Penn State is making six players available to the media today in the Lasch Building and the first portion of practice will be open, so we'll have additional spring practice coverage coming this afternoon, but I want to pass along a few random team/recruiting notes I have first:
- To begin, two seniors on defense have really stepped up this spring and are beginning to fill the leadership role left behind by Mike Hull.
I heard earlier this week that Jordan Lucas has really embraced his new role as safety. As a vocal guy, it's allowed him to really assert himself in the huddle and in the middle of the defense. Last year, Ryan Keiser became known as the QB of the secondary; this year Lucas is in the process of taking that over. Anthony Zettel, on the other hand, who will be available to media this afternoon, has been the lead-by-example guy. Not that he hasn't done that before, but as a fifth-year guy, his presence has been noticeable, even when he's on the sideline. The young DTs have gotten a lot of reps this spring, and Zettel has been alongside helping them along.
- We've discussed the possibilities of who will replace Hull's play at LB, whether it's Jason Cabinda, Nyeem Wartman or Ben Kline, but it's Kline who is at least taking over Hull's role as elder statesman at the position.
Kline was back in pads last Monday for the first time in nearly a year and a half and despite working mostly with the second team, he was leading the LBs as the first guy through every drill.
I caught up with Kline a few hours before that practice last week for a Q&A that's running in BWI's Blue-White Game preview print issue, but I want to share a few notes here, too. After a career that's been hindered by neck/shoulder stingers, a torn labrum, a torn pectoral and most recently a torn Achilles tendon last summer, Kline is gearing up to make a final run at playing time this season. It's tough to tell if Kline will ever be what you can call 100 percent healthy at Penn State, but he told me "as far as major injuries, I feel really good," adding that the year-plus off also afforded extra time for his shoulders to heal, "because my shoulders still weren't 100-percent healthy when I did my Achilles," he said.
After this past season, he felt as though he began turning a corner.
"I would say toward the end of the fall things started picking up a lot," he said. "Things were going better in the weight room and I felt like I was coming back around and the runs were going well. Then this winter, being back with the team, it kind of revived the engine."
Kline was hitting/tackling in practice Saturday. Although he's back on the practice field and in full pads, it's still to be determined how much he'll play, if at all, in the spring game.
- Switching gears now to someone who won't be on campus until this summer: incoming freshman Kamonte Carter.
I caught up with Carter and his father, Aaron, recently for another story in BWI's preview issue, and wanted to pass along a couple comments from that.
Carter reported that he's currently between 6-4/6-5 and weighs 260 pounds. He said he'll probably lose a few pounds during track and field, which just started and in which he runs on two sprint relay teams, but he wants to enroll around that weight.
There's been a lot of talk surrounding an eventual position switch to defensive tackle, considering Carter's size and PSU's need for DTs, so I asked him about that. He won't oppose the coaches' decision, if that's what it ends up being, but Carter said a permanent move to the interior has not been brought up to him during the recruiting process.
"I'm pretty positive that I wont ever be on the interior of the line, but if that's what they want me to play, that's what I'll play," Carter said. "But, yeah, I'm going in there with the mindset that I'm going to be rushing the passer, playing d-end."
He added that coaches have even discussed the possibility of playing "an outside linebacker in the 3-4 scheme."
As always, it's a wait-and-see scenario, because once he's on campus and if he continues to grow, it won't technically be his decision, but right now he's focused on DE.
I asked Carter's dad about this, too, who was Carter's defensive coordinator at Gaithersburg (Md.) High. He sees an eventual move to DT as more of a possibility than Kam, but he said his versatility is what made Kam appealing to the coaching staff (new and old) in the first place. Throughout HS, in fact, Aaron made sure to play Kamonte at various positions - QB, TE, H-Back, DE, LB - with the plan of letting college coaches dictate the best-fitting position.
"Even talking to Coach [Sean] Spencer, they like the idea of him playing quarterback and so many different positions because he understands zone coverages, he understands where it drops from the curl to the flat," Aaron said. "[Spencer will] be able to drop him as an end, bring him off the edge, slide him down to a three-technique even as a fast pass rusher, what they kind of did with Anthony Zettel when they moved him."
- A note on 2016 kicker prospect Quinn Nordin, who Penn State offered in late January:
I've been trying to track this down for the last couple weeks, so after reporting a couple months ago that Nordin was nearing a decision, I want to share where things stand now.
We know Penn State has not completely cut ties with him, but things have slowed. Going back to a conversation with Nordin right before his Penn State visit in late January, he openly acknowledged that PSU was his frontrunner and that a commitment was likely during that visit or soon after. During that trip, or soon after, however, it was discussed that Nordin should take his time making a decision.
When I talked to Nordin a few days after the visit, he said he was going to wait things out for another month and then aim to make a decision by March. Now, when I've reached out to Nordin a few times in the past month, he's barely mentioned Penn State; instead, he just wants to discuss his new offers, which have come from Buffalo and Central Michigan. I don't believe it's a coincidence that during the same time frame, Joey Julius has been turning heads in spring practice and winter workouts.
Again, Penn State hasn't cut ties, but Nordin was ready to make a commitment a couple months ago. Now he's not, and I don't think it was completely his decision. Just wanted to pass that along. It could open back up with time, but for now I'm thinking it's on hold.
- On that note, one last thing: I've heard great things on Robbie Liebel at punter through winter workouts and spring practice.
This post was edited on 4/1 12:02 PM by Tim Owen/BWI staff
- To begin, two seniors on defense have really stepped up this spring and are beginning to fill the leadership role left behind by Mike Hull.
I heard earlier this week that Jordan Lucas has really embraced his new role as safety. As a vocal guy, it's allowed him to really assert himself in the huddle and in the middle of the defense. Last year, Ryan Keiser became known as the QB of the secondary; this year Lucas is in the process of taking that over. Anthony Zettel, on the other hand, who will be available to media this afternoon, has been the lead-by-example guy. Not that he hasn't done that before, but as a fifth-year guy, his presence has been noticeable, even when he's on the sideline. The young DTs have gotten a lot of reps this spring, and Zettel has been alongside helping them along.
- We've discussed the possibilities of who will replace Hull's play at LB, whether it's Jason Cabinda, Nyeem Wartman or Ben Kline, but it's Kline who is at least taking over Hull's role as elder statesman at the position.
Kline was back in pads last Monday for the first time in nearly a year and a half and despite working mostly with the second team, he was leading the LBs as the first guy through every drill.
I caught up with Kline a few hours before that practice last week for a Q&A that's running in BWI's Blue-White Game preview print issue, but I want to share a few notes here, too. After a career that's been hindered by neck/shoulder stingers, a torn labrum, a torn pectoral and most recently a torn Achilles tendon last summer, Kline is gearing up to make a final run at playing time this season. It's tough to tell if Kline will ever be what you can call 100 percent healthy at Penn State, but he told me "as far as major injuries, I feel really good," adding that the year-plus off also afforded extra time for his shoulders to heal, "because my shoulders still weren't 100-percent healthy when I did my Achilles," he said.
After this past season, he felt as though he began turning a corner.
"I would say toward the end of the fall things started picking up a lot," he said. "Things were going better in the weight room and I felt like I was coming back around and the runs were going well. Then this winter, being back with the team, it kind of revived the engine."
Kline was hitting/tackling in practice Saturday. Although he's back on the practice field and in full pads, it's still to be determined how much he'll play, if at all, in the spring game.
- Switching gears now to someone who won't be on campus until this summer: incoming freshman Kamonte Carter.
I caught up with Carter and his father, Aaron, recently for another story in BWI's preview issue, and wanted to pass along a couple comments from that.
Carter reported that he's currently between 6-4/6-5 and weighs 260 pounds. He said he'll probably lose a few pounds during track and field, which just started and in which he runs on two sprint relay teams, but he wants to enroll around that weight.
There's been a lot of talk surrounding an eventual position switch to defensive tackle, considering Carter's size and PSU's need for DTs, so I asked him about that. He won't oppose the coaches' decision, if that's what it ends up being, but Carter said a permanent move to the interior has not been brought up to him during the recruiting process.
"I'm pretty positive that I wont ever be on the interior of the line, but if that's what they want me to play, that's what I'll play," Carter said. "But, yeah, I'm going in there with the mindset that I'm going to be rushing the passer, playing d-end."
He added that coaches have even discussed the possibility of playing "an outside linebacker in the 3-4 scheme."
As always, it's a wait-and-see scenario, because once he's on campus and if he continues to grow, it won't technically be his decision, but right now he's focused on DE.
I asked Carter's dad about this, too, who was Carter's defensive coordinator at Gaithersburg (Md.) High. He sees an eventual move to DT as more of a possibility than Kam, but he said his versatility is what made Kam appealing to the coaching staff (new and old) in the first place. Throughout HS, in fact, Aaron made sure to play Kamonte at various positions - QB, TE, H-Back, DE, LB - with the plan of letting college coaches dictate the best-fitting position.
"Even talking to Coach [Sean] Spencer, they like the idea of him playing quarterback and so many different positions because he understands zone coverages, he understands where it drops from the curl to the flat," Aaron said. "[Spencer will] be able to drop him as an end, bring him off the edge, slide him down to a three-technique even as a fast pass rusher, what they kind of did with Anthony Zettel when they moved him."
- A note on 2016 kicker prospect Quinn Nordin, who Penn State offered in late January:
I've been trying to track this down for the last couple weeks, so after reporting a couple months ago that Nordin was nearing a decision, I want to share where things stand now.
We know Penn State has not completely cut ties with him, but things have slowed. Going back to a conversation with Nordin right before his Penn State visit in late January, he openly acknowledged that PSU was his frontrunner and that a commitment was likely during that visit or soon after. During that trip, or soon after, however, it was discussed that Nordin should take his time making a decision.
When I talked to Nordin a few days after the visit, he said he was going to wait things out for another month and then aim to make a decision by March. Now, when I've reached out to Nordin a few times in the past month, he's barely mentioned Penn State; instead, he just wants to discuss his new offers, which have come from Buffalo and Central Michigan. I don't believe it's a coincidence that during the same time frame, Joey Julius has been turning heads in spring practice and winter workouts.
Again, Penn State hasn't cut ties, but Nordin was ready to make a commitment a couple months ago. Now he's not, and I don't think it was completely his decision. Just wanted to pass that along. It could open back up with time, but for now I'm thinking it's on hold.
- On that note, one last thing: I've heard great things on Robbie Liebel at punter through winter workouts and spring practice.
This post was edited on 4/1 12:02 PM by Tim Owen/BWI staff
