especially on gamedays, when a whole slew of "infrequent" posters jump on the boards - at how anyone can watch college football and not realize how "up against it" this roster is.
Delusional to think that this team could, should, or would be at the level of the top teams.
It simply is a roster almost completely devoid of quality among the upper classes.....and of those few quality upperclassmen, so many of them where either out with injuries, or trying to play at well under 100%
(Sickels, Nassib, Lucas, Wartman, Brenneman, Allen, Bell etc)
There are probably 3 seniors on this roster who will be missed at all (as far as on field production is concerned) and 2 of them were out with injuries today.....so, aside from Zettel (and maybe Trevor Williams), name me ONE senior who played today who will be missed on the field?
This time next year (assuming Hackenberg and Johnson go on to the NFL), and barring injuries, PSU will probably be starting 4 Seniors on the entire roster (Wartman, Bell, Palmer, and one of the interior offensive linemen)....so it is not just a lack of seniors on this team, but a lack of upperclass depth across the board.
And those "sanction recruited" classes, God bless them, but there just isn't much B1G level talent there (which is to be expected, given the challenges of recruiting when the sanctions were in place).
_____________________
The one area on a football team where you can often get away with playing FR and SO is at the offensive skill positions, and, as disappointing as the final score was, the offensive skill guys on this team (almost all FR and SO) put up over 400 yards against an MSU defense that held OSU to under 150 last week.
They did this with what can be called, charitably, a Mid-Major Conference level offensive line.
Thanks to the injuries, today's defensive line was played primarily by guys who never would have been on the two-deep at this point in their careers - barring the depletion of talent on the upper levels.....and the linebacker corps was manned by guys who would have been 2nd teamers battling for some playing time on a normal roster.
I know it is hard for fans to look at the reality of the situation, but the reality is:
(without calling out specific players by name)
The 2012 class, which was in development at the time the "scandal" broke:
19 Kids enrolled in that class
Just 10 of them were available today
Of the 19, I think it safe to say 6 or 7 would have never been signed as scholarship players under normal circumstances.
The 2013 class, which was recruited in the worst days of the sanctions:
Just 15 Kids enrolled in that class
Just 9 of them were available today (and 2 of those 9 were SEVERLY limited by injury)
Of the 15, I think it safe to say at least 6 or 7 would have never been signed as scholarship players under normal circumstances.
So you've basically got 2 full classes with maybe 15-20 kids TOTAL who would have even been PSU recruits in normal times.
The 2014 class, was a full 25 man class, but the first half was recruited at a time when the sanctions were still in place (by a coach with one foot out the door), and the second half was pulled together in just a couple of weeks by a new staff:.
Of the 25, I think it safe to say at least 10 would have never been signed as scholarship players under normal circumstances.
Now, that doesn't mean that some of those kids who would not have normally been Penn State recruits won't be quality players (in some cases, they already are)....but it would be ludicrous to expect to generate the "normal" number of quality players from such "abnormal" classes. It is a HUGE hurdle to overcome.
The first class that is ANYTHING close to a normal, full, PSU-level class is the 2015 group (this year's true freshmen)
I don't know why it was so hard for logical folks to realize, but the day the sanctions were announced, it SHOULD have been clear to everyone that the 2012, 2013 teams were going to be the best rosters for a while (the most "normal" rosters, with typical levels of upperclass depth and talent) and it was going to be tougher slugging after that (2014, 2015, 2016 etc).
The acceleration of relief from many of the sanctions CERTAINLY provides the opportunity to move from what would have been a 10-15 year rebuild, to a 5-6 year rebuild.......but this situation is NOT going to be solved in 2016, especially if a new QB has to be developed, but as the quality continues to percolate up through the lower classes, this is going to be a darn good team with the next 2-3 years.
I don't think it has any big negative effect, but the constant moaning from uneducated folks regarding ridiculously optimistic expectations for where this team "should" be, certainly doesn't help anything.
Or, maybe we should all commit Seppuku?
Delusional to think that this team could, should, or would be at the level of the top teams.
It simply is a roster almost completely devoid of quality among the upper classes.....and of those few quality upperclassmen, so many of them where either out with injuries, or trying to play at well under 100%
(Sickels, Nassib, Lucas, Wartman, Brenneman, Allen, Bell etc)
There are probably 3 seniors on this roster who will be missed at all (as far as on field production is concerned) and 2 of them were out with injuries today.....so, aside from Zettel (and maybe Trevor Williams), name me ONE senior who played today who will be missed on the field?
This time next year (assuming Hackenberg and Johnson go on to the NFL), and barring injuries, PSU will probably be starting 4 Seniors on the entire roster (Wartman, Bell, Palmer, and one of the interior offensive linemen)....so it is not just a lack of seniors on this team, but a lack of upperclass depth across the board.
And those "sanction recruited" classes, God bless them, but there just isn't much B1G level talent there (which is to be expected, given the challenges of recruiting when the sanctions were in place).
_____________________
The one area on a football team where you can often get away with playing FR and SO is at the offensive skill positions, and, as disappointing as the final score was, the offensive skill guys on this team (almost all FR and SO) put up over 400 yards against an MSU defense that held OSU to under 150 last week.
They did this with what can be called, charitably, a Mid-Major Conference level offensive line.
Thanks to the injuries, today's defensive line was played primarily by guys who never would have been on the two-deep at this point in their careers - barring the depletion of talent on the upper levels.....and the linebacker corps was manned by guys who would have been 2nd teamers battling for some playing time on a normal roster.
I know it is hard for fans to look at the reality of the situation, but the reality is:
(without calling out specific players by name)
The 2012 class, which was in development at the time the "scandal" broke:
19 Kids enrolled in that class
Just 10 of them were available today
Of the 19, I think it safe to say 6 or 7 would have never been signed as scholarship players under normal circumstances.
The 2013 class, which was recruited in the worst days of the sanctions:
Just 15 Kids enrolled in that class
Just 9 of them were available today (and 2 of those 9 were SEVERLY limited by injury)
Of the 15, I think it safe to say at least 6 or 7 would have never been signed as scholarship players under normal circumstances.
So you've basically got 2 full classes with maybe 15-20 kids TOTAL who would have even been PSU recruits in normal times.
The 2014 class, was a full 25 man class, but the first half was recruited at a time when the sanctions were still in place (by a coach with one foot out the door), and the second half was pulled together in just a couple of weeks by a new staff:.
Of the 25, I think it safe to say at least 10 would have never been signed as scholarship players under normal circumstances.
Now, that doesn't mean that some of those kids who would not have normally been Penn State recruits won't be quality players (in some cases, they already are)....but it would be ludicrous to expect to generate the "normal" number of quality players from such "abnormal" classes. It is a HUGE hurdle to overcome.
The first class that is ANYTHING close to a normal, full, PSU-level class is the 2015 group (this year's true freshmen)
I don't know why it was so hard for logical folks to realize, but the day the sanctions were announced, it SHOULD have been clear to everyone that the 2012, 2013 teams were going to be the best rosters for a while (the most "normal" rosters, with typical levels of upperclass depth and talent) and it was going to be tougher slugging after that (2014, 2015, 2016 etc).
The acceleration of relief from many of the sanctions CERTAINLY provides the opportunity to move from what would have been a 10-15 year rebuild, to a 5-6 year rebuild.......but this situation is NOT going to be solved in 2016, especially if a new QB has to be developed, but as the quality continues to percolate up through the lower classes, this is going to be a darn good team with the next 2-3 years.
I don't think it has any big negative effect, but the constant moaning from uneducated folks regarding ridiculously optimistic expectations for where this team "should" be, certainly doesn't help anything.
Or, maybe we should all commit Seppuku?
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