Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!
I hope you're all hanging in with us as we wrap up our coverage of Penn State's media day and first open practice, both of which went off without a hitch!
I'm going to run through some of my observations from this afternoon's short period of practice that we were able to watch. It was about half an hour, mostly of individual drills and unit drills. For the period of practice we were in attendance for, there were no offense/defense periods. Additionally, as has been noted here previously, players were just in helmets, jerseys and shorts, so there was no real physical contact between the players.
With that said, let's get into the few things I saw. Ryan might also chime in here with anything he was able to see:
1) Penn State special teams coordinator Charles Huff talked earlier this afternoon about the options that are created in the return game by the fact that redshirt freshmen from last season are now eligible.
"Well, we've got a good thing. We've got options. Of course Grant Haley is still here. We've got some young guys. DeAndre Thompkins redshirted last year. Nick Scott has done it in high school; Koa Farmer has done it in high school. A lot of our options last year were redshirted. So this year it's a good group back there and a lot of guys that have done it in high school have obviously done it and have done it successfully. You look at some of their high school films, and that was a big part of their film, returning kicks and making explosive plays on special teams, but now some of those guys who are not redshirted are going to give us a chance to kind of move forward."
That bore itself out completely this afternoon in the period we were able to see. Returning punts - doing the old two balls in each hand, while catching the punt drill - were DeAndre Thompkins and Mark Allen, plus Josh McPherson, Gregg Garrity and true freshman Brandon Polk. At kick return, Koa Farmer, Nick Scott and Saquon Barkley were all hauling them in. It was too quick of a period to really give you any type of insight on who looked best - I'll wait for contacts to lend a few ideas about that - but clearly you can see that Huff is going to have some options. I didn't see Grant Haley with the punt returners, but I might have just missed him there.
2) Observing the offensive line was a little bit of a mixed bag because the centers were working with the quarterbacks and running backs while the guards and tackles worked together on the other side of the field - for the portion of practice I was able to see. Mangiro and Reihner were first and second team, with Wendy Laurent working third and then, I believe, Ryan Bates and (I was told by a colleague) maybe Derek Dowrey taking a few snaps at center. He's listed as G/C on the latest roster, so that would make sense.
For what it's worth, here's how they would fit into the offensive line that I saw:
1st
LT - Paris Palmer
LG - Brendan Mahon
C - Angelo Mangiro
RG - Brian Gaia
RT - Andrew Nelson
2nd
LT - Sterling Jenkins/Chance Sorrell/Brendan Brosnan
LG - Steven Gonzalez/Albert Hall
C - Kevin Reihner/Wendy Laurent/Ryan Bates
RG - Chasz Wright/Tom Devenney/Evan Galimberti
RT - Noah Beh/Brendan Brosnan/Chasz Wright
Beyond the first team, I wouldn't worry much about those groupings, though. Franklin specifically mentioned Sorrell as competing with Paris for that starting LT job. Also for what it's worth, Sterling Jenkins is an absolute monster. Kid is listed at 6-8, 329 pounds, and he actually might be taller than that. He is a really, really big dude, especially for a true freshman. Gonzalez is also really thick. He's listed at 6-4, 324, so that's probably why.
Really, you should basically disregard that second team. It's going to be competitive, and things will be clearer when we hear from our contacts.
3) At wideout, the rundown was basically as expected, with Hamilton, Lewis, Godwin, Blacknall, Thompkins and Zanellato at the front of the group, in that order. These freshmen are some big dudes too, with Irvin Charles really looking like all of the 6-4, 213 pounds he's listed as. Polk is obviously smaller, but Juwan Johnson looks like a duplicate of Charles and is listed at exactly the same height and weight. In the drills I saw, all three showed good hands.
4) At running back, listed at 5-6, 181 pounds, Mark Allen looks tiny compared to some of the guys he's surrounded by, but he's thick. He's got big arms and hits hard. Next to Nick Scott, though, listed at 5-11, 198 pounds, he does look short though. Andre Robinson looks lean, and Saquon Barkley had his legs replaced by the tree trunks from Pattee Mall. Also a for what it's worth, but Brandon Johnson, a walk-on senior running back, is the biggest of the bunch at 6-2, 228. He dwarfs just about everyone else out there, though Lynch checking in at 5-11, 222 pounds is packing a punch too.
5) Last but not least, Jim Haslett was walking around, not interacting with players, but just checking out the scene.
Defense was on the other side of the field, and we didn't have a great opportunity to get over there before they kicked us out. I'll do my best to focus on them whenever that next availability comes.
I hope you're all hanging in with us as we wrap up our coverage of Penn State's media day and first open practice, both of which went off without a hitch!
I'm going to run through some of my observations from this afternoon's short period of practice that we were able to watch. It was about half an hour, mostly of individual drills and unit drills. For the period of practice we were in attendance for, there were no offense/defense periods. Additionally, as has been noted here previously, players were just in helmets, jerseys and shorts, so there was no real physical contact between the players.
With that said, let's get into the few things I saw. Ryan might also chime in here with anything he was able to see:
1) Penn State special teams coordinator Charles Huff talked earlier this afternoon about the options that are created in the return game by the fact that redshirt freshmen from last season are now eligible.
"Well, we've got a good thing. We've got options. Of course Grant Haley is still here. We've got some young guys. DeAndre Thompkins redshirted last year. Nick Scott has done it in high school; Koa Farmer has done it in high school. A lot of our options last year were redshirted. So this year it's a good group back there and a lot of guys that have done it in high school have obviously done it and have done it successfully. You look at some of their high school films, and that was a big part of their film, returning kicks and making explosive plays on special teams, but now some of those guys who are not redshirted are going to give us a chance to kind of move forward."
That bore itself out completely this afternoon in the period we were able to see. Returning punts - doing the old two balls in each hand, while catching the punt drill - were DeAndre Thompkins and Mark Allen, plus Josh McPherson, Gregg Garrity and true freshman Brandon Polk. At kick return, Koa Farmer, Nick Scott and Saquon Barkley were all hauling them in. It was too quick of a period to really give you any type of insight on who looked best - I'll wait for contacts to lend a few ideas about that - but clearly you can see that Huff is going to have some options. I didn't see Grant Haley with the punt returners, but I might have just missed him there.
2) Observing the offensive line was a little bit of a mixed bag because the centers were working with the quarterbacks and running backs while the guards and tackles worked together on the other side of the field - for the portion of practice I was able to see. Mangiro and Reihner were first and second team, with Wendy Laurent working third and then, I believe, Ryan Bates and (I was told by a colleague) maybe Derek Dowrey taking a few snaps at center. He's listed as G/C on the latest roster, so that would make sense.
For what it's worth, here's how they would fit into the offensive line that I saw:
1st
LT - Paris Palmer
LG - Brendan Mahon
C - Angelo Mangiro
RG - Brian Gaia
RT - Andrew Nelson
2nd
LT - Sterling Jenkins/Chance Sorrell/Brendan Brosnan
LG - Steven Gonzalez/Albert Hall
C - Kevin Reihner/Wendy Laurent/Ryan Bates
RG - Chasz Wright/Tom Devenney/Evan Galimberti
RT - Noah Beh/Brendan Brosnan/Chasz Wright
Beyond the first team, I wouldn't worry much about those groupings, though. Franklin specifically mentioned Sorrell as competing with Paris for that starting LT job. Also for what it's worth, Sterling Jenkins is an absolute monster. Kid is listed at 6-8, 329 pounds, and he actually might be taller than that. He is a really, really big dude, especially for a true freshman. Gonzalez is also really thick. He's listed at 6-4, 324, so that's probably why.
Really, you should basically disregard that second team. It's going to be competitive, and things will be clearer when we hear from our contacts.
3) At wideout, the rundown was basically as expected, with Hamilton, Lewis, Godwin, Blacknall, Thompkins and Zanellato at the front of the group, in that order. These freshmen are some big dudes too, with Irvin Charles really looking like all of the 6-4, 213 pounds he's listed as. Polk is obviously smaller, but Juwan Johnson looks like a duplicate of Charles and is listed at exactly the same height and weight. In the drills I saw, all three showed good hands.
4) At running back, listed at 5-6, 181 pounds, Mark Allen looks tiny compared to some of the guys he's surrounded by, but he's thick. He's got big arms and hits hard. Next to Nick Scott, though, listed at 5-11, 198 pounds, he does look short though. Andre Robinson looks lean, and Saquon Barkley had his legs replaced by the tree trunks from Pattee Mall. Also a for what it's worth, but Brandon Johnson, a walk-on senior running back, is the biggest of the bunch at 6-2, 228. He dwarfs just about everyone else out there, though Lynch checking in at 5-11, 222 pounds is packing a punch too.
5) Last but not least, Jim Haslett was walking around, not interacting with players, but just checking out the scene.
Defense was on the other side of the field, and we didn't have a great opportunity to get over there before they kicked us out. I'll do my best to focus on them whenever that next availability comes.
