Just finished watching PSU break our hearts again in last years game at Kinnick. Even though we lost, it was a hell of a game and, to me at least, an instant classic. I know you lost some studs this year, so are you reloading or trying to find the pieces. Just curious, not trying to stir up anything.
Hello Penn State
- Thread starter Wingman137
- Start date
My opinion - reloading.
I know ESPN is running games of the assumed top draft picks. I guess today is Barkley.
I know ESPN is running games of the assumed top draft picks. I guess today is Barkley.
The Chase for the Recruiting Champion powered by 247Sports Composite
You be the judge.. LOL
- Last updated on 04/25/18 at 12:50 AM CST Georgia
- Total: 26
- 5: 7
- 4: 15
- 3: 4
- 94.23
- 2
2
Ohio State- Total: 26
- 5: 3
- 4: 20
- 3: 3
- 94.29
- 3
3
Texas- Total: 27
- 5: 2
- 4: 17
- 3: 8
- 92.16
- 4
4
USC- Total: 18
- 5: 4
- 4: 13
- 3: 1
- 94.23
- 5
6
Penn State- Total: 23
- 5: 3
- 4: 12
- 3: 8
- 91.70
You be the judge.. LOL
Offense = reloading IMO. 3 key starters, but PSU has recruited the skill positions very well. OL is back and deeper than they have been in a long time. McSorely and a veteran OL will do some things.
Defense=young and athletic, but very green in the back 7 especially. DT's both have plenty of PT, but depth there is very green. DE's should be really good and very deep.
Recruiting has been great under CJF.Offensive line has taken some time but will be a team strength.This will be a very fast team on both sides of the ball.A little green in some areas but the talent level across the whole roster is impressive.
This is the year of Trace. Barkley, if you recall, was keyed on by your entire linebacker crew. Not only did we lose him, but Gesicki and Hamilton on offense. We bring back a ton of talent at RB and WR. Line should also be better. But the TE is a mystery.
on defense, we are solid at DE and, while young, in good shape in the DB. LB is a big concern. We are thin at DT and may not have much of a rotation.
I feel like we will struggle against big, strong running teams (Wiscy, Michigan). We'll have to outscore them. That will come back to how well Trace can perform without Barkley but several other good assets.
on defense, we are solid at DE and, while young, in good shape in the DB. LB is a big concern. We are thin at DT and may not have much of a rotation.
I feel like we will struggle against big, strong running teams (Wiscy, Michigan). We'll have to outscore them. That will come back to how well Trace can perform without Barkley but several other good assets.
I think what he's asking is do we still win that game without Barkley. At Beaver, yes. Which is where the game will be played in 2018. At Kinnick, hard to say. PSU dominated that game but Ferentz nearly pulled it off.
I appreciate the replies. Good luck through summer workouts and stay healthy.
My opinion: Penn State loses that game at Iowa without Barkley. I don't even have to think twice about it. That was the most heroic, climb-on-my-back performance Barkley had (among his many) at Penn State, in my opinion.
Oddly enough I've been rewatching that game this week, too. I attended and was exhausted when it was over. What a barnburner. My son is a doc at the hospital and is getting married in PA over Memorial Day weekend. His fiance (from Perkasie, PA) has my wife putting gift bags together and some of the supplies have been arriving from Iowa. What's the first thing we received? Fifty Hawkeye pens! I thought I brainwashed my boy sufficiently but he says Iowa kinda grows on you. I'm sure packaged soybeans will be the next delivery.
Playing a Ferentz team seems to always be a struggle, in Iowa at least. He is a lot like Joe. He plays it close to the vest, conservative to get to the fourth quarter in a close game and tries to win it out at that point after wearing you down and frustrating you as his team did last fall. It has worked for him as he has been successful with the team concept, not the star concept, like Joe. Have to give him credit. His teams certainly frustrated my viewing pleasure many times.
Yet, CJF is recruiting like no PSU staff has likely recruited in many years. I think we are at the edge of reloading if not there, imho.
Yet, CJF is recruiting like no PSU staff has likely recruited in many years. I think we are at the edge of reloading if not there, imho.
A
anon_1eeb2b426hv3y
Guest
FWIW, I’m with laJolla. This year it’s both, but basically just a reload and shift of focus on O. If IA is going to take it to us, it’ll have to take it to our young D in the middle and score a lot of points.
Watching last year’s IA game won’t be as helpful as watching the Fiesta Bowl when PSU had a healthy line and the foot on the gas. IA has bigger stronger dudes than UWash to give some push in the middle. That’s where I’d focus...
Best of luck.
PSU ran up and down the field that night but just couldn't get the ball into the endzone. Trace threw for almost 300 yards and ran 60, Barkley 211 on the ground and another 94 through the air. There's no reason the game should have been that close. Plus the "fresh turf" pellets was some serious home cooking designed to slow down SB and almost caused him to blow out his knee. I've never seen before, or since, that much rubber flying on any field. It sucks imo that we're stuck playing Iowa through 2021 thanks to lousy B1G scheduling.
We're reloading and I hope that in 2019 we lay a major smackdown on the chickenhawks in Kinnick.
We're reloading and I hope that in 2019 we lay a major smackdown on the chickenhawks in Kinnick.
Starters:
LB - Brown (JR)
LB - Farmer (SR)
LB - Johnson/Brooks (JR or RS Fr)
CB - Reid (RS JR)
CB - Oruwariye (SR)
S - Scott (SR)
S - G Taylor (RS SO)
I'm not sure if I would say the back 7 is "very green". MLB and one safety spot will be relatively inexperienced. The rest of the guys have started and/or played a ton of football.
Scott and Taylor have not seen a ton of time out there...yes they are older but they have yet to be the man. I still feel it is a green group. Farmer is in his second full year at LB and did some things last year but wasn't exactly dominant. Brown really should take a big step forward this year I hope, but again he was never the man. I'm not saying they can't succeed, but the LB's and secondary along with the DT depth is kind of a situation where we think they should be good...but we don't know. I love the athleticism Franklin has recruited in the secondary and I'm hoping it's just a plug and play situation.
You moved the bar from "very green" to "haven't been the man". I never claimed they were "the man".
842 snaps on defense last year
Appeared in:
Farmer 56%
Brown 27%
Johnson 6.4%
Reid - Injured, starter prior year
Oruwariye 50%
Taylor - 8%
Scott - 30%
As I said, one safety spot and one linbacker spot are "green". The rest of the back 7 has played a lot of football for us.
That looks green to me Judge and even more so when you lose 7 of your top 8 tacklers...agree to disagree then. I'm not moving any bar and I don't think the back 7 is a super experienced group. Some guys have played for sure. They aren't a bunch of true frosh either, but compared to what PSU had returning last year....they are green IMO. If you want to say they aren't...fine...I disagree.
They could end up better as they are more athletic and the CB's in particular are. I also think Castro Fields will be seeing a TON of time this year...but he also had limited snaps last year. McPhearson will play a ton...again...not a ton of snaps either. Donovan Johnson is making some noise as well, but no PT there either. Monroe and possibly Sunderland. Parsons, Brooks, and Luketa will be playing this year (maybe not Luketa???)....all very green.
Compare those numbers to the OL....maybe it will make more sense. Yes some have played, but I don't consider that a seasoned well oiled group. They may turn out incredible, but we sure as hell don't know until they actually do it.
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Glad this year's game is at Beaver Stadium. PSU has good depth, three deep at almost every position but the starters and leaders still unknown in many cases. The defense will be more athletic than PSU has been recently, but I think the D will need September and some October to get the new players comfortable. PSU has some tremendously athletic linebackers in the freshman and redshirt freshman classes who will probably see the field. They will be green but they can sure close fast.
We're all hopeful this is the year Penn State finally has an upper-tier Big Ten O-line. If that happens then it should be fun to see what McSorley can do. Miles Sanders was a big time recruit, he's not Barkley but he could run for more yards than Barkley did if he gets some running room.
Sounds like Iowa's replacing a lot of talent too.
It could be fun watching the defensive ends for the two teams. Iowa looks like they could have a great D-line with Epenesa. PSU has a bunch of D-ends finally experienced enough and ready to play.
Mystery is putting it kindly. TE is a mess. They've recruited talent but they just can't stay healthy. (Maybe a little like what happened with Iowa and wide receivers). They're preparing some two-back offense where one of the backs will essentially do what Gesicki did. There could be a lot of 4 wides as well.
Six of the eight* played at least 230 snaps last year ≠ very green.
* Reid of course was injured and is our best corner back.
So a little over 25%....with new faces pushing for time. Lost 5 starters there from last year. My comments were more than fair. I really don’t care if you disagree and think otherwise. I know what the situation is...we lost 4 guys that started for 3+ years in the back 7. Cabinda, Haley, Allen, and Bowen and that doesn't include Campbell who will probably get drafted in the next couple of days. These were the guys on the field when the game was on the line, not the guys giving them breathers. These where guys who made big plays in big games. You want to act as if losing 12 years worth of starters is nothing...fine by me. I happen to think some of the younger guys may have higher ceilings in many of those spots but it may hot show up on day 1.
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Going to be just as explosive on offense. OL will be better and QB makes it happen. Will be young on defense but a tad faster. Same punter but kicker needs replaced. Should have never left that game come down to the last play as we dominated the first half and got outscored...Good luck this season except versus us.............
The way the defense turns out will be indicative of if we are reloading or not. Alabama doesn't return 2-3 year starters every year. They plug in guys whose names are unknown out of recruiting circles and they win.
DT rotation and DE pressure are probably going to be the key factors. Can we stuff the run? Can we sack the QB?
DT rotation and DE pressure are probably going to be the key factors. Can we stuff the run? Can we sack the QB?
We may struggle against big, running teams, just like we have for the most part since CJF has been at PSU, due to the youth at DT and some smaller DE's playing. But there is plenty of talent and numbers for a typical CJF DT rotation. It's just that our top DT talent will be young and inexperienced - Hansard, Musthopher, Shelton, and Barber....
Unless we have another rash of DE injuries we won't be small with Buckholtz, Brown, Miller, and Matos. Simmons looks bigger this year. Toney will be played in pass only spots.
If you look at the DE's that play for MNC's, they are mostly bigger than Miller, Brown, Simmons and Toney. Buchholz has legit size, but has lost some bulk this Spring to get quicker, and Matos will be bigger than last year but not where he will be as a Junior/Senior. Simmons is definitely bigger, about the size of an Alabama LB. Go back and look at our best DE's such as Courtney Brown, Nassib (as a Senior), Tamba Hali (good size for 15 years ago) - they are bigger and stronger and that's what it takes to be a dominant defense against the run.
Disagree, we only had a problem when Buckholtz, Brown, AND Miller went down and Simmons and Tony became every down DEs. Highly unlikely to happen again and Matos has good size and now Simmons too. We're fine at DE.
Yep, fine. Against Iowa. Against other 2nd 20 teams. Unless we get to playoffs and have to try and stop a big, running powerhouse of a team..... Look at how well our defenses have fared against oh-high-ya the last few years. We have not stopped the run. Need bigger DE's.
Ohio State is a bad example, that's when all three of those guys were out, that's my point.
And we had to play the small DE's that are still on the roster. But I was referring to previous years as well. "last few years"
But all the DE's are back, and should be bigger and stronger than last year.....
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Matos, Miller, and Buchholz are plenty big. Simmons is around 255 now I believe. Toney is lightening in a bottle. I really like this DE group. Brown is a wild card if he somehow does bounce back. Nobody has to get rushed out there this year.
