As the temperatures turn colder and colder in Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions continue to practice outside at the Lasch Football Complex.
Wednesday evening, the media was invited past the gates to catch a few minutes of practice, followed by group interviews with head coach James Franklin and running back Miles Sanders.
Let’s take a look at some of the news and notes to emerge from the session, here:
1) Beginning with maybe the most relevant information of the evening, given some of the second half absences at Indiana due to an apparent injury, the majority of those same Nittany Lions were back on the field practicing Wednesday evening.
At wideout, both Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins participated with the first-team offense, while defensive end Shareef Miller also suited up and took reps with the first team defense.
That said, even in the brief window of which the media was permitted to view practice, specifically red zone work for the offense, Thompkins had a highlight and a lowlight, unable pull in a sure thing touchdown reception but also completing one as well.
2) Other plays from the practice session portion we were able to see:
- An incompletion from McSorley to Pat Freiermuth.
- Tommy Stevens at quarterback, completing a touchdown reception to Jon Holland.
- A Tommy Stevens touchdown completion to Juwan Johnson.
3) Speaking of receivers, Franklin was asked about his Tuesday press conference comments in which he relayed to the media that he stressed the importance of this week to his younger wideouts.
Wednesday evening, he was asked to follow up on how that’d progressed for those young wideouts during the team’s Tuesday and Wednesday practice sessions.
“Jahan has been doing it all year long,” Franklin began. “Shorter is, I think, really starting to come on now again after having an injury earlier in the year. And Daniel has really done some good things. He's done some good things really since he's arrived. I think those guys will still have an opportunity to factor in, but it's too early for us to make any decisions at this point.”
Those decisions will also have to include Penn State’s veteran wideouts being taken into consideration, said Franklin, as they’d come back successfully from injury to again participate in practice this week.
“It's also good to see those guys that last week, we weren't sure, didn't play the second half, that they've practiced really well,” said Franklin. “I don't obviously get into injuries a whole lot, but those guys have practiced Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday now, so that's promising.”
4) Another promising development for the Nittany Lions appears to have come from Miles Sanders’ involvement in the passing game Saturday in Bloomington.
Finishing the 33-28 win with 72 yards rushing in addition to his six receptions for 54 yards, Sanders represents a push Franklin would like to see across the entire Penn State offensive lineup.
“We just gotta get more guys involved. Right now, Trace is carrying too much of the load on offense. I thought Miles last week probably played his best game, his most complete game. That is also in the passing game,” said Franklin. “Part of it was, we went into it, we saw some opportunities we saw on film formationally that we felt like we could take advantage of it, so we did have some things with that in mind. So that helped.
“But I think in general we just gotta get more guys involved, and when you're able to work through your progression in college football, if No. 1 is not open in college football, typically two or three are. So if you can work through your progression to your third or your fourth progression, take the back on a check down, usually, there are opportunities for really big plays there. So it's nice to see that kind of start to happen for us.”
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That's going to be all from me tonight. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask them here.
Wednesday evening, the media was invited past the gates to catch a few minutes of practice, followed by group interviews with head coach James Franklin and running back Miles Sanders.
Let’s take a look at some of the news and notes to emerge from the session, here:
1) Beginning with maybe the most relevant information of the evening, given some of the second half absences at Indiana due to an apparent injury, the majority of those same Nittany Lions were back on the field practicing Wednesday evening.
At wideout, both Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins participated with the first-team offense, while defensive end Shareef Miller also suited up and took reps with the first team defense.
That said, even in the brief window of which the media was permitted to view practice, specifically red zone work for the offense, Thompkins had a highlight and a lowlight, unable pull in a sure thing touchdown reception but also completing one as well.
2) Other plays from the practice session portion we were able to see:
- An incompletion from McSorley to Pat Freiermuth.
- Tommy Stevens at quarterback, completing a touchdown reception to Jon Holland.
- A Tommy Stevens touchdown completion to Juwan Johnson.
3) Speaking of receivers, Franklin was asked about his Tuesday press conference comments in which he relayed to the media that he stressed the importance of this week to his younger wideouts.
Wednesday evening, he was asked to follow up on how that’d progressed for those young wideouts during the team’s Tuesday and Wednesday practice sessions.
“Jahan has been doing it all year long,” Franklin began. “Shorter is, I think, really starting to come on now again after having an injury earlier in the year. And Daniel has really done some good things. He's done some good things really since he's arrived. I think those guys will still have an opportunity to factor in, but it's too early for us to make any decisions at this point.”
Those decisions will also have to include Penn State’s veteran wideouts being taken into consideration, said Franklin, as they’d come back successfully from injury to again participate in practice this week.
“It's also good to see those guys that last week, we weren't sure, didn't play the second half, that they've practiced really well,” said Franklin. “I don't obviously get into injuries a whole lot, but those guys have practiced Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday now, so that's promising.”
4) Another promising development for the Nittany Lions appears to have come from Miles Sanders’ involvement in the passing game Saturday in Bloomington.
Finishing the 33-28 win with 72 yards rushing in addition to his six receptions for 54 yards, Sanders represents a push Franklin would like to see across the entire Penn State offensive lineup.
“We just gotta get more guys involved. Right now, Trace is carrying too much of the load on offense. I thought Miles last week probably played his best game, his most complete game. That is also in the passing game,” said Franklin. “Part of it was, we went into it, we saw some opportunities we saw on film formationally that we felt like we could take advantage of it, so we did have some things with that in mind. So that helped.
“But I think in general we just gotta get more guys involved, and when you're able to work through your progression in college football, if No. 1 is not open in college football, typically two or three are. So if you can work through your progression to your third or your fourth progression, take the back on a check down, usually, there are opportunities for really big plays there. So it's nice to see that kind of start to happen for us.”
****
That's going to be all from me tonight. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask them here.
