Good afternoon, everyone!
I'm reporting to you here from sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, with my colleague Ryan Snyder, and we're just back to our hotel following Penn State's ever-so-briefly opened practice session this afternoon at Notre Dame Prep.
We'll have some photos coming for you soon in addition to my short notes package here, as well as some pretty impressive interviews the assembled media was granted with Penn State greats Tony Stewart and Jimmy Kennedy, each of whom was on hand this afternoon to take in the Lions' practice session.
So without further ado, let's get right into some of the takeaways:
- This should come as no surprise given Penn State's typical access to its practices, but there wasn't a ton to take away from the 10-15 minutes were were able to see of practice. It was the start of practice and the team huddled around each other for its "Lions Den" drill, then split off into individual units.
I mainly hung by the defensive linemen, while Ryan checked out some of the offensive line's work.
The big takeaway, elaborated later in their interviews, was the interaction of these former players with Penn State's current roster. Tony Stewart, a two-year starter and all-Big Ten selection while he was with the Nittany Lions, could be seen with Mike Gesicki chatting on the sidelines. Jimmy Kennedy, one of Penn State's all-time greats on the defensive line, was prowling behind Sean Spencer as the Lion DL worked through drills.
- And Kennedy, who later made himself available for a 15 minute interview, talked about the relationships he's built with this current crop of Nittany Lions including assistant coach Sean Spencer.
"Spence is my guy. Chaos is a good dude," said Kennedy. "Even in the position that I’m in right now, to get the respect that I get from him, I’m looking at him being like, 'You’re the coach.' And he’s just like, what little techniques and different stuff, because you played on every level, so anything that you can show and work with. And it’s not like just hurry up tell me… I’m breaking out in a sweat showing him a drill and how to fix it. It’s awesome to see a guy that’s as committed to the guys as he is."
Kennedy was great, so he'll get his own space here, as will Stewart who gave us some updates on his career working as one of the NFL's lead consultants for the Player Engagement Department, his non-profit, Beyond the Locker, and his next endeavor as a franchisee for Chick-Fil-A in Southern California.
They were both extremely impressive and pretty resounding examples of the quality that Penn State has produced in some of its alumni.
- Back to the practice notes.
Saquon did nothing. Gesicki did nothing. It looked like Fred Hansard wasn't even in pads. Jon Holland wasn't really doing much when we saw them. Parker Cothren wasn't doing anything, though they were all in pads. Basically, if you can think of a veteran player or senior, in the very, very limited time we saw them, they weren't in action.
- One interesting thing that caught my eye was Daniel Joseph working individually on swim moves with Ellis Brooks nearby watching and giving feedback. Brooks has really garnered a lot of positive attention in his role on the scout team this season, including today from defensive coordinator Brent Pry. Ellis' hand/forearm/wrist is still wrapped pretty heavily, as it'd been earlier in the season.
- It was interesting seeing Ricky Rahne running the offense and in control. Nothing really important to note here, as it was business as usual, but this was really the first time that I've had a look at him in that role.
- Ryan saw Limegrover working especially closely with some of the younger guys on the offensive line. Two in particular were Rob Martin and Michel Menet.
Again, short window of availability, and really was just intended to be used as a chance to get some photos and video, which we did and will have here for you shortly.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here.
I'm reporting to you here from sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, with my colleague Ryan Snyder, and we're just back to our hotel following Penn State's ever-so-briefly opened practice session this afternoon at Notre Dame Prep.
We'll have some photos coming for you soon in addition to my short notes package here, as well as some pretty impressive interviews the assembled media was granted with Penn State greats Tony Stewart and Jimmy Kennedy, each of whom was on hand this afternoon to take in the Lions' practice session.
So without further ado, let's get right into some of the takeaways:
- This should come as no surprise given Penn State's typical access to its practices, but there wasn't a ton to take away from the 10-15 minutes were were able to see of practice. It was the start of practice and the team huddled around each other for its "Lions Den" drill, then split off into individual units.
I mainly hung by the defensive linemen, while Ryan checked out some of the offensive line's work.
The big takeaway, elaborated later in their interviews, was the interaction of these former players with Penn State's current roster. Tony Stewart, a two-year starter and all-Big Ten selection while he was with the Nittany Lions, could be seen with Mike Gesicki chatting on the sidelines. Jimmy Kennedy, one of Penn State's all-time greats on the defensive line, was prowling behind Sean Spencer as the Lion DL worked through drills.
- And Kennedy, who later made himself available for a 15 minute interview, talked about the relationships he's built with this current crop of Nittany Lions including assistant coach Sean Spencer.
"Spence is my guy. Chaos is a good dude," said Kennedy. "Even in the position that I’m in right now, to get the respect that I get from him, I’m looking at him being like, 'You’re the coach.' And he’s just like, what little techniques and different stuff, because you played on every level, so anything that you can show and work with. And it’s not like just hurry up tell me… I’m breaking out in a sweat showing him a drill and how to fix it. It’s awesome to see a guy that’s as committed to the guys as he is."
Kennedy was great, so he'll get his own space here, as will Stewart who gave us some updates on his career working as one of the NFL's lead consultants for the Player Engagement Department, his non-profit, Beyond the Locker, and his next endeavor as a franchisee for Chick-Fil-A in Southern California.
They were both extremely impressive and pretty resounding examples of the quality that Penn State has produced in some of its alumni.
- Back to the practice notes.
Saquon did nothing. Gesicki did nothing. It looked like Fred Hansard wasn't even in pads. Jon Holland wasn't really doing much when we saw them. Parker Cothren wasn't doing anything, though they were all in pads. Basically, if you can think of a veteran player or senior, in the very, very limited time we saw them, they weren't in action.
- One interesting thing that caught my eye was Daniel Joseph working individually on swim moves with Ellis Brooks nearby watching and giving feedback. Brooks has really garnered a lot of positive attention in his role on the scout team this season, including today from defensive coordinator Brent Pry. Ellis' hand/forearm/wrist is still wrapped pretty heavily, as it'd been earlier in the season.
- It was interesting seeing Ricky Rahne running the offense and in control. Nothing really important to note here, as it was business as usual, but this was really the first time that I've had a look at him in that role.
- Ryan saw Limegrover working especially closely with some of the younger guys on the offensive line. Two in particular were Rob Martin and Michel Menet.
Again, short window of availability, and really was just intended to be used as a chance to get some photos and video, which we did and will have here for you shortly.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here.
