge hole for running back Saquon Barkley to burst through for a 25-yard touchdown in overtime, they did not cede a sack to Minnesota.
▪ Penn State did not have a single turnover, despite entering the game with 12 fumbles on the year.
The. First. Half.
By the numbers, Minnesota’s 13-3 lead by the end of the first half was only lopsided because of Penn State’s failure to convert on third down. The teams were a combined 2 for 14 on first-half third down conversions, and both were Minnesota’s (one led to a touchdown) — Penn State was 0 for 7.
\n\nOn third down issues: "We're not good at 2 things right now. We're not running ball consistently, we're not consistently protecting."
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 2, 2016
▪ While he didn’t take a sack, McSorley was pressured hard and often early by Minnesota’s defensive line. The Gophers had nine tackles for loss against Penn State and the hurried quarterback had to throw on his back foot or on the run often.
▪ The line also provided poor room to run. Feature back Barkley had just 38 yards before his 25-yard overtime sprint, and was pushed back for 26 yards throughout.
▪ Instead of going for a touchdown on a fourth down-and-1 in the second quarter and down only 3-0, Penn State head coach James Franklin opted for a field goal.
He explained the reasoning postgame.
“First of all, I get it,” said Franklin. “We go for it early in the game and it’s a fourth-and-1, and it doesn’t work so it’s a bad decision. Later in the game, we have the ball on the goal line on fourth-and-1 and we don’t go for it, and it’s a bad decision.
“We have not been great at consistently running the ball in short down situations. I want to be aggressive early in the game, and we’re right on the fringe of (Davis’) range, and we’re right about his fringe of where he’s been consistent. … We take the points on the one-yard line and people feel like we should’ve gone for it, I get that.”
One of the worst aspects of Penn State’s offensive play is continued failure on third down.
The team is 15 for 60 on third down conversions, second to last in the country, and only converted four in 14 attempts on Saturday. Of those, seven were third-and-long situations (Penn State converted three), and three were third-and-short (Penn State converted one).
▪ Penn State, already missing five linebackers entering Saturday’s game including its three starters, has upped that number to seven injured, after Jake Cooper and Brandon Smith were banged up late. Corner Christian Campbell also left with an injury and scout teamer Jordan Smith played in his place (and snagged a crucial interception).
▪ For the second week in a row, a Penn State player was ejected for targeting.
This week, it was defensive tackle Curtis Cothran, who had not played in the team’s first four games due to an unspecified injury. Cothran was ejected in the third quarter so he has to miss a half of play in Penn State’s upcoming game against Maryland.
Minnesota’s Jaylen Waters also was ejected for a late cheap shot on kicker Joey Julius, after a kickoff turned obvious touchback. Players and Franklin alike said that the third-quarter hit was a “turning point” and “the nail in the coffin” for the team’s win.
\n\nTracy Claeys said he will "handle" Jaylen Waters' hit on @PennStateFball K Joey Julius. https://t.co/UjjUbqzJ2K https://t.co/7U4tCAB6l3
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 2, 2016
\n\nEvan Schwan post game, on Julius cheap shot: "I'm not gonna say a whole lot. But that was the nail in the coffin for Minnesota."
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 2, 2016
Claeys told reporters after the game that he would address Waters’ behavior personally.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley probably summed it up best for his whole team after Saturday’s 49-10 loss to No. 4 Michigan: He felt embarrassed.
Asked whether he saw any bright spots within the game, the redshirt sophomore said, “I don’t know. It’s tough to take any positives from that.”
A brief section this week, but it still exists thanks mostly to two Penn State specialists.
Freshman punter Blake Gillikin proved well-prepared for his first-ever Big Ten test.
Gillikin’s first punt was impressive in length — he was pinned in his own end zone after a Penn State three-and-out and booted the ball 61 yards — but it was returned by Jabrill Peppers for 53 yards.
On his next attempt, with Peppers again lined up to return, Gillikin sent the ball toward the sideline hashmark, forcing Peppers out of bounds as he made the catch. From then on, the prolific athlete only managed one more punt return yard in six total punts.
Gillikin ranks No. 16 in the nation in net punting with an average of 45 yards per kick.
▪ Kickoff man Joey Julius laid the lumber for his second huge hit in three weeks, this time on returner Jourdan Lewis.
Julius once again went viral on Twitter, even spurred by Lewis himself, who tweeted a video of the hit and, more prominently, the whiffed block by Peppers that led to it.
\n\nDID YOU SEE THIS? Penn State kicker Joey Julius (5'10", 271 pounds) destroys Jourdan Lewis on this return!! https://t.co/BftEuWIX0V
— Sean Merriman (@BTNSean) September 24, 2016
▪ Within the battered, thin linebacker unit, true freshman Cam Brown saw his first minutes at the position and recorded 10 tackles, the second-most on the team.
▪ A jet-sweep play that had fooled Penn State against both Pitt and Temple did not get defensive end Torrence Brown to bite on Saturday. Brown read the first-quarter play perfectly and wrapped up Michigan’s Eddie McDoom for a loss.
Not much went right for Penn State on Saturday.
By halftime, the Wolverines led 28-0 behind 260 yards of offense to Penn State’s 50. Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley had been sacked five times (he took six sacks throughout), and four came on third downs.
And by the game’s end, Michigan had converted on 11 of 16 third downs (Penn State had two in 12 attempts), racked up 515 yards of offense to Penn State’s 199, had 13 tackles for loss to force 38 Penn State yards-lost on the ground. Its defensive line held the Nittany Lions to 78 net rushing yards (59 of which were running back Saquon Barkley’s), and its secondary held Penn State to 121 passing yards (77 of which were also Barkley’s).
▪ Penn State was 0 for 4 on third-and-longs, 1-for-4 on third-and-short distance, and one of its two conversions came by penalty.
▪ Tackling again was huge issue for the Nittany Lions, who, according to Pro Football Focus, entered the game with 37 missed tackles through three games. Penn State missed another 15 tackles throughout Saturday’s game, including three would-be sacks on quarterback Wilton Speight. Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Kevin Givens accounted for two misses as Speight easily shook him on the run.
▪ Penn State allowed over 300 rushing yards for the second time in four games. A rotation of Michigan backs racked up 326 net rushing yards and the Nittany Lions’ defensive line got almost no pushback, forcing only 14 yards lost on the ground. A combination of backs in De’Veon Smith, fullback Karan Higdon, Ty Isaac and Chris Evens rushed for almost seven yards per carry. Penn State ranks No. 104 in the country in rushing defense with an average of 213.75 yards allowed per game and 12 rushing touchdowns allowed.
▪ Michigan recorded 13 tackles for loss for 45 yards.
▪ Franklin showed poor playcalling judgment in the third quarter on fourth-and-two. Penn State was down 28-0 and just a yard outside the red zone. The head coach sent out his kicking unit, and then called a time out — reasoning that, the head coach admitted later, should have been in preparation to send the offense back out to go for the touchdown.
Instead, the time out was burned and Penn State kicked anyway, settling for three points.
▪ In the second quarter, linebacker Brandon Smith was called for targeting and then ejected. The call was controversial, drawing viral national criticism from pundits and former players alike — even on the Michigan side. Smith appeared to be reaching for the ball and tracking it with his eyes and chin, and contact looked incidental. However, college football’s targeting rules don’t allow for “intent,” something Franklin tried to argue with officials before Smith was ejected.
Once Smith, the third-string middle linebacker and former walk-on fullback, left the game, fourth-string (also a former walk-on) Jan Johnson entered the game. Johnson played a few series’ before injuring his knee. He is out for the season, Franklin announced after the game.
Penn State’s linebacker situation has sunk from bad to worse through three weeks. Starting middle linebacker Jason Cabinda is out with a hand injury, starting strong side linebacker Brandon Bell is out with a leg injury and starting weak side linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White is out for the season with another knee injury. Smith had filled in once Wartman-White, who shifted to the middle in Cabinda’s absence, got hurt in Penn State’s win over Temple in week three.
Bell and Cabinda are expected to return, but their timeline is unknown. Without their’s and Wartman-White’s 63 combined starts, the second tier is left to Smith and sophomores Jake Cooper and Manny Bowen. Brown also saw time on Saturday and is a viable (albeit young) future option, and otherwise Penn State has moved safety Koa Farmer back to linebacker and shifted former running back Johnathan Thomas into the position as well.
Von Walker, who is listed as a linebacker on the team’s depth chart, has played most of his minutes on special teams.
It will affect the way the unit practices, and will exacerbate already glaring tackling issues as the team will likely not go full-speed in the interest of preserving its healthy players.
▪ The start of Saturday’s game set the tone for its entirety.
Penn State opened on offense, but was flagged on back-to-back penalties out of the gate. McSorley was sacked twice and pushed back to the 1-yard line as the Nittany Lions went three-and-out. Gillikin’s 61-yard punt was bobbled a bit by Peppers, who still managed to return it 53 yards, and three minutes later the Wolverines scored.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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So, what’s it like covering Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh?
Will the nation’s top cornerback, Jourdan Lewis, return from injury to square off against Penn State’s Chris Godwin this week? And what exactly is the level of talent opponents can expect from the versatile Jabrill Peppers?
The Detroit News’ Michigan beat writer, Angelique Chengelis, previews the Wolverines’ upcoming matchup against the Nittany Lions in Ann Arbor on this week’s “Three and Out” podcast:
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Penn State can’t celebrate its 34-27 win against in-state opponent Temple for long.
Big Ten football is about to start, and an injury-laden Nittany Lions team will face No. 4 Michigan (3-0) at 3:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
Still, despite a few miscues, Penn State (2-1) showed continued promise throughout Saturday’s win.
Perhaps even more stunning than Saquon Barkley’s 55-yard breakaway run to seal Penn State’s victory were the cuts that broke him loose.
The running back cut outside to slip through the arms of linebacker Jarred Alwan, then back outside as free safety Sean Chandler came to help coverage. The approximately 15 feet of lateral movement over two cuts spanning 10 yards opened up the 50-yard free sprint through open space to the end zone.
\n\nSeriously, these cuts aren't even fair. #PennState pic.twitter.com/n88iTWvVuu
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) September 17, 2016
▪ Not to be forgotten is backup Andre Robinson, who came in for Barkley as he was working through an injury on the sideline in the first half. Robinson ran for 24 yards on six carries and punched in the team’s second touchdown of the day (the first of the redshirt freshman’s career), his power-run style on full display.
▪ Receiver Chris Godwin had been relatively quiet through the team’s first two games this season, with a combined 11 catches and no touchdowns through two games. But Saturday the top returning target on Penn State’s roster had 117 yards on seven catches, including a wide-open 52-yard reception-for-touchdown in which he and tight end Mike Gesicki crossed over their coverage to let Godwin loose downfield.
▪ Senior defensive tackle Parker Cothren stepped up in key moments on Saturday.
Freshman running back Miles Sanders fumbled at the Temple 7-yard line, and the Owls recovered. In the resulting series, Cothren had two tackles for loss for five combined yards and Temple had to punt.
The defensive line as a unit allowed 70 rushing yards throughout, a vast improvement from the 491 yards allowed combined through Penn State’s first two games. The unit also combined for nine tackles for loss for 32 yards, which is also more pushback from the defensive line than the first two games.
▪ Gesicki pulled in an acrobatic one-handed catch for 52 yards on a throw quarterback Trace McSorley laced between (and over) double-coverage. The highlight-reel snag was stunning, and could not have happened without the initial evasion of the pass rush by McSorley, who rolled out under pressure and hardly stopped to plant before he fired to Gesicki.
\n\nREPLAY: If you missed it, here was Mike Gesicki's huge leap and grab for 52 yards.https://t.co/7sesFUYisy
— Derek Levarse (@TLdlevarse) September 17, 2016
▪ Penn State converted on fourth down in back-to-back second quarter drives. The first, a 19-yard run on fourth-and-3 by Sanders, resulted in Sanders’ fumble on the following play. The second, a 1-yard rush by Robinson on fourth-and-1, ultimately resulted in McSorley’s first career rushing touchdown.
Penn State fumbled the ball five times and recovered three of those. While the Nittany Lions were able to contain Temple after the Owls recovered Sanders’ fumble, Amani Oruwariye accidentally kicked a rugby punt (technically a fumble) in the fourth quarter and Temple scored on the resulting drive. A McSorley interception led to another Owls touchdown just before that, as the team attempted a comeback behind 14 points off second-half Penn State turnovers.
The team is last in the country through three games with 12 fumbles, and No. 124 in the country in fumbles lost with six. Penn State has also given up 35 points off turnovers through three games.
▪ The Nittany Lions continue to get beat on jet sweep plays.
Temple undoubtedly watched the success Pitt had with the sweep against Penn State in Week 2, and utilitzed it effectively in the first quarter to tie the game, 7-7 off an 8-yard handoff to Jahad Thomas. Corner Christian Campbell shifted in help coverage as Thomas swept wide, but missed his tackle and the running back scored.
Injuries have again plagued Penn State, especially at linebacker.
While Brandon Smith, a former walk-on, had an excellent game on Saturday after coming in for Nyeem Wartman-White and recorded eight tackles as well as a tackle-for-loss and near strip-sack of Temple quarterback Phillip Walker, it’s safe to assume the Nittany Lions would rather have healthy, experienced starters in the unit heading into Big Ten play.
Penn State was, at one point in the first half against Temple, without six defensive starters (Evan Schwan, Jason Cabinda, Grant Haley, Wartman-White, Marcus Allen and Grant Haley) and remains (until a possible status update on Tuesday) without its three starting linebackers. Starting safeties Allen and Malik Golden returned to the game after injury, but Wartman-White did not.
The team also missed receiver Saeed Blacknall for the second straight game.
Head coach James Franklin will not likely go into detail regarding the status of the injuries unless season-ending. That update would be provided on Tuesday morning.
▪ Near the end of the game on Saturday, the student section at Beaver Stadium began chanting “(expletive) you, Temple!” on two separate occasions. This seems an especially moronic decision based on the heated national spotlight and scrutiny surrounding the university’s 50th anniversary commemoration of former head coach Joe Paterno’s first game that afternoon.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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It took only one Pitt drive to spotlight just how unprepared Penn State’s defense was for the Panthers’ attack in Saturday’s 42-39 loss.
The Nittany Lions had pooch-punted from their own 35-yard line, and Pitt took over at the one — the team’s first offensive series of the game. From there, Pitt began to set a man in motion before almost every snap and either ran a jet sweep or gashed Penn State’s young defensive line with power runner James Conner. The team went 99 yards on the drive and scored, biting off chunk plays of 24, 38, 23 and 10 yards in the process as Penn State’s defense struggled to make its checks and tackle in the first and second tier.
Head coach James Franklin said the week before he fully expected Pitt to throw in some wrinkles not seen in the latter’s season opener against Villanova. After Saturday’s game, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi agreed.
“Obviously you guys saw our offense today,” he said to reporters after the game. “Last week wasn’t really our offense. This is our offense. This is the offense you’re going to see every week. And we’ve got more.”
What Penn State didn’t expect were the quick shifts needed to counter the motion man, and the complementary jet sweeps/power run combo used seemingly at will by Pitt to rack up a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter and 226 rushing yards by halftime.
“Didn’t think we made some adjustments early on,” said Franklin. “They did a really good job with trading and shifting and motions early in the game. I didn’t think we handled that as well as we should have.”
Furthermore, the head coach said, as Penn State’s offense used its “clap cadence” for signals and snaps, Pitt responded with its own and threw the team off. This is legal, as Franklin said he found when he asked the referee; and Narduzzi responded to that statement in his postgame presser by saying it was “just another excuse” and that Pitt actually did the same thing in its opener — film Penn State almost certainly had studied.
Franklin said last week that the Pitt coaching staff had been working on a game plan for the renewal of the rivalry after a 16-year hiatus since the beginning of the summer and all through fall camp. Narduzzi agreed that this game was “offensively (Pitt’s) opener.” Franklin said prior to his team’s opener two weeks ago Penn State was not focusing on Pitt — not even allowed to mention the game or team name within the facilities, according to assistant Terry Smith — until the week of.
If true, whether that particular preparation strategy changes will remain to be seen — next year, of course.
▪ Penn State did mount a thrilling comeback attempt, scoring 18 fourth-quarter points behind running back Saquon Barkley’s touchdowns and a slick little two-point conversion with five minutes left in the game, during which quarterback Trace McSorley faked the “Statue of Liberty” trick play and instead threw the completion to DaeSean Hamilton in the end zone.
▪ Receiver DeAndre Thompkins was also a bright spot, starting in place of an injured Saeed Blacknall on the outside. Thompkins caught three passes for 87 yards, the two most notable of which were a one-handed beauty of a 39-yard catch, and a fourth-and-9 conversion on Penn State’s final series that Thompkins pulled down for a 34-yard gain.
\n\nPretty clear that Penn State wanted DeAndre Thompkins here. Also pretty clear he made an outstanding play. pic.twitter.com/28PBrX1x58
— Greg Pickel (@GregPickel) September 11, 2016
▪ Penn State’s special teams coverage did allow a huge 84-yard gain in the fourth quarter that set up an easy Pitt touchdown when the latter had only a four-point lead prior. However, punter Blake Gillikin executed to near-perfection when called upon, pinning Pitt back to the 1-yard line on a 35-yard pooch and the 7-yard line on a 69-yard punt that caused a few NFL scouts in the press box to gasp. Punt returner John Reid also had a 59-yard return that set up the first Nittany Lions touchdown of the game.
Thinner than usual in the second tier without injured starting middle linebacker Jason Cabinda, Penn State struggled to take down Pitt’s physical runners. Missed tackles allowed Pitt to rack up 11 rushing chunk plays (15-plus yards), seven in the first half alone as the Panthers ran for 226 yards in the first two quarters. Pitt finished with 341 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and Penn State plummeted nationally to No. 116 in rushing defense.
“We’re throwing shoulders, we’re not wrapping,” said Franklin after the game. “That’s a big, physical team.”
Penn State’s offensive line could do virtually nothing against Pitt pass rusher, Ejuan Price, who forced two fumbles after blowing up Brendan Mahon on the left side. The first was a complete blindside hit on McSorley, and both led to Pitt touchdown drives. The Panthers forced five fumbles and recovered three, had four sacks and scored 14 points off of Penn State turnovers.
\n\nY'all, the bend by #Pitt DE Ejuan Price around the edge for this sack-fumble https://t.co/kPbKdfhz9s
— #BeatOAK (@JSiglerNFL) September 10, 2016
The final turnover, of course, was an interception by Ryan Lewis in the end zone to seal the game after McSorley overthrew tight end Mike Gesicki.
“Blind side hits, you know, to me they go in his column but we got to do a better job consistently protecting,” said Franklin. “And the interception at the end, that was big because we had fought like crazy to get back into the game.”
While Franklin and players alike supported the call on second down-and-9, with the team down by three points and on Pitt’s 31-yard line (they echoed they wanted to be aggressive, as is offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead’s style), execution was poor from the overthrow to the lack of breakup by receivers downfield, to a wrong route run by young wideout Irvin Charles on the play.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"101253617","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/k33joc/picture101253617","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"PittPSU 17","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1473630500,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1473629762,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/k33joc/picture101253617/alternates/FREE_1140/PittPSU%2017","href":"/web/v1/content/101253617","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"adrey@centredaily.com","dateline":"","caption":"Pitt defensive lineman Ejuan Price pressures Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley as he looks for an open teammate during the Saturday, September 10, 2016 game at Heinz Field. Pitt won, 42-39.","photographer":"Abby Drey","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/k33joc/picture101253617/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/PittPSU%2017"},{"id":"99965782","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article99965782.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Penn State’s 33-13 win against Kent State","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1473180716,"published_date":1473014748,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/sijezh/picture99965777/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/KentPSU%2009","keywords":"Penn state kent state, PSU fball kicker hit, Joey Julius, Penn State fball opener, penn state football, nittany lions, rodrigue good bad ugly, James franklin, chris godwin, amani pick 6, penn state offensive line, saquon barkley, trace mcsorley","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","7085","22134","22125"],"credit":"","dateline":"UNIVERSITY PARK","summary":"Joey Julius’ hit, Penn State’s punting and continued woes on the offensive line: This week’s ‘the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’","content":"
Have Penn State fans gotten as excited over a punter as they did in Saturday’s 33-13 win against Kent State?
Freshman Blake Gillikin stepped on the field at Beaver Stadium for the first time after his team went three-and-out on its first series, and executed a gorgeous 49-yard punt for no Kent State return.
The crowd went nuts — they even gave Gillikin, just 18 years old, a standing ovation.
“I didn’t know he got a standing ovation, but thank you,” said head coach James Franklin. “Thank you everybody for doing that, reinforcing a positive, that’s good. ... I was trying to kind of temper expectations a little bit although he showed that (in camp).”
He went out just minutes later after the team’s second straight three-and-out and punted for 44 yards for a 3-yard return, and finished with six punts for a 47-yard average, a 58-yard long and plenty of hang time. Last season, Penn State averaged only 35.7 yards per punt between two players, and struggled with placement and hang time.
▪ Penn State’s new offense and new coordinator Joe Moorhead certainly didn’t show their entire hand against Kent State. In fact, according to receiver Chris Godwin, only “maybe 50 or 60” percent of the playbook was utilized.
“I think there’s a lot of stuff we can put in game by game,” he added.
In all but a few end-of-game plays, the same three-wide receiver sets (plus tight end Mike Gesicki) were used, with DaeSean Hamilton lined up inside in the slot and Saeed Blacknall and Godwin out wide.
Godwin finished the game with seven catches for 67 yards on 12 targets by quarterback Trace McSorley, for a 9.6 yards per catch average. But most impressive was Godwin’s footwork and athleticism on a few catches — a toe-drag to stay in-bounds on a 26-yarder, and an impressive layout for a first down.
▪ It was McSorley’s first start, but aside from an underthrow of Gesicki and an overthrow of Godwin (the receiver was called for offensive pass interference anyway), one would hardly know it.
The redshirt sophomore stayed composed enough to force his unit into a rhythm on its third series after the first two went three-and-out, and finished the game 16 for 31 with 209 yards and two touchdowns, including a 43-yard bomb to DeAndre Thompkins for both players’ career longs in pass and catch, respectively.
▪ It became clear all spring and fall that Penn State’s deep, athletic secondary has plenty of personality and energy. But the unit put words to action on Saturday, combining for 30 of 81 total tackles and finishing the game with a forced fumble and recovery by Marcus Allen (Malik Golden also added pressure) and pick-six by Amani Oruwariye, the first for the team since 2014.
“I thought Marcus Allen played really well, I thought John Reid played really well and obviously Amani made a big play for us,” said Franklin. “Christian Campbell did some nice things, Malik Golden did some nice things and we feel good about our depth and experience in the secondary.”
▪ Penn State’s 258-pound kicker, Joey Julius, is in this category if only because he showed that he’s a bad, bad man with one massive hit on Kent State’s 155-pound returner, Kavious Price. Julius ran through his kickoff in the second quarter and absolutely leveled Price, who is still likely out at Beaver Stadium looking for his teeth.
\n\nJoey Julius, Destroyer of Worlds. pic.twitter.com/KfnaSJPKTF
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 3, 2016
“I don’t even think (Joey) knew he hit him,” laughed defensive end Garrett Sickels.
▪ Chunk rushing plays plagued Penn State’s first two defensive tiers on Saturday.
Kent State had just two explosive passing plays (15-plus yards), but eight chunk-run plays (10-plus yards) from either their mobile quarterbacks or running backs.
The most interesting of the above was a “swinging gate” trick formation used by the Golden Flashes for a 16-yard gain. Other than the quarterback, center and one outside receiver, who lined up in the middle of the field, the entirety of the offense lined up on the left hashmark as the Nittany Lions defense followed suit.
\n\nPenn State should have used a timeout here. Clearly, and reasonably, they were baffled pre and post snap. pic.twitter.com/n4llYBaVSX
— Greg Pickel (@GregPickel) September 4, 2016
Penn State not only didn’t call a timeout to adjust, but the defense was confused and Kent State got the first down on the ground as quarterback Justin Agner rushed to the right. Ultimately, the first-quarter drive resulted in a field goal.
▪ Penn State was on its own 31-yard line in the second quarter when the old offensive line issues flared up. Redshirt junior left tackle Brendan Mahon got absolutely blown over by Kent State pass rusher Terence Waugh, and McSorley got sacked on his blind side and fumbled the ball. It was recovered by Golden Flash linebacker Elcee Refuge, who ran it back for a touchdown.
In the third quarter, running back Saquon Barkley punched in his second touchdown of the day, but it was called back after a false start by right tackle Andrew Nelson.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"99965777","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/sijezh/picture99965777","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"KentPSU 09","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1473029255,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1473014748,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/sijezh/picture99965777/alternates/FREE_1140/KentPSU%2009","href":"/web/v1/content/99965777","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"adrey@centredaily.com","dateline":"","caption":"Penn State freshman specialist Blake Gillikin gets off one of his six punts during the win.","photographer":"Abby Drey","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/sijezh/picture99965777/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/KentPSU%2009"},{"id":"100019667","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article100019667.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Week 1 review, Pitt week preview on ‘Three and Out’ podcast","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1473046657,"published_date":1473046558,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ttlqjf/picture100019662/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/1iCxPg.AuSt.42","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"On this week’s ‘Three and Out with Jourdan Rodrigue’ podcast, Penn State’s 33-13 win against Kent State is in review and perhaps the biggest game of the season, Penn State at Pitt, is previewed.","content":"
On this week’s ‘Three and Out with Jourdan Rodrigue’ podcast, Penn State’s 33-13 win against Kent State is in review and perhaps the biggest game of the season, Penn State at Pitt, is previewed.
Listen here:
Catch Episode Four, a breakdown of the 2017 recruiting class, here:
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"100019662","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ttlqjf/picture100019662","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"1iCxPg.AuSt.42","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1473046657,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1473046657,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ttlqjf/picture100019662/alternates/FREE_1140/1iCxPg.AuSt.42","href":"/web/v1/content/100019662","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"","dateline":"","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ttlqjf/picture100019662/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/1iCxPg.AuSt.42"},{"id":"99957372","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article99957372.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State 33, Kent State 13: Behind the Numbers","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1473008731,"published_date":1473008642,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/tfbrgj/picture99957367/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/KentPSU%2018%20(2)","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","22134","22125"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"A look at Penn State’s 33-13 season-opening win over Kent State, and the player of the game:","content":"
A look at Penn State’s 33-13 season-opening win over Kent State, and the player of the game:
![\"Loading...\"](\"https://magic.piktochart.com/loading.gif\")
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Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"99957367","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/tfbrgj/picture99957367","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"KentPSU 18 (2)","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1473008731,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1473008724,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/tfbrgj/picture99957367/alternates/FREE_1140/KentPSU%2018%20(2)","href":"/web/v1/content/99957367","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"adrey@centredaily.com","dateline":"","caption":"Penn State cornerback Amani Oruwariye intercepts the ball and runs it in for a touchdown during the Saturday, September 3, 2016 game in Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions got the first win of the season, 33-13, over Kent State.","photographer":"Abby Drey","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/tfbrgj/picture99957367/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/KentPSU%2018%20(2)"},{"id":"99850767","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article99850767.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State kicker Joey Julius lays out kick returner","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1472940169,"published_date":1472940169,"access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"","dateline":"UNIVERSITY PARK","summary":"Long after Penn State’s season-opener against Kent State is over, the Golden Flashes’ kick returner will probably still be looking for his teeth.","content":"
Long after Penn State’s season-opener against Kent State is over, the Golden Flashes’ kick returner will probably still be looking for his teeth.
The Nittany Lions’ 258-pound kicker, Joey Julius (No. 99), absolutely ate this young man for lunch in the first half on Saturday. Watch:
\n\nJoey Julius, Destroyer of Worlds. pic.twitter.com/KfnaSJPKTF
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 3, 2016
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":""},{"id":"98119542","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article98119542.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State recruiting: Who is the Class of 2017’s most intriguing prospect?","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1472239955,"published_date":1472239955,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/2kqtt3/picture98119532/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/fball%20824%206","keywords":"Penn State, Penn State football, PSU football, nittany lions, PSU football recruiting, penn state recruiting, psu recruiting","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","22125"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"This week’s episode of “Three and Out with Jourdan Rodrigue” features a breakdown of Penn State’s 2017 commitment class.","content":"
With a week left before the official start to Penn State football’s 2016 season, recruiting has fallen a bit under the radar.
But the Nittany Lions are sitting on a solid commitment class of 2017, the leaders of which make for some very intriguing athletic talent. Where might these players fit in if they sign in February? And for a class that currently contains 15 pledges and will likely top out at 17-20 members, what is the next big recruiting date to watch?
Catch Episode 3 of “Three and Out with Jourdan Rodrigue,” which includes a “Name to Know” at every roster position, here:
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"98119532","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/2kqtt3/picture98119532","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"fball 824 6","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1472239955,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1472239955,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/2kqtt3/picture98119532/alternates/FREE_1140/fball%20824%206","href":"/web/v1/content/98119532","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"adrey@centredaily.com","dateline":"","caption":"Penn State football coach James Franklin speaks to media after practice on Wednesday, August 24, 2016 in Holuba Hall.","photographer":"Abby Drey","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/2kqtt3/picture98119532/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/fball%20824%206"},{"id":"96767762","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article96767762.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"‘Names to know’ at each Penn State position on ‘Three and Out’ podcast","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1471646277,"published_date":1471646255,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/j578rv/picture96767757/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/1g5KkR.AuSt.42","keywords":"Penn State, psu football, penn state football, PSU podcast, Nittany Lions, Penn State move in ","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","7085"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"As thousands of freshmen move in to their new homes all weekend at Penn State, beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue shares her “names to know” at each position on the Nittany Lions’ roster.","content":"
As thousands of freshmen move in to their new homes all weekend at Penn State, beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue shares her “names to know” at each position on the Nittany Lions’ roster.
Last week, former Penn State linebacker and current Miami Dolphin Mike Hull was featured on “Three and Out” to share his experience in an NFL fall training camp.
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"96767757","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/j578rv/picture96767757","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"1g5KkR.AuSt.42","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1471646277,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1471646277,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/j578rv/picture96767757/alternates/FREE_1140/1g5KkR.AuSt.42","href":"/web/v1/content/96767757","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"","dateline":"","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/j578rv/picture96767757/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/1g5KkR.AuSt.42"},{"id":"95295262","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article95295262.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State alum Mike Hull joins ‘Three and Out’ podcast","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1471063123,"published_date":1471020737,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/nqexmv/picture95295257/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/IMG_IMG_PSUpurdue28.JPG__2_1_FJ2NLGU1_L67269814","keywords":"Three and out, Jourdan Rodrigue, Mike Hull, Miami Dolphins, Nittany Lions, Penn State football, penn state, psu football, penn state podcast, psu football podcast, linebacker, Mike Hull stats","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","7085","22134"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"This week’s podcast features former Penn State fan-favorite linebacker Mike Hull, on his fall camp with the Miami Dolphins.","content":"
Episode two of “Three and Out with Jourdan Rodrigue” features former Penn State and current Miami Dophins linebacker Mike Hull.
Throughout the episode, Hull discusses what it was like for him to be a rookie a year ago — “First of all, I’m glad I’m not a rookie anymore,” he laughed via phone call this week — as well as a progress update on fellow Penn State alum Jordan Lucas, who was drafted in April by the Dolphins.
Hull also shares his pick for the Penn State game he’s most looking forward to watching this season.
Check it out here:
Catch up on the first edition of “Three and Out with Jourdan Rodrigue” — where the three biggest topics in Penn State football are discussed in 10 minutes every week — right here:
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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The State College Spikes are bringing Christian Hackenberg back to town…in bobblehead form.
On August 13, the team will hand out bobbleheads of the former Penn State quarterback to the first 1,000 people through the gates of its game against Staten Island that night.
\n\nCourtesy of @SCSpikes , here is what the Christian Hackenberg bobblehead looks like (available Aug. 13) : pic.twitter.com/uiPUfon1lr
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) August 9, 2016
Hackenberg departed for the NFL after his junior season at Penn State, and was drafted by the New York Jets in the second round, No. 51 overall. He is the school’s all-time leader in career passing yards, passing touchdowns and single-game yards.
Gates open at 6:05 p.m. and the first pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
","kicker":"","text_alignment":"Left","href":"/web/v1/content/94637812","allow_ads":true,"allow_stn_player":true,"byline":"","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"94637807","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/rsaav8/picture94637807","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"1pzqZq.AuSt.42","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1470775913,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1470775913,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/rsaav8/picture94637807/alternates/FREE_1140/1pzqZq.AuSt.42","href":"/web/v1/content/94637807","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"","dateline":"","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/rsaav8/picture94637807/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/1pzqZq.AuSt.42"},{"id":"93629817","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article93629817.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State football reveals new locker room","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1470273800,"published_date":1470273684,"keywords":"Penn State, PSU, PSU football, Nittany Lions, Jason Cabinda, PSU locker room","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","7085","22134","22125"],"credit":"","dateline":"UNIVERSITY PARK","summary":"Penn State football completely renovated its locker room and showed off photos on Wednesday.","content":"
After a summer covered in construction dust and carpet samples, Penn State football’s newly-renovated locker room was revealed by the team on Twitter Wednesday night.
First, excited players got to see their new space — and reacted accordingly:
\nAaaaand we're in! pic.twitter.com/FbIdo8yJAO
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) August 4, 2016
Lineman Steven Gonzalez offered a glimpse as well:
\n\nNew locker room! Awesome! Thank you to President Barron, @SandyB_PSUAD and countless of donors for this locker room! pic.twitter.com/OCunYQ8yPB
— Steven Gonzalez (@StevenG511) August 4, 2016
As did linebacker Jason Cabinda:
\n\nHUGE THANK U to Pres. Barron @penn_state and @SandyB_PSUAD for the most LIT locker room I've seen in my life!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/POwUg4dFq5
— Jason Cabinda (@jasoncabinda) August 4, 2016
Not a bad start to the season for these guys — and it looks like they know it.
\n\nWhen you see the new locker room for the first time... #PSUCamp pic.twitter.com/Mw7lqXC2OX
— Kris Petersen (@GoPSUKris) August 4, 2016
\n\nThink that's what we call a happy dance@NoahBeh & @haleyboy10 pic.twitter.com/DI437K9bfs
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) August 4, 2016
Fall camp officially starts on Thursday.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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If you must profit off a demographic specifically for your own gain, you’d better respect them.
Or, if you’re Texas A&M, you instead ask a group of women to pay you $80 to get into an event in which you spend the duration insulting, harassing and demeaning them.
The Aggies held a “Chalk Talk for Women” event — you know, the kind that has been widely popularized by football programs across the country to capitalize on the coveted “female fans” demographic — this week, during which slides created by two assistant coaches displayed graphic and sexual innuendo as “tips” for playing the game. They are unprintable in this publication, quite honestly. The coaches also created a version of the fight song “for women” that included lines about kitchen products and “being full of estrogen.”
Disgusting.
Look, I’ve been trying to elbow my way into this game for almost a decade now, since I was a teenager. During this time, I’ve been asked if “I’m watching my boyfriend play” while I was working in the press box at an NFL game; I’ve been sexually harassed on social media; it’s been suggested by some I’ve come across in my field that I wear tighter clothes; and I was once referred to as “the reporter with the booty” and called “sweetheart.” I’ve stuck my hand out to shake but been pulled into hugs by coaches who likely meant no harm but should know better than to treat a professional in such a familiar manner. When I covered professional baseball, the father of a young man I was dating asked me “if his son was OK with me being in the locker room.”
I’ve even been asked if I’ve been “smitten” with players — as a professional, that’s like asking a Burger King employee if defrosting frozen patty chunks is arousing.
Last week in Chicago for Big Ten Media Days, I talked with two female colleagues from separate publications who I have been lucky to learn from on the beat. We were dismayed that in the room of 200 sportswriters, there were about 10 women. Three of us cover Penn State.
So, to the issue of these “chalk talks.” Some can be tastefully run, yes. By a few accounts of attendees that I’ve spoken to in recent weeks (reporters weren’t permitted to cover the event), Penn State’s (for $120 a pop) was fairly inclusive, with somewhat gender-neutral marketing and language. I suppose you pay more for implied sexism as opposed to overt sexism.
I’ve also been told that when Joe Paterno and his staff ran these chalk talks, women got dressed in full pads and gear and went through a practice similar to those players themselves had. One woman told me that her experience playing middle linebacker — actually playing and making pre-snap checks and calls — at one of these clinics remains one of her best memories. That sounds like a lot of fun and could, of course, easily be made all-inclusive.
Others, of course — like A&M’s, or Ohio State’s, where women reportedly undressed players onstage — are abhorrent.
But all of them, as neutral as the language might be or as careful the marketing strategy, project condescending exclusion of women by the very nature of their existence. As Yahoo’s Pat Forde stated in his column on Saturday, “(These clinics) are operating under the dubious and sexist theory that girls don’t understand football and cannot understand football without male instruction.”
I couldn’t agree more with Forde.
And I personally just don’t have the patience to accept these “chalk talks” as the standard by which women are let deeper into the game. It’s flat-out disrespectful to all women, and especially to those of us who have been fighting for “three yards and a cloud of dust” for years.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Penn State football took a few weeks this offseason to redo the turf in its indoor practice facility, Holuba Hall.
The previous turf split the facility into two 60-yard mini practice fields, with a rubber track circling the perimeter. Head coach James Franklin said last fall that repositioning the turf to make a full-length field that stretched the length of the building was on his bucket list — and that’s what the resurfacing accomplished.
Watch Penn State’s time lapse video of the new field here:
\n\nHoluba Hall looking fresh with its recent turf revamp. WATCH: https://t.co/l2fpDyyOM4
— Penn State Athletics (@GoPSUsports) July 22, 2016
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Let’s cut right to it.
A sanctionless Penn State, for the first time since Sam Ficken in 2011, has a kicker entering the program on scholarship for the 2016 season in Georgia product Alex Barbir.
Blake Gillikin, a punter who also hails from Georgia, rounds out a duo that the Nittany Lions hope will help ease their special teams woes often suffered last season.
In 2015, the team ranked No. 106 in the nation in net punting with 77 punts for an average of 34.34 yards per punt and just four touchbacks. Kickoffs averaged just 39 net yards and six were kicked out of bounds (Joey Julius had five out-of-bounds kickoffs while Tyler Davis had one). The Nittany Lions’ special teams defensive unit that started the year in promising fashion ultimately finished the season 120th in the nation in kickoff return defense with 940 yards allowed on 36 attempts (26.11 yards per attempt) and a touchdown.
Penn State’s own kickoff returns averaged 20.89 yards per attempt with no touchdowns and finished the season ranked No. 60 in the nation.
Head coach James Franklin knows the unit has to vastly improve — he’s said as much time and again. Barbir and Gillikin obviously can’t fix it all, especially as freshmen, but their combined accuracy and efforts could give their unit a much better chance to be successful.
Here’s who to watch this season:
Barbir committed to the Nittany Lions after the latter’s well-publicized wooing of now-Michigan signee Quinn Nordin — remembered as the kicker who committed to Penn State with a self-produced music video in which he was on a private jet, and then de-committed after a Michigan visit and following Jim Harbaugh sleepover.
But Barbir instantly became a fan-favorite after he signed with the team for his toungue-in-cheek rebuttal of Nordin’s recruitment and plane announcement, and his self-awareness on social media when it comes to current events both within football and outside of it.
More good news for fans: He can boot.
\n\nComing fast pic.twitter.com/21WOzcvbO2
— Barbir #8⃣ (@Alex_Barbir) July 15, 2016
Punters are people too!
Field position has become a crucial tool in many teams across the country, with the Big Ten being no exception. Returners like Rutgers’ Janarion Grant and Michigan’s Jabril Peppers have only increased that need.
But the best punters turn the battle for field position into an art form — just watch Utah’s two-time Ray Guy award winner Tom Hackett (currently with the New York Jets), and you’ll understand — and three punters were even selected in the sixth or seventh rounds of this year’s NFL draft.
Add in a team that’s rebuilding a defense that can use all the field position and spell time it can get, and Gillikin’s importance to the team is large, albeit unheralded.
\n\n#WeAre pic.twitter.com/5CYZvbHsGk
— Blake Gillikin (@blakegillikin) May 12, 2016
The two scholarship players are especially important when modern practices of college football are considered. More often than not, specialists are left to their own devices at team workouts. Many who have been pedigreed to the position have private coaches to help them with technique and game-time situations, as well as with understanding how to create their own structure in practices. That kind of, for lack of a better word, specialization, is important for a unit that often looked unsure of itself last season.
Charles Huff is not a player, of course, but as an assistant coach who is in charge of special teams (as well as running backs), he needs a productive year from his unit. Issues in coverage and with tackling were apparent as the season continued, and these will continue to be crucial as the team will have to contain upcoming Big Ten opponents that combined for 10 kickoff and punt return touchdowns in 2015 (Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan).
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Carl Nassib. Jordan Lucas. Anthony Zettel. Austin Johnson.
These players became household names last season as pillars of Penn State’s defense — one that finished the 2015 season ranked No. 14 in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
But now, they’re gone.
All four players were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft and subsequently signed their pro deals. Additionally, Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop left for Tennessee after the Nittany Lions’ bowl game and linebackers coach Brent Pry was promoted to the position. Finally, Tim Banks was hired from Illinois as Penn State’s new safeties coach.
With only one returning starter now on the defensive line and a linebacker unit that’s thin after the transfer of standout Troy Reeder to Delaware, the Nittany Lions will need to get creative with their rotations among each position group and get the remaining talent up to speed — and fast.
Here’s who to watch:
Nyeem Wartman-White is returning to the field after a year spent rehabbing a torn ACL. The fifth-year senior linebacker was slated to lock down Penn State’s second tier as the starting middle linebacker (Mike) before his season ended with the injury in the second quarter of the team’s season opener.
Now, the 6-foot-1, 250-pound Wartman-White is almost back to full strength and will either look to edge out starter Jason Cabinda at the Mike slot this fall, or man the weak side (Will) with Cabinda in the middle and Brandon Bell on the strong side. Cabinda, as some fans might recall, approached Shoop on the team bus back from Temple last season after it was realized Wartman-White would be gone for the year, and urged the defensive coordinator to move him into the spot. He won’t give the middle back easily, and it’ll be one of the most intriguing storylines to follow when fall camp starts.
The spotlight on the defensive line is now on Garrett Sickels, the only remaining starter from last season after his three teammates departed for the NFL. Sickels, a 6-foot-4 and 250-pound defensive end from New Jersey, is a quiet, yet reliable anchor around which line coach Sean Spencer can rebuild the rest of the unit.
Evan Schwan certainly has the size to step up as Penn State’s next starting defensive end, opposite Sickels. The senior weighs in at 6-foot-6 and 253 pounds, and recently won the team’s Jim O’Hora award for most improved on defense. He was given the award before April’s Blue-White game, and promptly followed it up with a sack and safety on second-teamer Tommy Stevens as a starter on the first team unit.
Even if Schwan doesn’t pan out as a starter, he’s worth watching for the comedic value alone:
\n\n#ICYMI - @evan_schwan mic'd up at #PSUbluewhite is laugh out loud funny. https://t.co/18otlmJxPv
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) April 27, 2016
Head coach James Franklin spoke highly of defensive tackle Kevin Givens this spring. Givens is a converted defensive end who will spend most of his time in the three-tech this fall, and has a good chance to start on the line despite his youth — the 6-foot-1, 275-pound Altoona, Pa., native is only a redshirt freshman. Givens also stood out in the Blue-White game, leading the first-team defense with four tackles and two sacks.
Teammates said after the game that Givens is the “strongest guy on the team” and Franklin mentioned that the defensive tackle actually lifted and flipped over the tackling sled during drills.
Penn State is chock-full of young athletes at defensive back — in fact, it’s the only position group on the defense that shouldn’t be worried about depth. Corner John Reid and safety Marcus Allen have been standing out in offseason chatter as two players with great potential this season. Reid, a sophomore brainiac who built his own computer to bring with him to college, was named to ESPN’s All-Freshman team after playing in all 13 games with two starts. He wasn’t the flashiest on the field, but his mental acuteness and quick feet allow him to ball-hawk with the best.
While Troy Apke took over Lucas’ spot at starting safety when the latter got injured last season, Allen is first in line to battle Apke for the position this fall, with the latter recovering from minor shoulder injury. The junior struggled with his tackling technique late in the 2015 season, but tested extremely well this season and has plenty of game experience. Plus, he brings attitude and personality to the spot — a key factor in getting in receivers’ heads — and his 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame will lend support against the run.
Penn State is, as mentioned earlier, a little too shallow at linebacker for the unit to be fully comfortable in 2016. Aside from the three projected starters, the Nittany Lions only have former walk-on Von Walker and sophomores Jake Cooper and Manny Bowen as backups with actual in-game experience.
Both Cooper and Bowen will be crucial this season in the ‘backer rotation, especially if injuries do occur. Incoming freshman Shaka Toney could also be expected to step up, should Penn State have to dip into its young reserves — Toney is listed as a defensive end on the roster but could certainly help out in the second tier.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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I’m going a little nuts.
Not full-on Britney-Spears-circa-2008 “nuts,” or the honey-roasted variety, but the kind that has me pacing back and forth in front of my postage stamp-sized TV and flipping through game film and classic matchups. I’ve watched Canadian football. Let that sink in a moment. I’m itchier than bare feet in an anthill; I keep scouring tweets and notes from last year. I have over 16,000 of them. It’s quite counterproductive.
I miss football. How many days until it’s back again?
As the slow July days drawl muggily into each other, it’s a time for football coaches to take vacations and football writers to clean out their recorders in preparation for the season to come.
As I did so, I realized there were a few tidbits from Penn State’s 2015 season and this spring that didn’t quite make it into stories. I found them interesting — but remember, I’m going a little nuts.
This quote from former captain and offensive lineman Angelo Mangiro about current running back phenom Saquon Barkley is hilarious. He was asked after Penn State’s last regular-season game, a loss to Michigan State, if he realized Barkley would be special right away and said this straight-faced as I struggled to keep my composure:
“When I look at a (running) back, I usually check out his legs and his calves first, and then his (rear end). And the kid, his attributes right there are phenomenal,” he said. “Then you see spurts of ‘Wow, this kid can be incredible.’”
I sat down with redshirt sophomore quarterback Trace McSorley in the spring and he told me about the installation process of new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead’s scheme — the uptempo spread that made Fordham (where Moorhead was previously the head coach) one of the most productive teams in the country at any level. Because of NCAA regulations, the players weren’t allowed to officially meet for practice or have on-field interactions with coaches, so they all received Fordham film on their iPads and got to studying. Moorhead also sat down with key offensive pieces for 20-30-minute chats and even watched film with former quarterback Christian Hackenberg.
But what Moorhead said to McSorley about his vision for Penn State really stuck out to me.
“This is going to be an explosive offense. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to score points,” the quarterback said. “That’s what most excites me, is letting that come to fruition … When I first met with Moorhead, one of the first things he said was ‘Yeah, this is Linebacker U. It’s always been hard-nosed power football … Let’s make Penn State like an Oregon. Let’s be known for Penn State playing fast, tons of yards, explosive plays.”
Former Penn State star and current Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Jared Odrick was the ceremonial host of the annual Big 33 Game in Hershey in June, during which Penn State signee Miles Sanders ran in two touchdowns and caught a third.
Odrick voiced admiration for Sanders’ talent, but spent much of our conversation discussing what an ideal destination Jacksonville has become for former Penn State players. Receiver Allen Robinson and linebacker Paul Posluszny are on the team and former offensive coordinator John Donovan recently took a job on the Jaguars’ quality control staff (which means he analyzes film for the offense).
Specifically, Odrick talked about Posluszny, who he thinks might be a robot.
“Having familiar faces like Pos around is great, because I played with him my freshman year when he was a senior,” said Odrick. “I learn my routine from watching him operate. I still joke with him about being an actual machine. I don’t think he’s human. I think that’s one of the biggest things about Pos, is he’s ‘so Pos’ that you do sometimes have to remind him he’s an actual human.”
Head coach James Franklin’s core of returning assistant coaches all received two-year contract extensions this summer, according to Franklin. Those coaches are defensive coordinator Brent Pry, defensive line coach Sean Spencer, receivers coach Josh Gattis, running backs and special teams coach Charles Huff and tight ends coach Ricky Rahne.
He also said that all of the strength coaches and the administration received extensions as well.
“Everybody in the building got two-year contracts,” he said to media at a luncheon in June.
Franklin also mentioned that the families of Moorhead, offensive line coach Matt Limegrover and safeties coach Tim Banks have all moved to the area and all three have purchased houses — a sign of stability, he said.
The commissioners of the five power conferences released a proposal this week to the NCAA that asked for more mandated “break time” for student athletes. They are calling it the “Flex 21” plan, an agreement which provides an extra 21 days without required athletic activities throughout the academic year. Student-athletes now get a week off at the end of their respective seasons and another 14 days off at various times during the year.
The commissioners stated that athletes are to be given “a consecutive eight-hour block of free time overnight, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.”
It’s so very generous of them to mandate free time when these kids are supposed to be sleeping anyway.
The proposal will be voted upon at the NCAA convention in 2017.
The Nittany Lions’ quarterback battle continues, according to Franklin, who spoke to media in June. And it’s reasonable to not name the 2016 starter in July, let alone after a mismatched Blue-White game a few months ago in which McSorley was the clear standout. Franklin has repeated there is certainly a gap between the former and Tommy Stevens, the redshirt freshman from Indiana, but he wants to give Stevens a chance to close it.
Stevens has improved his game immensely since he first arrived on campus. Still, he gave this admittance during spring ball that makes that gap seem a little larger than the staff might like to show:
“Just from the mental aspect (of the game), knowing defenses, blitzes, coverages in general … I didn’t know much about defenses schematically in high school,” he said. “I just kind of went out and played … In high school I didn’t do too much as far as, you know, sending protection and knowing coverages.”
Well, he has 46 days left to figure out whatever is left for him to learn, I suppose.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"88705037","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/pwszlc/picture88705037","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"BW 11","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1468107545,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1468107545,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/pwszlc/picture88705037/alternates/FREE_1140/BW%2011","href":"/web/v1/content/88705037","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"adrey@centredaily.com","dateline":"","caption":"Penn State football coach James Franklin talks with offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and offensive line coach Matt Limegrover during the Blue-White game on Saturday, April 16, 2016 at Beaver Stadium.","photographer":"Abby Drey","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/pwszlc/picture88705037/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/BW%2011"},{"id":"87709802","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article87709802.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State offensive players to watch in 2016","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"none","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1467742457,"published_date":1467738981,"leadtext":[{"text":"Barkley, Godwin highlight list of playmakers"},{"text":"Previously unsung heroes may have chance to shine "},{"text":"Sanders on campus and ready to make an early impact"}],"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/najljl/picture87709782/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/PSUfb%2005","keywords":"Penn State, Penn State football, Joe Moorhead, Trace McSorley, Saquon Barkley, Chris Godwin","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","7085","22134","22125"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"One of Penn State’s biggest issues last year was a wealth of young athletic talent on offense, but a lack of proper utilization of that talent. It led to one of the least-productive units in the nation, a team tethered to the ability of its defense and the unglamorous departure of coordinator John Donovan.","content":"
One of Penn State’s biggest issues last year was a wealth of young athletic talent on offense, but a lack of proper utilization of that talent. It led to one of the least-productive units in the nation, a team tethered to the ability of its defense and the unglamorous departure of coordinator John Donovan.
But in new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead’s uptempo spread scheme, opportunities for these playmakers will certainly increase. Penn State hopes yardage and touchdowns follow suit.
Players are working hard this July as fall ball looms, so here’s who to keep an eye on:
Saquon Barkley is first on this list, and for good reason. The incoming sophomore burst onto the scene last season with a literal leap and powered his way to 1,076 yards on 182 carries and scored seven touchdowns, plus averaged 6.1 yards per carry and 126.8 yards per game against his six Big Ten opponents (he missed 2 1/2 games to injury, including Penn State’s win over Indiana).
After making quite a statement in the weight room this winter, he weighs in at 5-foot-11 and about 220 pounds. Barkley just moved into his first apartment as well and is learning to cook, and joked last month that he’s on the “Carl Nassib Diet” of chicken and rice (named after the former walk-on-turned-national-sack-leader-turned-NFL-draft-pick).
\n\n"If the bar ain't bending, you're just pretending." See Saquon Barkley's numbers to believe them here: https://t.co/iGwimhZEXA
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) March 3, 2016
Chris Godwin will continue his quiet push toward becoming the best 50/50 receiver in the country this season, meaning if he’s thrown a contested ball, his goal is to come down with it every time.
Last season he did so often and in stunning fashion, even pulling one Ohio State receiver who clung to his back along for another 20 yards after his catch. Godwin, a 6-foot-1, 208-pound (and growing) incoming junior, was by far and away Penn State’s top receiver last season, racking up 1,101 yards on 69 receptions with five touchdowns.
Trace McSorley is all but Sharpied in to become Penn State’s next starting quarterback. The dual-threat redshirt sophomore, who spent his first two years as a Nittany Lion backing up pro-style Christian Hackenberg, dazzled in the Blue White game after going 23 of 27 with 281 yards and four touchdowns. In fact, he had just one incompletion during the first half — an interception by Amani Oruwariye.
Head coach James Franklin and his staff will wait until the fall to name the team’s starter, but teammates and former coaches alike agree: Even though he’s green, McSorley is a gamer.
Brandon Polk is a speedy (albeit small) wideout that Donovan often used in the jet sweep last season. However, Polk is a very versatile receiver and spent his high school career setting records with McSorley at Briar Woods in Virginia.
Polk runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and a nice set of hands, so look for him to be utilized more creatively in Moorhead’s scheme.
Miles Sanders is officially on campus and ready to put in some serious work to become Penn State’s next highlight running back. The Pittsburgh native shone during the Big 33 game last month, with two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown.
\n\nDevante Cross completes a 21-yard TD pass to Miles Sanders. pic.twitter.com/xslkXB0R1L
— EasternPAFootball (@EPAFootball) June 18, 2016
Sanders is naturally a little undersized and said he knows he needs to put on about 15 pounds, but he wants to “do exactly what Saquon did” in terms of working hard to learn the system quickly and exploding onto the scene. He’s a different-style runner than Barkley, preferring outside curls and cuts (and he certainly has the feet for such a role), and is a fluid runner who could surpass the stable of backs already on the roster if he is able to adapt to the collegiate learning curve.
Former wideout DaeSean Hamilton has opened up a level of depth to this year’s playbook with his transition into the slot. Hamilton, a leader on the team, had to pack on a few pounds to really sink his teeth into the role (he’ll have to block quite a bit), but said he’s looking forward to it.
A slot receiver is a great option in case a quarterback can’t get through his progressions due to an incoming blitz — something used against Penn State often and with success last season. Hamilton not only offers extra blocking, but a “quick-dump” of short yardage for the quarterback who can power for extra yards with his size and quick feet.
Andrew Nelson has transitioned from right tackle (and sometimes guard) over to a crucial spot at left tackle. For a line that gave up 38 sacks last season, his presence and development will be a key factor on the line — despite the natural alleviation a spread offense and a mobile quarterback gives the position.
Nelson battled some injury last season but, according to coaches, he has made by far the most progress of any of the linemen and is the “closest” to what the staff is looking for after two years spent developing a very young unit.
The tight ends will be an interesting unit to watch this preseason after the well-documented struggles of Mike Gesicki last year.
Sophomore Nick Bowers has the athleticism to step into a bigger role (as playfully shown by his dunking ability this summer), but dark horse Tom Pancoast impressed often in the spring with one-handed snags and excellent blocking. Gesicki will have to show he’s improved mightily in the trenches as a blocker and capitalize on his routes to prove he can still be the leader of a very competitive young pack.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Welcome to 2016, where the slow, muggy days of June no longer mark the most profitless month in the world of college football.
June instead has become the kickoff month for the new-age satellite camp and its congruent cacophony.
Throughout, head coaches and their respective staffs from all over the country pile together in RVs or jump on planes to begin their organized wooing of huge numbers of prep prospects at once. Team logos are hidden (by NCAA ruling), Twitter barbs are traded, turf wars are established — Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh recently collaborated on a camp with high school powerhouse Paramus Catholic in New Jersey, after which rival Ohio State coach Urban Meyer announced a partnership at a camp with new Rutgers coach Chris Ash to be held on the same day, less than 30 miles away.
It has provided quite the quenching burst of excitement for those who so voraciously follow the game and its intricacies — yes, even in June.
Penn State, which helped champion these camps and their evolution in the Big Ten when head coach James Franklin began his tenure, is less involved in the modern external theatrics surrounding the camps as trademarked by the outspoken Harbaugh and his uncanny knack for “going viral.”
The Nittany Lions staff has also chosen perhaps a more practical number of camps at which to attend or collaborate, especially within their compact recruiting pipeline radius — 13 — as opposed to Michigan’s whopping 30-plus camps that span 15 states and two countries — Harbaugh’s son and assistant coach was recently on the hunt for specialists in Australia.
Still, there is the nagging thought.
Is it enough?
“Other schools are doing it. If you don’t, you fall behind. You feel like you need to,” said Penn State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brent Pry on Tuesday morning, in his office that would’ve been vacant had he not taken the time out of a scheduled vacation to conduct interviews before a two-week stretch of “satellite-camping.”
“We enjoy being with other staffs and doing that together. It’s fun, you meet a lot of guys — which in our profession is important. I think you always weigh ‘Is it worth the time, money and effort to travel to these places? Do you get enough leads that amount to something?’”
There is no “magic number” for return on investment of resources versus recruits acquired, said Pry, who would hate to turn a young man attending a camp to make his collegiate dreams come true into a quantification — that’s the job of the recruiting staff, he said.
“The exposure is great for your program, but are there enough leads to make the trip worth it?” he said. “And you don’t know that until you come out of it and say, ‘OK, we got half a dozen guys we’re gonna recruit pretty good out of this (camp or that camp).’”
Pry grew up as the son of a head coach and climbed his way through the coaching ranks at various institutions himself. He’s seen the evolution of these camps firsthand.
“Coming up as a young coach, camps were either on your campus where you recruited hard to get players (or) it was also a way, as a young coach at (a) lower level school, to supplement your income,” he said. “You wanted to work camps to help pay your bills. (And) for a lot of years, you’d go work a school like Penn State’s camp to pick up on their B-list guys — the guys who maybe weren’t good enough to be (there). You’d jump on those guys and maybe get a chance to see them and meet them.”
Penn State dipped a toe into its upcoming flood of camps last week when Franklin and Pry both attended the Lauren’s First and Goal camp in Lafayette. Franklin was the commencement speaker at the camp, which donates its profits to charity and attracts thousands of campers and hundreds of coaches from around the country.
The staff also splits up for the Sound Mind, Sound Body camps to which various members will travel, including stops in Detroit on Thursday and Friday, in Tampa, Fla. on Saturday and Sunday and in Washington, D.C., on June 23-24.
However, Pry joked that the staff has a “minor league baseball” travel mentality when hitting the other stops on the lists, especially the camps at which Penn State is headliner guest and not just a guest among many programs. NCAA rules prohibit a program’s ability to actually host a camp more than 50 miles from its campus but coaches can be “guests” at any.
Those camps include the Bowling Green camp on Monday in Ohio, the Charlotte camp on Tuesday, the New Jersey camp — a collaboration with offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead’s former staff at Fordham — on Wednesday, the Old Dominion camp on Thursday, the “DMV” (Maryland, D.C., Virginia) camp on June 20 and the Georgia State camp on June 21. The staff will also be back in Happy Valley on June 17 and 18 to host the Elite Camp I and the LionSTRONG 7-on-7 and Big Man Challenge.
And increased hype around satellite camps in general, especially after “the Harbaugh Effect” and its spat with the SEC, followed by the NCAA’s ban — and then lifting of said ban a week later — increased the number of camps at which it’s become “practical” for a staff to attend.
Penn State went to four last summer and hosted two. This summer, the staff will go to 11 and host two.
The total distance traveled by the staff will be over 5,000 miles. They’ll see and be seen by over 6,000 players.
For Pry, a man with two young daughters and a 14-year-old stepson, it’s quite a bit to balance.
“I love the opportunity to get out and see the high school kids,” he said. “But the tradeoff where I struggle is two-part. It’s additional time away from your family where you’re out of town (and) in hotels. That part of it is hard already in our profession.”
Pry also hates being away from his players, who often want to see him just as much as his family does.
“Those guys are like family,” he said. “When I’m (already) gone six weeks recruiting, I don’t see my linebackers. I don’t see my defensive kids, except for a forced meeting here or there. So you come back off the road and you struggle because you have your vacation now where you want to get out of town with your family, but your players are anxious to see you whether it’s lunch, grilling at the house, a football meeting or taking them out and working them out a little … they just want to see you.”
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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Former Penn State standout linebacker LaVar “Leap” Arrington is jumping into headlines once more.
Arrington, who played for the Nittany Lions from 1997-99 and finished his illustrious career as a Heisman contender, Bednarik Award winner and All-American before being selected by the Washington Redskins in the 2000 NFL Draft, has long been vocal about his passion for his school.
The 37-year-old took to Facebook on Monday to express that dedication, as well as to address the oft-discussed and debated subject of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal that rocked Penn State four years ago.
Arrington stated in a lengthy, strongly worded post that every time someone asks him where he went to school and he tells them, he can already anticipate what the next questions will be.
“We’ve been made fun of, insulted, frowned upon,” he wrote. “I’m sick of it, there’s nothing wrong with the pride and dignity we hold in our hearts for our school. I felt guilty to be proud of who I am and what I represent as a PSU’er. Even in knowing I/we had nothing to do with what happened.”
Arrington said that he’s still trying to “find peace within all of the chaos that one man’s actions led to.”
“We do not and should not have to justify ourselves for an isolated wrong doing within our community,” he wrote.
Arrington continued to discuss Paterno, and how he feels it’s not just the former coach that was persecuted in the wake of the scandal — it was the entire Penn State community.
“I don’t recall being at Beaver Stadium with (100,000)-plus and us eating hot dogs and popcorn watching these horrible happenings on a Saturday morning or afternoon. So today I’m writing this to (bury) once and for all the feelings I’ve been wrestling with for many years now. Let’s all agree that to some degree justice has been served for the few that were responsible. As for Joe, he was never guilty of anything by the letter of the law PERIOD.”
Arrington then stated that Penn State is not a “cult football community that blindly defends the school,” and that it falls on current students and alumni alike to re-create the narrative.
“I’m proud to be a Penn Stater ‘dammit’ and I’m proud that You are ... We Are Penn state together! I’m proud every time I see that Nittany Lion logo! I’m proud of every time I hear We Are!! Penn State!! The media or everyday interaction with people will never remove the love I have for my school or my alums. That’s it WE ARE PENN STATE and only those who lived it can understand it and that’s all that matters to me!
“One can only apologize so many times ... The apologies and regrets have been issued in true sincerity, TIME TO MOVE ON!!”
Penn State athletics spokesman Jeff Nelson had no comment on Arrington’s post.
Paterno died in January 2012 after a battle with lung cancer.
Sandusky was convicted of 45 of 48 counts of child sex abuse crimes in June 2012. He remains incarcerated at Greene state prison in Waynesburg, serving a 30 to 60 year sentence. He maintains his innocence and is seeking a new trial.
Sandusky coached at Penn State until his retirement in 1999.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"82116197","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ienhxq/picture82116197","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"lavarpressure.16","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1465257728,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1465249662,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ienhxq/picture82116197/alternates/FREE_1140/lavarpressure.16","href":"/web/v1/content/82116197","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"Centre Daily Times","dateline":"","caption":"Penn State's #11 Lavar Arrington puts pressure on Ohio State quarterback #8 Steve Bellisari during the fourth quarter of the game at Beaver Stadium on October 16,1999.","photographer":"Michelle Klein","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/ienhxq/picture82116197/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/lavarpressure.16"},{"id":"76346377","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article76346377.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Penn State 2017 quarterback commit Sean Clifford earns invite to Elite 11 finals","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1462665784,"published_date":1462665127,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/atdxdp/picture76346372/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/clifford","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","22134","22125"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"Penn State Class of 2017 quarterback commit Sean Clifford has been busy in the last few weeks.","content":"
Penn State Class of 2017 quarterback commit Sean Clifford has been busy in the last few weeks.
The incoming high school senior from Cincinnati, Ohio has been diligently putting in work to help build his Nittany Lion recruiting class, and on Saturday, spent some time among some of the state’s best players at The Opening camp in Columbus.
\n\nPenn State QB commit Sean Clifford in drills. Hoping the rain holds off so we can see some of these QB's today pic.twitter.com/GrfhV1GZNy
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) May 7, 2016
\n\nPenn State QB commit Sean Clifford again pic.twitter.com/umeVev9RmB
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) May 7, 2016
According to ESPN recruiting analyst Tom VanHaaren, Clifford earned MVP honors at the camp for his work in drills and tests and won the regional quarterback competition.
Clifford, who is ranked the No. 9 player in Ohio according to 247 Sports composites, also sealed an invite to the Elite 11 finals in Los Angeles this summer.
\n\nSean Clifford, see you in LA. #invited #Elite11Finals #whosnext @seancliff13 pic.twitter.com/DjPISW7TfP
— Elite11 (@Elite11) May 7, 2016
“It was truly an amazing experience to be coached by some of the greatest to play the game,” Clifford told the Centre Daily Times on Saturday night. “I learned a lot and got to compete with the best.”
\n\nI have dreamed of today since I was in 3rd grade! @Elite11 here I come See you in LA
— Sean Clifford (@seancliff13) May 7, 2016
The Elite 11 Finals will be held from June 3-5.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
","template_type":"","story_teaser":"","lead_media":{"id":"76346372","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/atdxdp/picture76346372","asset_type":"picture","state":"published","title":"clifford","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","modified_date":1462665784,"allow_comments":false,"published_date":1462665127,"thumbnail":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/atdxdp/picture76346372/alternates/FREE_1140/clifford","href":"/web/v1/content/76346372","access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761"],"credit":"@Elite11","dateline":"","caption":"Photo via Twitter.","is_mugshot":false,"text_alignment":"Default","summary":"","byline":"","kicker":""},"owner":"StateCollege","allow_comments":true,"image":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/atdxdp/picture76346372/alternates/LANDSCAPE_768/clifford"},{"id":"74875637","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/article74875637.html","asset_type":"story","state":"published","title":"Christian Hackenberg gets NFL call while playing cornhole game in backyard","publication":"centredaily","layout_option":"","home":"/web/v1/sections/32761","home_section":{"name":"Nittany Lines","url":"https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/nittany-lines-blog/"},"modified_date":1462037177,"published_date":1462037177,"access_tags":["matbasic"],"additional_sections":["32761","68497","22134"],"credit":"","dateline":"","summary":"If there’s anything that sums up former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg perfectly, it’s this.","content":"
If there’s anything that sums up former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg perfectly, it’s this.
The 21-year-old was picked up by the New York Jets in the second round of the NFL Draft on Friday night, and the pickup-driving Virginia native was in his backyard playing a game of cornhole — or “bags” or “baggos” depending on which part of the country you’re from — when he got the call.
His private coach, Jordan Palmer, posted a photo on his Instagram page of the, ah, “wild” action:
\n\nWhy watch the draft when there's a perfectly good corn hole set out back..?
A photo posted by Jordan Palmer (@jwpalms) on
Of course, Hackenberg got plenty excited when the phone call did come:
\n\nWhat a night. What a great situation. J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets
A video posted by Jordan Palmer (@jwpalms) on
The young quarterback will join veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick, a free agent who the Jets hope to re-sign to a one-year deal to mentor Hackenberg, as well as Geno Smith and Bryce Petty.
Get all the backyard peace and quiet in that you can, Hack. You’re heading to the City that Never Sleeps (or stops yelling).
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
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