It's that time of the week again.
Penn State is prepping to host Georgia State this Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. kick at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions opened their gates to the outside practice facilities Wednesday evening to offer a brief glimpse as they continue their practices and preparations, followed by a midweek practice report from head coach James Franklin, so let's get right into it here:
1) Not sure how many of you were keeping an eye out at the end of the Pitt game on Saturday, but corner Amani Oruwariye appeared to get dinged up, and apparently took a few shots through the course of the game that were some cause for concern. Well, he appears to be good as he was out at practice on Wednesday.
Obviously, we never have word and won't have word on what Penn State plans to do with him, but, at minimum, we're not talking about anything serious there.
Along the same vein, I'm sure you guys have noticed Mark Allen's absence from the games the past couple of weeks as he continues to recover from an undisclosed injury. He was out at practice tonight working and got at least a rep or two in non-contact goal line work, so it looks like that rehab process is coming to a close for him.
2) Moving on.
As always, these reports on in-practice goings on are always completely meaningless, but I know you guys get some fun out of them anyway. So, Juwan Johnson had, at minimum, two touchdown receptions as the first team worked on goal line packages. Mike Gesicki also had a touchdown grab - and obviously by extension, Trace McSorley was looking a little sharper with his throws tonight than maybe he experienced on Saturday afternoon. He really had a nice ball to Hamilton in the corner of the end zone stepping up into the pocket. Now, again, these aren't live so no one is touching the quarterback, but he had a couple of really nice passes.
Dae'lun Darien caught one, so did Mac Hippenhammer, both with the second team group led by Tommy Stevens. Stevens also had a touchdown pass to DeAndre Thompkins in goalline work.
3) Franklin discussed something that apparently is new that they're doing with the program, forcing some of the younger players to literally "earn their stripes" on their practice helmets.
"It's everything," said Franklin. "It's how they are in meetings. It's how respectful they are of senior players. How coachable. Are they going to class consistently? Are they working hard in the weight room? It's everything. It's basically the veteran leadership players that we have, saying you're doing a really good job and I'm comfortable with the direction you're headed in how we do things around here at Penn State."
Franklin added that there's been a good response to it, as the team and its leadership council decided and has implemented this year, and is position-specific. Franklin guessed that six or seven of the true freshmen have earned those stripes at this point.
4) Franklin was asked about Penn State's decision to defer after winning both coin tosses this year. As opposed to taking the ball consistently early in the game last season, the Nittany Lions have deferred twice.
Franklin said that it is a gut thing, but he discusses the options with his coordinators and then takes in a bunch of other factors before making a decision on which way they're going to go when the toss is done.
5) Some interesting comments from Franklin at the end of the mini press conference about Yetur Matos and his development at defensive end. Asked about comments earlier in the preseason in which Franklin said the decision about a redshirt is in a lot of ways dictated by the expectation that a player will be making a significant contribution by the fifth or sixth game of the season, Franklin said that the situation always differs based on the individual.
But, Matos, in particular, is already starting to show that he's coming along nicely and is only likely to improve.
Said Franklin, "He is showing more and more flashes of what he can do. The scary thing is, typically guys don't start to play really fast and really aggressive until they're confident in what they're doing. I think he's only going to get more aggressive and more explosive as he gets confident with his assignments. Right now he's thinking a lot, they trade the tight end, they motion, all these things affect his assignment and he's thinking a little bit right now. I think he's done a really good job of not allowing all those different assignments and different formations and different things that he's seeing to paralyze him. He's playing really fast and really aggressive. But he's got a skillset. He's got length, he's got strength, he's got athleticism. I think he's got a really bright future for us."
****
That's going to be it from me tonight. If you guys have any questions or comments, as always, feel free to post them here and I'll do my best to answer whatever I can.
Penn State is prepping to host Georgia State this Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. kick at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions opened their gates to the outside practice facilities Wednesday evening to offer a brief glimpse as they continue their practices and preparations, followed by a midweek practice report from head coach James Franklin, so let's get right into it here:
1) Not sure how many of you were keeping an eye out at the end of the Pitt game on Saturday, but corner Amani Oruwariye appeared to get dinged up, and apparently took a few shots through the course of the game that were some cause for concern. Well, he appears to be good as he was out at practice on Wednesday.
Obviously, we never have word and won't have word on what Penn State plans to do with him, but, at minimum, we're not talking about anything serious there.
Along the same vein, I'm sure you guys have noticed Mark Allen's absence from the games the past couple of weeks as he continues to recover from an undisclosed injury. He was out at practice tonight working and got at least a rep or two in non-contact goal line work, so it looks like that rehab process is coming to a close for him.
2) Moving on.
As always, these reports on in-practice goings on are always completely meaningless, but I know you guys get some fun out of them anyway. So, Juwan Johnson had, at minimum, two touchdown receptions as the first team worked on goal line packages. Mike Gesicki also had a touchdown grab - and obviously by extension, Trace McSorley was looking a little sharper with his throws tonight than maybe he experienced on Saturday afternoon. He really had a nice ball to Hamilton in the corner of the end zone stepping up into the pocket. Now, again, these aren't live so no one is touching the quarterback, but he had a couple of really nice passes.
Dae'lun Darien caught one, so did Mac Hippenhammer, both with the second team group led by Tommy Stevens. Stevens also had a touchdown pass to DeAndre Thompkins in goalline work.
3) Franklin discussed something that apparently is new that they're doing with the program, forcing some of the younger players to literally "earn their stripes" on their practice helmets.
"It's everything," said Franklin. "It's how they are in meetings. It's how respectful they are of senior players. How coachable. Are they going to class consistently? Are they working hard in the weight room? It's everything. It's basically the veteran leadership players that we have, saying you're doing a really good job and I'm comfortable with the direction you're headed in how we do things around here at Penn State."
Franklin added that there's been a good response to it, as the team and its leadership council decided and has implemented this year, and is position-specific. Franklin guessed that six or seven of the true freshmen have earned those stripes at this point.
4) Franklin was asked about Penn State's decision to defer after winning both coin tosses this year. As opposed to taking the ball consistently early in the game last season, the Nittany Lions have deferred twice.
Franklin said that it is a gut thing, but he discusses the options with his coordinators and then takes in a bunch of other factors before making a decision on which way they're going to go when the toss is done.
5) Some interesting comments from Franklin at the end of the mini press conference about Yetur Matos and his development at defensive end. Asked about comments earlier in the preseason in which Franklin said the decision about a redshirt is in a lot of ways dictated by the expectation that a player will be making a significant contribution by the fifth or sixth game of the season, Franklin said that the situation always differs based on the individual.
But, Matos, in particular, is already starting to show that he's coming along nicely and is only likely to improve.
Said Franklin, "He is showing more and more flashes of what he can do. The scary thing is, typically guys don't start to play really fast and really aggressive until they're confident in what they're doing. I think he's only going to get more aggressive and more explosive as he gets confident with his assignments. Right now he's thinking a lot, they trade the tight end, they motion, all these things affect his assignment and he's thinking a little bit right now. I think he's done a really good job of not allowing all those different assignments and different formations and different things that he's seeing to paralyze him. He's playing really fast and really aggressive. But he's got a skillset. He's got length, he's got strength, he's got athleticism. I think he's got a really bright future for us."
****
That's going to be it from me tonight. If you guys have any questions or comments, as always, feel free to post them here and I'll do my best to answer whatever I can.
