With Penn State's spring practice session more than halfway in the books - and just a week and a half remaining until the Blue-White Game on April 18 - it's time to take a look at some of the news, notes and insights we're hearing from within and around the program.
The first and most evident point is probably an obvious one, but the team as a whole is clearly in a better place this year than it's been since James Franklin took the helm 16 months ago.
You name it, in every phase of the game - physically, mentally, emotionally - this is a program that has seen marked improvement certainly from last spring to this, but even since the year-ending Pinstripe Bowl win until now. Players throughout the spring have expressed more confidence and optimism, and more broadly, the feeling is that last season is A) in the rear view and B) provided adverse situations that helped everyone, coaching staff and players.
Granted, none of this means that the program is collectively blind to its challenges.
The issues that plagued the 2014 season stemmed overwhelmingly from the NCAA sanctions against the program and, though certainly much has been done to take steps forward, they're not issues that can be rectified completely from one season to the next.
But, in something that has been stressed again and again in my interactions around the program, the collective strides that were made from year one of Bill O'Brien to year two are now seen happening in the program's second year with Franklin. Consistency breeds familiarity and with it, a more specified understanding and comfort level in expectations and goals on and off the field.
With more bodies overall available to work with this spring, and fewer of them sidelined due to injury or precaution, the overall impressions coming out of this spring's practice sessions are that of efficiency and tangible improvement in many, many areas of the game.
So with that in mind, let's start on the offensive side of the ball and work our way through some of the key things we've been hearing this spring:
The offensive line is not a finished product yet, and expectations for what it becomes through the course of the 2015 season should be adjusted accordingly to the growing pains that everyone witnessed first hand last year. Again, many of those issues cannot be solved in an off-season.
That said, when you're looking at the offensive line last spring compared to this, it's not even close. They are simply much, much better as a unit - physically for sure, but especially mentally - most notably from a two-deep that is still loaded with young and relatively inexperienced players. In that context, there are still moments where everyone is jolted into remembering the unit's youth, but instead of a constant reminder, this spring's reminders have been whittled down to the occasional flash.
Anchored at center by Angelo Mangiro, the Nittany Lions have two guards in Brian Gaia and Brendan Mahon who played a lot of football last season, and a right tackle in Andrew Nelson who started all 13 games in 2014. Combined, that's a returning 49 games played last season from those four, with 47 starts and that's coming from a group that had exactly zero combined starts among it going into the 2014 season.
Gaia is still relatively new to the position, but when he's done with preseason ball, that will be three camps through the process for him. Mangiro is the team's starting center and has developed a nice rapport with Christian Hackenberg. Regardless of the addition of Kevin Reihner in May, there are no assumptions being made that the former backup center at Stanford will come in and supplant Mangiro at center. Certainly, the flexibility of having a nice, quality center in Reihner would be of great benefit to the depth chart, but anything more is probably too great of an optimistic presumption at this point.
Mahon, meanwhile, has had a great spring. His confidence is just so much improved, which comes with knowing what is going on out there. Rather than having to react and adjust after the play is already in motion, Mahon has the benefit of now being able to anticipate what's coming pre-snap. Call it the game slowing down, if you will, but the end result is a player who has shown immense improvement already between year one and year two.
If the staff can keep that group together and minimize moving players around, the overall effect is again stabilizing, leaving just the left tackle situation to be sorted between now and the Temple game on Sept. 5.
Here's the deal: Paris Palmer was brought in to be able to become Penn State's left tackle following the departure of Donovan Smith following the 2014 season. There are no misgivings about this. Though the spring started with Palmer, Chance Sorrell and Albert Hall working at the position, Hall has since been moved in to guard, leaving a two-horse race that has admittedly been thrown into the fire - as Franklin put it at one of his media availabilities a couple weekends ago.
The reality here is that the hope is that both Palmer and Sorrell can make big improvements through the spring and summer months and, by the time preseason practice rolls around, the staff can then see where it all falls out. The stability of having a guy like Gaia to be able to build a rapport with could help usher Palmer along, but either way, the aim is to be able to develop at least a serviceable left tackle by the time the season rolls around before having to move on to a Plan B. Certainly, this is a real and significant challenge that remains at the position, but with tons of invaluable reps being doled out there this spring, the optimistic outlook would be for Palmer to be able to make those improvements and eventually assert himself as the starting left tackle alongside a foursome that otherwise brings confidence and significant experience to the unit.
One of the keys to the improvements of the offensive line is the production that now seems possible for Penn State's stable of young running backs.
Flatly, this spring has shown the position to be upgraded. Akeel Lynch is poised to be main back in the fall, having played in every game last season and starting two en route to finishing the year as the team's leading rusher with 678 yards and four scores.
Maybe the pleasant surprise of the spring, however, has so far been Mark Allen. Just a redshirt freshman with no carries to his name, the following comes with the caution that spring practice is spring practice, leaving much to still be proven when the games start. However, the DeMatha product has shown himself to really bring a lot of positives to the table this spring.
At just 5-foot-7, 186 pounds, his size naturally brings a level of concern, but his pass protection is arguably among the best at the position, thanks largely to his aggressiveness and football acumen. Throw in that slowing down of the game process mentioned here before, and Allen brings some quickness, field vision and an ability to change direction and make people miss that might not exist as much anywhere else on the field at the skill positions for Penn State this spring.
Alongside a mature, confident, assertive presence in quarterback Christian Hackenberg - who has earned nothing but overwhelming praise for his handling of the 2014 season and consistent leadership through the offseason and into the spring practice session, and you can see the bettering of the unit as a whole and where it could be headed during the 2015 season.
Certainly, seeing DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin running first team and Geno Lewis and Saeed Blacknall mixing it up behind them, the competition at wideout presents an interesting atmosphere that should help tremendously in fostering the consistency that was really lacking from the position last fall.
The very notion that Penn State's offense has been able to move forward optimistically and confidently through the offseason and into spring practice has been of great benefit, though. Not that anyone is expecting a constant fireworks show from the unit this fall, but in starting to shore up some of the glaring issues from last season, with an incredible asset in Hackenberg and a supporting cast becoming more consistent and upgraded at both running back and wideout, plus the likes of a bit of a wildcard talent at tight end in Mike Gesicki (alongside a veteran in Kyle Carter and a rehabbing Adam Breneman) and not so suddenly, the steady improvements of an offensive line could allow them all to come to life in 2015.
Again, this is spring practice. Many challenges remain in the coming months, but through three weeks of spring practices, this is a Penn State offense significantly improved.
The first and most evident point is probably an obvious one, but the team as a whole is clearly in a better place this year than it's been since James Franklin took the helm 16 months ago.
You name it, in every phase of the game - physically, mentally, emotionally - this is a program that has seen marked improvement certainly from last spring to this, but even since the year-ending Pinstripe Bowl win until now. Players throughout the spring have expressed more confidence and optimism, and more broadly, the feeling is that last season is A) in the rear view and B) provided adverse situations that helped everyone, coaching staff and players.
Granted, none of this means that the program is collectively blind to its challenges.
The issues that plagued the 2014 season stemmed overwhelmingly from the NCAA sanctions against the program and, though certainly much has been done to take steps forward, they're not issues that can be rectified completely from one season to the next.
But, in something that has been stressed again and again in my interactions around the program, the collective strides that were made from year one of Bill O'Brien to year two are now seen happening in the program's second year with Franklin. Consistency breeds familiarity and with it, a more specified understanding and comfort level in expectations and goals on and off the field.
With more bodies overall available to work with this spring, and fewer of them sidelined due to injury or precaution, the overall impressions coming out of this spring's practice sessions are that of efficiency and tangible improvement in many, many areas of the game.
So with that in mind, let's start on the offensive side of the ball and work our way through some of the key things we've been hearing this spring:
The offensive line is not a finished product yet, and expectations for what it becomes through the course of the 2015 season should be adjusted accordingly to the growing pains that everyone witnessed first hand last year. Again, many of those issues cannot be solved in an off-season.
That said, when you're looking at the offensive line last spring compared to this, it's not even close. They are simply much, much better as a unit - physically for sure, but especially mentally - most notably from a two-deep that is still loaded with young and relatively inexperienced players. In that context, there are still moments where everyone is jolted into remembering the unit's youth, but instead of a constant reminder, this spring's reminders have been whittled down to the occasional flash.
Anchored at center by Angelo Mangiro, the Nittany Lions have two guards in Brian Gaia and Brendan Mahon who played a lot of football last season, and a right tackle in Andrew Nelson who started all 13 games in 2014. Combined, that's a returning 49 games played last season from those four, with 47 starts and that's coming from a group that had exactly zero combined starts among it going into the 2014 season.
Gaia is still relatively new to the position, but when he's done with preseason ball, that will be three camps through the process for him. Mangiro is the team's starting center and has developed a nice rapport with Christian Hackenberg. Regardless of the addition of Kevin Reihner in May, there are no assumptions being made that the former backup center at Stanford will come in and supplant Mangiro at center. Certainly, the flexibility of having a nice, quality center in Reihner would be of great benefit to the depth chart, but anything more is probably too great of an optimistic presumption at this point.
Mahon, meanwhile, has had a great spring. His confidence is just so much improved, which comes with knowing what is going on out there. Rather than having to react and adjust after the play is already in motion, Mahon has the benefit of now being able to anticipate what's coming pre-snap. Call it the game slowing down, if you will, but the end result is a player who has shown immense improvement already between year one and year two.
If the staff can keep that group together and minimize moving players around, the overall effect is again stabilizing, leaving just the left tackle situation to be sorted between now and the Temple game on Sept. 5.
Here's the deal: Paris Palmer was brought in to be able to become Penn State's left tackle following the departure of Donovan Smith following the 2014 season. There are no misgivings about this. Though the spring started with Palmer, Chance Sorrell and Albert Hall working at the position, Hall has since been moved in to guard, leaving a two-horse race that has admittedly been thrown into the fire - as Franklin put it at one of his media availabilities a couple weekends ago.
The reality here is that the hope is that both Palmer and Sorrell can make big improvements through the spring and summer months and, by the time preseason practice rolls around, the staff can then see where it all falls out. The stability of having a guy like Gaia to be able to build a rapport with could help usher Palmer along, but either way, the aim is to be able to develop at least a serviceable left tackle by the time the season rolls around before having to move on to a Plan B. Certainly, this is a real and significant challenge that remains at the position, but with tons of invaluable reps being doled out there this spring, the optimistic outlook would be for Palmer to be able to make those improvements and eventually assert himself as the starting left tackle alongside a foursome that otherwise brings confidence and significant experience to the unit.
One of the keys to the improvements of the offensive line is the production that now seems possible for Penn State's stable of young running backs.
Flatly, this spring has shown the position to be upgraded. Akeel Lynch is poised to be main back in the fall, having played in every game last season and starting two en route to finishing the year as the team's leading rusher with 678 yards and four scores.
Maybe the pleasant surprise of the spring, however, has so far been Mark Allen. Just a redshirt freshman with no carries to his name, the following comes with the caution that spring practice is spring practice, leaving much to still be proven when the games start. However, the DeMatha product has shown himself to really bring a lot of positives to the table this spring.
At just 5-foot-7, 186 pounds, his size naturally brings a level of concern, but his pass protection is arguably among the best at the position, thanks largely to his aggressiveness and football acumen. Throw in that slowing down of the game process mentioned here before, and Allen brings some quickness, field vision and an ability to change direction and make people miss that might not exist as much anywhere else on the field at the skill positions for Penn State this spring.
Alongside a mature, confident, assertive presence in quarterback Christian Hackenberg - who has earned nothing but overwhelming praise for his handling of the 2014 season and consistent leadership through the offseason and into the spring practice session, and you can see the bettering of the unit as a whole and where it could be headed during the 2015 season.
Certainly, seeing DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin running first team and Geno Lewis and Saeed Blacknall mixing it up behind them, the competition at wideout presents an interesting atmosphere that should help tremendously in fostering the consistency that was really lacking from the position last fall.
The very notion that Penn State's offense has been able to move forward optimistically and confidently through the offseason and into spring practice has been of great benefit, though. Not that anyone is expecting a constant fireworks show from the unit this fall, but in starting to shore up some of the glaring issues from last season, with an incredible asset in Hackenberg and a supporting cast becoming more consistent and upgraded at both running back and wideout, plus the likes of a bit of a wildcard talent at tight end in Mike Gesicki (alongside a veteran in Kyle Carter and a rehabbing Adam Breneman) and not so suddenly, the steady improvements of an offensive line could allow them all to come to life in 2015.
Again, this is spring practice. Many challenges remain in the coming months, but through three weeks of spring practices, this is a Penn State offense significantly improved.
