This is from me and Tim Owen. Any questions, let us know, we'll be happy to try to clarify anything we can:
The highlights didn’t take long to materialize Wednesday morning at Penn State’s open practice session.
Letting the media in for the final 10-15 minutes of the first of two practices Wednesday, the Nittany Lions wrapped the session with some live work. First, there was second/third team work, followed by first-team situational work and second-team of the same situation.
Let’s get started with some of our observations:
1) With Trace McSorley leading the second team unit during two-minute drill, his pass appeared to be intended to Juwan Johnson in the middle of the field, slightly to McSorley’s left side. The ball was tipped, and out of nowhere safety Malik Golden crashed on the ball, picked it off and sprinted straight toward the end zone until McSorley knocked him out of bounds on the far sideline.
Meeting with the media briefly after practice, corners coach Terry Smith praised the effort. “You saw Malik make a nice play in the two-minute period,” he said.
- A few plays after his interception, McSorley took off running, pointing out defenders for his blockers, and took it for an approximate 20-yard gain. Later on, McSorley faced some pressure and forced another throw, this one falling incomplete. It prompted Franklin to encourage McSorley to run it again in that situation.
2) Only a couple of plays later, it was Brandon Polk’s time to shine. Listed at just 5-foot-9, 163 pounds, the diminutive wideout found space down the left sideline, offered a wicked juke move to get past his defender and sprint another 30 yards into the end zone.
It was the only offensive touchdown of the brief period we were able to watch. Afterward, Smith said Polk has brought "a different element" to the offense so far this preseason.
3) Following the two-minute period, Penn State head coach James Franklin set up the NIttany Lions offense to replay the situation nearly a year ago at the end of the UCF game. Down 24-23, with three timeouts left, Franklin gave the Lions’ first-team offense the ball at its own 26-yard line with 1 minute, 8 seconds remaining to get into position to either score a touchdown or game-winning field goal.
With Hackenberg leading the charge, the Nittany Lions were able to quickly move the ball downfield, capped by a huge catch and run from Saeed Blacknall down the right sideline. Moving the ball into the middle of the field before taking a timeout with three seconds left to play, Big Toe Joe Julius was set up for the game-winning field goal.
He missed, wide right. Plenty of leg on a field goal attempt from about 35-40 yards out.
Hackenberg and the rest of the unit, competitive as they are, appeared a little miffed by the miss.
Here’s a look at what we saw for the first team offensive line. As expected:
LT - Paris Palmer
LG - Brendan Mahon
C - Angelo Mangiro
RG - Brian Gaia
RT - Andrew Nelson
When the second-team unit was given the same opportunity for the same drive, the drive stalled when the McSorley-led group was unable to pick up a first down. Offensive coordinator John Donovan was not happy.
4) There was a ton of rotating on the defensive side of the ball. Though there are some obvious first-teamers, the frequency with which that side of the ball can bring players in and out shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Torrence Brown and Curtis Cothran were second-team ends, with Parker Cothren and Tarow Barney filling up the middle of that second team unit. Troy Reeder and Gary Wooten were a two-linebacker set at one point, with Christian Campbell, John Reid and Amani Oruwariye at the corner spots and Troy Apke and Brian Tomesetti filling the safety roles. Ryan Buchholz was getting some time with the second-team defensive line, and Kamonte Carter was paired up with Robert Windsor with what appeared to be the third defensive line. Sets and formations are constantly changing with this group, though, and assistant coaches were holding some guys out purposefully, so putting stock into "second-" or "third-team units" would be a futile exercise.
5) Lots and lots of praise for Jason Cabinda these days, and he met with the media after the end of practice to talk about how he’s come along. We’ll save some of his remarks for later thanks to Tim’s pre-emptive story about the sophomore this morning, but the gist is pretty simple:
In his second season, he’s feeling a lot more comfortable, has learned a ton from Nyeem Wartman - whose former Will spot he’s now filling - and those benefits are really coming to fruition out there on the field.
He mentioned an interception that he made against Hackenberg during Saturday's scrimmage, and Akeel Lynch confirmed it afterward and said that it was one of "five or six" interceptions that Cabinda has made so far this preseason.
Odds and ends:
- At wideout, DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin are the two primary receivers, and then it’s a hodgepodge of a lot of guys including Geno Lewis, Blacknall, Polk, Matt Zanellato, Irvin Charles, Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins.
- Mark Allen was the second-team running back during the second-unit’s game-ending try.
- During their scramble field goal attempt with time running out (Franklin ticks off the clock aloud as the line and kicker hustle to get into place) Julius again missed wide right.
Julius stayed after practice in order to get a dozen or so more kicks in. He hit one or two from deep, but let's just say it wasn't the most consistent performance.
- While reporters listened to Terry Smith, defensive tackle Austin Johnson and DL coach Sean Spencer could be seen talking at length just outside the Lasch weight room.
- Jim Haslett was out there checking out practice again.
- There was what appeared to be a third team OL unit of:
RT - Noah Beh
RG - Brian Gaia
C - Derek Dowrey
LG - Kevin Reihner
LT - Albert Hall
Again, there are a ton of moving pieces there along the offensive line. I might be speaking out of turn here, but the longer this goes, the more likely it seems that the best 10 might not end up being a straight two-deep that they had initially hoped for.
In the short period we watched, there was little doubt that the defense was pretty fluidly able to bring pressure to the first team offensive line. Again, defense is ahead of offense at this point, and is supposed to be. But let’s keep in mind realistic expectations for this offensive line unit.
Better than last year. How much better? To be determined.
- Tarow Barney stayed after practice with Kamonte Carter and Robert Windsor to work on defensive tackle drills. Still nothing official, but Carter moving to DT permanently appears to be even more imminent. Dude is huge.

The highlights didn’t take long to materialize Wednesday morning at Penn State’s open practice session.
Letting the media in for the final 10-15 minutes of the first of two practices Wednesday, the Nittany Lions wrapped the session with some live work. First, there was second/third team work, followed by first-team situational work and second-team of the same situation.
Let’s get started with some of our observations:
1) With Trace McSorley leading the second team unit during two-minute drill, his pass appeared to be intended to Juwan Johnson in the middle of the field, slightly to McSorley’s left side. The ball was tipped, and out of nowhere safety Malik Golden crashed on the ball, picked it off and sprinted straight toward the end zone until McSorley knocked him out of bounds on the far sideline.
Meeting with the media briefly after practice, corners coach Terry Smith praised the effort. “You saw Malik make a nice play in the two-minute period,” he said.
- A few plays after his interception, McSorley took off running, pointing out defenders for his blockers, and took it for an approximate 20-yard gain. Later on, McSorley faced some pressure and forced another throw, this one falling incomplete. It prompted Franklin to encourage McSorley to run it again in that situation.
2) Only a couple of plays later, it was Brandon Polk’s time to shine. Listed at just 5-foot-9, 163 pounds, the diminutive wideout found space down the left sideline, offered a wicked juke move to get past his defender and sprint another 30 yards into the end zone.
It was the only offensive touchdown of the brief period we were able to watch. Afterward, Smith said Polk has brought "a different element" to the offense so far this preseason.
3) Following the two-minute period, Penn State head coach James Franklin set up the NIttany Lions offense to replay the situation nearly a year ago at the end of the UCF game. Down 24-23, with three timeouts left, Franklin gave the Lions’ first-team offense the ball at its own 26-yard line with 1 minute, 8 seconds remaining to get into position to either score a touchdown or game-winning field goal.
With Hackenberg leading the charge, the Nittany Lions were able to quickly move the ball downfield, capped by a huge catch and run from Saeed Blacknall down the right sideline. Moving the ball into the middle of the field before taking a timeout with three seconds left to play, Big Toe Joe Julius was set up for the game-winning field goal.
He missed, wide right. Plenty of leg on a field goal attempt from about 35-40 yards out.
Hackenberg and the rest of the unit, competitive as they are, appeared a little miffed by the miss.
Here’s a look at what we saw for the first team offensive line. As expected:
LT - Paris Palmer
LG - Brendan Mahon
C - Angelo Mangiro
RG - Brian Gaia
RT - Andrew Nelson
When the second-team unit was given the same opportunity for the same drive, the drive stalled when the McSorley-led group was unable to pick up a first down. Offensive coordinator John Donovan was not happy.
4) There was a ton of rotating on the defensive side of the ball. Though there are some obvious first-teamers, the frequency with which that side of the ball can bring players in and out shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Torrence Brown and Curtis Cothran were second-team ends, with Parker Cothren and Tarow Barney filling up the middle of that second team unit. Troy Reeder and Gary Wooten were a two-linebacker set at one point, with Christian Campbell, John Reid and Amani Oruwariye at the corner spots and Troy Apke and Brian Tomesetti filling the safety roles. Ryan Buchholz was getting some time with the second-team defensive line, and Kamonte Carter was paired up with Robert Windsor with what appeared to be the third defensive line. Sets and formations are constantly changing with this group, though, and assistant coaches were holding some guys out purposefully, so putting stock into "second-" or "third-team units" would be a futile exercise.
5) Lots and lots of praise for Jason Cabinda these days, and he met with the media after the end of practice to talk about how he’s come along. We’ll save some of his remarks for later thanks to Tim’s pre-emptive story about the sophomore this morning, but the gist is pretty simple:
In his second season, he’s feeling a lot more comfortable, has learned a ton from Nyeem Wartman - whose former Will spot he’s now filling - and those benefits are really coming to fruition out there on the field.
He mentioned an interception that he made against Hackenberg during Saturday's scrimmage, and Akeel Lynch confirmed it afterward and said that it was one of "five or six" interceptions that Cabinda has made so far this preseason.
Odds and ends:
- At wideout, DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin are the two primary receivers, and then it’s a hodgepodge of a lot of guys including Geno Lewis, Blacknall, Polk, Matt Zanellato, Irvin Charles, Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins.
- Mark Allen was the second-team running back during the second-unit’s game-ending try.
- During their scramble field goal attempt with time running out (Franklin ticks off the clock aloud as the line and kicker hustle to get into place) Julius again missed wide right.
Julius stayed after practice in order to get a dozen or so more kicks in. He hit one or two from deep, but let's just say it wasn't the most consistent performance.
- While reporters listened to Terry Smith, defensive tackle Austin Johnson and DL coach Sean Spencer could be seen talking at length just outside the Lasch weight room.
- Jim Haslett was out there checking out practice again.
- There was what appeared to be a third team OL unit of:
RT - Noah Beh
RG - Brian Gaia
C - Derek Dowrey
LG - Kevin Reihner
LT - Albert Hall
Again, there are a ton of moving pieces there along the offensive line. I might be speaking out of turn here, but the longer this goes, the more likely it seems that the best 10 might not end up being a straight two-deep that they had initially hoped for.
In the short period we watched, there was little doubt that the defense was pretty fluidly able to bring pressure to the first team offensive line. Again, defense is ahead of offense at this point, and is supposed to be. But let’s keep in mind realistic expectations for this offensive line unit.
Better than last year. How much better? To be determined.
- Tarow Barney stayed after practice with Kamonte Carter and Robert Windsor to work on defensive tackle drills. Still nothing official, but Carter moving to DT permanently appears to be even more imminent. Dude is huge.

