The countdown to Penn State's 2021 season is very much on as the Nittany Lions continue their summer prep work.
With the Big Ten's preseason media days on deck, the start of preseason camp and then Penn State's own preseason media day shortly thereafter, we began collecting impressions through the program and a better understanding of where the Nittany Lions stand.
Wednesday provided the chance to dive into Penn State's situation at quarterback, welcoming the return of fifth-year senior Sean Clifford with a pair of untested backups in the wings in redshirt sophomore Ta'Quan Roberson and true freshman Christian Veilleux.
The circumstances for Penn State at running back and tight end are considerably different than that at quarterback, however.
Welcoming a healthy Noah Cain back to the fold, adding senior transfer John Lovett to the mix, with three big contributors from the 2020 season returning in Devyn Ford, Keyvone Lee, and Caziah Holmes, the Nittany Lions have options and expect to see contributions throughout.
Tight end, meanwhile, will boast a similarly robust situation despite losing Pat Freiermuth to the NFL in the second round of this year's draft. With experienced returning contributors in Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson, plus a newcomer in redshirt freshman Tyler Warren entering the mix, Penn State is highly optimistic about the potential for the group as a whole this season.
We surveyed insiders through the program and our offseason interviews to get a grip on how those positions are shaping up this summer.
Let's take a look:
Running Backs
In the most optimistic sense, Penn State’s running backs room will go into the 2021 preseason as one of the more interesting units on the team.
Bottom line, James Franklin, Mike Yurcich, Ja’Juan Seider, and the rest of the Nittany Lion staff are going to have to feel out the approach that they’re going to take.
First and maybe most obviously, Noah Cain is back healthy. That much has been clear through the past month as Penn State, and a few other social media posts, have demonstrated Cain to be fully participating in summer workouts - and looking darn good doing so.
But given Cain’s unfortunate injury history, missing all but four snaps of the 2020 season after suffering a foot injury in the first drive of the first possession of Penn State’s first game last season, and his sidelining for the latter third of the 2019 season after suffering a setback in the first quarter of a late-October win at Michigan State, the Nittany Lions can’t exactly go into the year assuming the starting role is his.
That doesn’t mean he’s not the odds-on favorite, though, to be the first running back on the field for Penn State when the year opens at Wisconsin this September. Cain has the experience, he’s shown that he can be productive, and his mentality and approach are what you want to see.
But with four other backs in the room with serious talent, the preseason will be an opportunity for the others in the group to put pressure on.
Our understanding is that, through the spring, sophomore Keyvone Lee is said to have taken a significant step toward that aim, with classmate Caziah Holmes also progressing forward. Steps forward don’t necessarily equate to breaking away from the pack, though, and the reality for Penn State this preseason is that a big question will have to be resolved (with no real right or wrong answer attached to whatever that resolution is).
Does Penn State have a guy among Cain, Lee, Holmes, transfer John Lovett, and junior Devyn Ford that will separate themselves from the rest of the pack? Or, as Penn State saw in its stated approach to the 2019 season - and to a lesser extent took place in 2020 due to the losses of Cain and Journey Brown - is the program headed for a committee approach?
What’s clear is that Penn State does not want last year’s circumstances to repeat themselves in which Will Levis (74 carries adjusted for sacks) and Sean Clifford (60) finished as two of the program’s top four rushers both in rushing attempts and yards gained.
Confident that the collection of talent represents a natural upgrade in talent and experience simply as a result of Cain’s return, another year in for Lee, Holmes, and Ford, and the addition of a fifth-year veteran in Lovett, Penn State just needs to see if an emergent star is among the group. Preseason camp and, in all likelihood, the first month of the schedule will be the Lions’ opportunity to learn as much.
Tight Ends
If anything has become clear for Penn State this offseason, it’s that it loves its tight ends ahead of the 2021 season.
That’s Franklin, that’s Ty Howle, that’s Yurcich - across the board, these guys have not held back in interviews explaining the potential that exists in the room. I could pull from any number of interviews here for this one - the on background stuff aligns the same as anything on the record - but Howle’s assessment in an interview with me in May sums it up all pretty nicely.
“I’m fired up about this group. From Brenton Strange to Tyler Warren to Theo Johnson to Tommy Friberg, Grayson Klein, to guys coming in. They're great kids. They love football. They want to do well on the football field and in school. Easy to coach. And obviously, they're very talented,” Howle said. “We got some really good players in the room, and they're not satisfied with where they're at. All the guys want to go and play at the highest level, but they want to win championships here first.
“They have worked hard this spring. They got a lot better. And it's a younger room. They're guys who have played some football but still have very high ceilings to keep getting better and better, and they're hungry to do that. That's what I appreciate about those guys. They work their tails off. It's our culture here in the tight end room.”
No doubt, the room also has size that can’t be ignored. Strange is the “smallest” of the projected contributors at 6-foot-3, 256 pounds. And even then, his weight is a tick above that of 6-foot-6, 250-pound Johnson, and 6-foot-6, 249-pound Warren.
That all helps to create a combination of talent, size, strength, speed, attitude, experience, and smarts (which shouldn’t be overlooked given Yurcich’s emphasis on the football IQ required of the position) that has Penn State feeling especially confident about what it has there.
With the Big Ten's preseason media days on deck, the start of preseason camp and then Penn State's own preseason media day shortly thereafter, we began collecting impressions through the program and a better understanding of where the Nittany Lions stand.
Wednesday provided the chance to dive into Penn State's situation at quarterback, welcoming the return of fifth-year senior Sean Clifford with a pair of untested backups in the wings in redshirt sophomore Ta'Quan Roberson and true freshman Christian Veilleux.
The circumstances for Penn State at running back and tight end are considerably different than that at quarterback, however.
Welcoming a healthy Noah Cain back to the fold, adding senior transfer John Lovett to the mix, with three big contributors from the 2020 season returning in Devyn Ford, Keyvone Lee, and Caziah Holmes, the Nittany Lions have options and expect to see contributions throughout.
Tight end, meanwhile, will boast a similarly robust situation despite losing Pat Freiermuth to the NFL in the second round of this year's draft. With experienced returning contributors in Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson, plus a newcomer in redshirt freshman Tyler Warren entering the mix, Penn State is highly optimistic about the potential for the group as a whole this season.
We surveyed insiders through the program and our offseason interviews to get a grip on how those positions are shaping up this summer.
Let's take a look:
Running Backs
In the most optimistic sense, Penn State’s running backs room will go into the 2021 preseason as one of the more interesting units on the team.
Bottom line, James Franklin, Mike Yurcich, Ja’Juan Seider, and the rest of the Nittany Lion staff are going to have to feel out the approach that they’re going to take.
First and maybe most obviously, Noah Cain is back healthy. That much has been clear through the past month as Penn State, and a few other social media posts, have demonstrated Cain to be fully participating in summer workouts - and looking darn good doing so.
But given Cain’s unfortunate injury history, missing all but four snaps of the 2020 season after suffering a foot injury in the first drive of the first possession of Penn State’s first game last season, and his sidelining for the latter third of the 2019 season after suffering a setback in the first quarter of a late-October win at Michigan State, the Nittany Lions can’t exactly go into the year assuming the starting role is his.
That doesn’t mean he’s not the odds-on favorite, though, to be the first running back on the field for Penn State when the year opens at Wisconsin this September. Cain has the experience, he’s shown that he can be productive, and his mentality and approach are what you want to see.
But with four other backs in the room with serious talent, the preseason will be an opportunity for the others in the group to put pressure on.
Our understanding is that, through the spring, sophomore Keyvone Lee is said to have taken a significant step toward that aim, with classmate Caziah Holmes also progressing forward. Steps forward don’t necessarily equate to breaking away from the pack, though, and the reality for Penn State this preseason is that a big question will have to be resolved (with no real right or wrong answer attached to whatever that resolution is).
Does Penn State have a guy among Cain, Lee, Holmes, transfer John Lovett, and junior Devyn Ford that will separate themselves from the rest of the pack? Or, as Penn State saw in its stated approach to the 2019 season - and to a lesser extent took place in 2020 due to the losses of Cain and Journey Brown - is the program headed for a committee approach?
What’s clear is that Penn State does not want last year’s circumstances to repeat themselves in which Will Levis (74 carries adjusted for sacks) and Sean Clifford (60) finished as two of the program’s top four rushers both in rushing attempts and yards gained.
Confident that the collection of talent represents a natural upgrade in talent and experience simply as a result of Cain’s return, another year in for Lee, Holmes, and Ford, and the addition of a fifth-year veteran in Lovett, Penn State just needs to see if an emergent star is among the group. Preseason camp and, in all likelihood, the first month of the schedule will be the Lions’ opportunity to learn as much.
Tight Ends
If anything has become clear for Penn State this offseason, it’s that it loves its tight ends ahead of the 2021 season.
That’s Franklin, that’s Ty Howle, that’s Yurcich - across the board, these guys have not held back in interviews explaining the potential that exists in the room. I could pull from any number of interviews here for this one - the on background stuff aligns the same as anything on the record - but Howle’s assessment in an interview with me in May sums it up all pretty nicely.
“I’m fired up about this group. From Brenton Strange to Tyler Warren to Theo Johnson to Tommy Friberg, Grayson Klein, to guys coming in. They're great kids. They love football. They want to do well on the football field and in school. Easy to coach. And obviously, they're very talented,” Howle said. “We got some really good players in the room, and they're not satisfied with where they're at. All the guys want to go and play at the highest level, but they want to win championships here first.
“They have worked hard this spring. They got a lot better. And it's a younger room. They're guys who have played some football but still have very high ceilings to keep getting better and better, and they're hungry to do that. That's what I appreciate about those guys. They work their tails off. It's our culture here in the tight end room.”
No doubt, the room also has size that can’t be ignored. Strange is the “smallest” of the projected contributors at 6-foot-3, 256 pounds. And even then, his weight is a tick above that of 6-foot-6, 250-pound Johnson, and 6-foot-6, 249-pound Warren.
That all helps to create a combination of talent, size, strength, speed, attitude, experience, and smarts (which shouldn’t be overlooked given Yurcich’s emphasis on the football IQ required of the position) that has Penn State feeling especially confident about what it has there.
