Just arrived back home after Penn State's partially opened practice session tonight. I'm going to start working on some notes and impressions, but in the meantime, I'm going to include James Franklin's session with the media following practice where he answered questions for about 12 minutes.
Check it out below. Talk to you guys soon.
Now that you’ve seen Franklin and what he had to say, let’s go through some of my impressions from the limited practice period we were able to watch.
*The Big Ten Network was on site today - as you guys have probably all seen via social media at this point - so the first standout point to make here is that there were no powder blue jerseys representing injured players. Not a surprise - and not something that Penn State allows comment on anyway - but something worth noting because it gives even less of an idea of who is totally healthy and who isn’t. Many guys not in action during the live session, Saquon Barkley, Ryan Bates, Mike Gesicki included. Defensively, things looked about as I anticipated.
1) My biggest takeaway of the day was just how much I saw of Lamont Wade. He was in with multiple defensive units, moved around the field, and seemed to play pretty well. My guess here is he’s the pretty clear third corner, and is also likely filling the nickel role right now.
2) I never know exactly what the parameters are of their two minute drill sessions, but that’s what they were doing when we first walked in, with ones vs. ones, twos vs. twos and so on. The winner, in all three situations, was the defensive side of the ball. Again, lots of guys out of action, even though they were on site and dressed in pads and by all accounts appear to be healthy.
3) Third quarterback was… Sean Clifford. Obviously, there will still be time separating this point and camp before the start of preseason practice, but given Franklin’s comments through the spring and again on Saturday at media day, I don’t think anyone should be surprised here if this is indeed what’s going on.
4) Brandon Smith is still your starting Will linebacker. Tim talked to him on Saturday at media day and, well, this is the real deal.
Other roles of note on the defensive side of the ball this afternoon:
- Troy Apke at safety alongside Marcus Allen.
- Christian Campbell and Amani Oruwariye your 1/2 corners.
- The Cothren/an brothers are your DTs.
- Givens and Chavis rotating in as their backups.
- Buchholz and Castagna the second group of ends in.
- Bowen running with the second team.
- Toney, Shelton, Ellison Jordan, Shane Simmons with the second group (third, depending on how you look at it)
- Ayron Monroe and Nick Scott the FS/SS with the second group.
- DJ Brown seeing action in with the second group of corners with Zech McPhearson.
- Yetur Gross-Matos, Corey Bolds, Fred Hansard and Daniel Joseph all getting work with the third team.
5) The offensive line on Wednesday night (disclaimer: this means absolutely nothing, and should be taken with a mountain of salt)
RT - Alex Gellerstedt
RG - Brendan Mahon
C - Connor McGovern
LG - Mike Miranda
LT - Will Fries
I saw a ton of other people, even in different positions through the course of the reps, that makes it not worthy of even posting. This comment from Franklin, though it was about the defensive side of the ball, should probably be considered here, because I think they’re spending time focusing on figuring out where to put the pieces behind their expected starters.
“Michael Menet was at practice today. Offensive line is developing like I thought they would. O-line, D-line, you have guys who roll an ankle or sprain a wrist or whatever it is, so we modify some practice for those guys and change things up. It allows us to rotate guys through, but I’m pleased with how our O-line and D-line is battling.”
6) K.J. Hamler had a reception Wednesday night with the first team group. All of the first and second team receivers rotate in, so I don’t put a ton of stock in it, but more along the lines of his health being up to par to be a full go and be making an impression, impressed me.
7) Speaking of receivers, Franklin talked about this guy again to the point where - I’m not sure anyone is actually overlooking him - but he should be particularly taken note of:
“I think Hamilton right now is having as good of a camp with all those things than I’ve seen before. There are bigger guys, there are faster guys and there are stronger guys but he’s as polished and as a productive of a wideout as I’ve been around in a camp setting. I think he’s going to have a huge year for us.”
I’m going to leave it at that for the moment until I have an opportunity to go through some of my photos and videos to see if anything stands out that I missed.
If you have any questions or comments, post away and I’ll give it my best shot.
Check it out below. Talk to you guys soon.
Now that you’ve seen Franklin and what he had to say, let’s go through some of my impressions from the limited practice period we were able to watch.
*The Big Ten Network was on site today - as you guys have probably all seen via social media at this point - so the first standout point to make here is that there were no powder blue jerseys representing injured players. Not a surprise - and not something that Penn State allows comment on anyway - but something worth noting because it gives even less of an idea of who is totally healthy and who isn’t. Many guys not in action during the live session, Saquon Barkley, Ryan Bates, Mike Gesicki included. Defensively, things looked about as I anticipated.
1) My biggest takeaway of the day was just how much I saw of Lamont Wade. He was in with multiple defensive units, moved around the field, and seemed to play pretty well. My guess here is he’s the pretty clear third corner, and is also likely filling the nickel role right now.
2) I never know exactly what the parameters are of their two minute drill sessions, but that’s what they were doing when we first walked in, with ones vs. ones, twos vs. twos and so on. The winner, in all three situations, was the defensive side of the ball. Again, lots of guys out of action, even though they were on site and dressed in pads and by all accounts appear to be healthy.
3) Third quarterback was… Sean Clifford. Obviously, there will still be time separating this point and camp before the start of preseason practice, but given Franklin’s comments through the spring and again on Saturday at media day, I don’t think anyone should be surprised here if this is indeed what’s going on.
4) Brandon Smith is still your starting Will linebacker. Tim talked to him on Saturday at media day and, well, this is the real deal.
Other roles of note on the defensive side of the ball this afternoon:
- Troy Apke at safety alongside Marcus Allen.
- Christian Campbell and Amani Oruwariye your 1/2 corners.
- The Cothren/an brothers are your DTs.
- Givens and Chavis rotating in as their backups.
- Buchholz and Castagna the second group of ends in.
- Bowen running with the second team.
- Toney, Shelton, Ellison Jordan, Shane Simmons with the second group (third, depending on how you look at it)
- Ayron Monroe and Nick Scott the FS/SS with the second group.
- DJ Brown seeing action in with the second group of corners with Zech McPhearson.
- Yetur Gross-Matos, Corey Bolds, Fred Hansard and Daniel Joseph all getting work with the third team.
5) The offensive line on Wednesday night (disclaimer: this means absolutely nothing, and should be taken with a mountain of salt)
RT - Alex Gellerstedt
RG - Brendan Mahon
C - Connor McGovern
LG - Mike Miranda
LT - Will Fries
I saw a ton of other people, even in different positions through the course of the reps, that makes it not worthy of even posting. This comment from Franklin, though it was about the defensive side of the ball, should probably be considered here, because I think they’re spending time focusing on figuring out where to put the pieces behind their expected starters.
“Michael Menet was at practice today. Offensive line is developing like I thought they would. O-line, D-line, you have guys who roll an ankle or sprain a wrist or whatever it is, so we modify some practice for those guys and change things up. It allows us to rotate guys through, but I’m pleased with how our O-line and D-line is battling.”
6) K.J. Hamler had a reception Wednesday night with the first team group. All of the first and second team receivers rotate in, so I don’t put a ton of stock in it, but more along the lines of his health being up to par to be a full go and be making an impression, impressed me.
7) Speaking of receivers, Franklin talked about this guy again to the point where - I’m not sure anyone is actually overlooking him - but he should be particularly taken note of:
“I think Hamilton right now is having as good of a camp with all those things than I’ve seen before. There are bigger guys, there are faster guys and there are stronger guys but he’s as polished and as a productive of a wideout as I’ve been around in a camp setting. I think he’s going to have a huge year for us.”
I’m going to leave it at that for the moment until I have an opportunity to go through some of my photos and videos to see if anything stands out that I missed.
If you have any questions or comments, post away and I’ll give it my best shot.
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