Not that your point is any different, but my memory says Courtney Brown was who danced all over D’Brickshaw.
Is this correct??
Penn State 2019 Season articles
- Thread starter Judge Smails
- Start date
Is this correct??
Totally agree. My comment was more pointed to the speculation about Shorter's recent absence. Which honestly could just be giving the kid a breather, right? I saw a video released by the team just this past weekend of him catching a TD pass from Clifford during a 7v7 drill.
Thanks.......I do remember the game, was not sure who the defender was.....but D'brickshaw was a high end recruit who was undersized and was taken to school. 4 years later, he got paid and turned into a very good Pro OT.
Yeah, I remember we were recruiting Ferguson hard and he chose UVA over us. It was a tough loss.
It was Michael Haynes who told D'Brickashaw Ferguson (who was an undersized true freshman OT at the time) that he should have redshirted...Haynes had three sacks in the game versus Virginia that year...here's a link to an article from 2002 that talks about it...
https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20021114-2002-11-14-0211140077-story.html
Thanks for this recap^ and to all the posters who are posting not just the articles but citations/links/vids to media other than news articles.
This Flo statement re Shorter is (unnecessarily?) worrisome. Really rooting for Shorter. Hopefully this is a nothing-burger.
Also, KSN continues to be very high on Cam Brown. I'm a big fan of #6 and think we'll see big things from him this year.
Also, as an additional aside, this current 2019 team's offense looks a lot like 2016's offense in terms of youth and experience:
QB - Trace (Jr/So) Y1S ("year one starter) - Cliff (Jr/So) Y1S
RB - SQB (So/So) - Slade (So/So), SQB had more experience and was a GOAT
WRs - 2016 gets the nod re experience
TE - Gesicki v. PatF and NickB (I think this is a push)
LT - Bates v. Walker both Y1S (equivalent experience)
LG - Gonz v. Gonz
C - Gaia v. Menet (equivalent experience)
RG - McGov (Fr/Fr) v. Thorpe (just moved back to O) (equivalent experience)
RT - Wright (Jr/So) v. Fries (Jr/So) (equivalent experience)
2019 D is better particularly on DL depth and at LB
It may be a worry come Sept. but I wouldn't go there yet. It is mid-August and this is exactly what was expected. Three new OL starters is a lot, and new QB and receivers.
Everything I've seen, heard and read, Franklin is throwing attention/resources at OL. Giving Limegrover all the help he can give. Is that because they're panicked? I'd guess not. But they know they need to do everything they can to accelerate the learning curve.
Installing offense this week, then one more week of practice, then the first game week. If the offense is relatively crisp for Idaho, that means they can refine it and be hopefully ready for the heart of the schedule which starts in Iowa City on 10/12. Not that they won't be tested before then, but Iowa at their house is when we'll really find out if PSU is for real this year.
I know there’s been a lot of hand wringing about the offensive line, but your comparison shows that we’re so far past where we were in 2016, both in terms of upside and experience. I don’t think there’s a single offensive lineman from the 2016 team that I would take over the projected starters in 2019.
New Lions247 Podcast out today:
Very brief summation (I'm only putting stuff in that seemed to be firsthand):
Defense:
Ellis, Katshir, and PorterJr seen getting first team reps on D
Staff is really happy with 4 safeties, Wade is playing well
Defense doesn't seem to lose much in 2 and 3 deep
DT looks like it is tiers: Tier 1: WIndsor, Shelton, Mustipher in heavy rotation; then Barber; then Hansard
Offense:
There is competition at the OL: Miranda may be a jack-of-all-trades; Wallace is getting first team reps; Wiggin may not be the instant impact guy
Don't fade Daniel George
They interviewed Caziah Holmes - does not intend to enroll early, jumping in to help with recruiting (Johnson, Traore, Lambert)
Very brief summation (I'm only putting stuff in that seemed to be firsthand):
Defense:
Ellis, Katshir, and PorterJr seen getting first team reps on D
Staff is really happy with 4 safeties, Wade is playing well
Defense doesn't seem to lose much in 2 and 3 deep
DT looks like it is tiers: Tier 1: WIndsor, Shelton, Mustipher in heavy rotation; then Barber; then Hansard
Offense:
There is competition at the OL: Miranda may be a jack-of-all-trades; Wallace is getting first team reps; Wiggin may not be the instant impact guy
Don't fade Daniel George
They interviewed Caziah Holmes - does not intend to enroll early, jumping in to help with recruiting (Johnson, Traore, Lambert)
Interesting that they have Miranda getting 1st team reps at LG and Holmes and Wallace getting the same at RT. Gonzo and Fries are going to have to step it up if they want to hold on to those jobs.
Do you know this for a fact? Hopefully it means Holmes and Wallace have been impressive and are ready to play this fall.
It may not mean anything about Fries. Possible Fries is fine but they need to accelerate development of the young tackles for depth reasons.
Gonzo and Miranda -- Franklin has stated that they're both going to play along with Thorpe.
It may not mean anything about Fries. Possible Fries is fine but they need to accelerate development of the young tackles for depth reasons.
Gonzo and Miranda -- Franklin has stated that they're both going to play along with Thorpe.
Fries and Gonzo are experienced. It makes sense to try to get more guys up to speed, especially early in camp.
You don't know what you have with the backups if you don't practice them in the first unit either. It really seems like the staff is looking for answers differently this year than last year (remember the "play the same 5 for cohesion" spiel from last year?).
Cam Brown has to sit out the first quarter or half (can’t remember) against Idaho due to the targeting penalty in the bowl game. So either Katshir or Luketa will start in the first game
It is irrelevant. Idiots act like players playing their "lb, safety...etc position only get hurt on special teams and not in the other positions they play.... how Phucking stupid is that?
Answering a Deep Question About Penn State Football in 2019
Sure, Penn State will be a young team in 2019.
But the Nittany Lions will also be deep.
Deep in a way they haven’t been since James Franklin succeeded Bill O’Brien in 2014.
“It’s night and day,” says Terry Smith, the former Nittany Lion captain who has coached the PSU corners and spearheaded defensive recruiting for Franklin since Day One.
“We probably can’t go a full three-deep at every position, but a lot of positions can go three-deep (with players) that could start a game for us and be a quality player for us. Our depth is growing each year.”
Recruiting is the lifeblood of that depth and also an important barometer of the jump in the talent coming into the Penn State program since Franklin came to Penn State.
At Penn State, Franklin’s first three recruiting classes totaled 23 four-star players, according to Rivals.com, and averaged 3.30 stars per incoming scholarship freshman. (He had just a few weeks to put together his first class.)
Over the past four seasons — counting the 22-member-and-climbing 2020 Class — Franklin has snagged 50 four-stars and three five-stars (Lamont Wade, Justin Shorter and Micah Parsons). The 4.21 average rating in 2018 was a full star higher than Franklin’s initial Class of 2014.
“We continue to improve our recruiting,” Smith said. “We have guys who come in and expect to come in and compete and play. And that’s what we recruit them for.”
Not intended to be a statement about 2016 at all, but rather about 2019:
Hopefully Gonz 2019 is a net improvement vs Gonz 2016
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Listed to Donahue and Fitz' podcast from Friday. They talked about the role that Fries will play in 2019 and how much is riding on his ability to get out, redirect, bend, and protect. Made mention of Des Holmes and how he will need to be ready if there are any lingering issues. Astounding how OT play continues to be a central issue for this team - one that could seemingly render all the talent and depth that has been recruited on offense as insignificant. Take a listen to the podcast, they also talk about how offensive line play in general can't keep up with modern defenses and Fitz even referred o-line coached being a no-win situation.
It's why mobile quarterbacks are the future of college football. The traditional pocket QB may be a dinosaur because almost nobody can maintain a pocket any more. How do you protect a QB against players with the athleticism of YGM, Toney, Oweh and Parsons (let alone all the others who can run). The answer is, you can't. You have to have quarterbacks who can really run. And not in the "he runs well for a 6-4 230-pound QB." The future is QBs who run like running backs.
And this may be the future in the NFL as well. Look at Patrick Mahomes and how he makes things easier for offensive coaches. And everybody is going to watch the experiment in Baltimore.
It's a speed game now -- especially with the anti-concussion rules changes.
And this may be the future in the NFL as well. Look at Patrick Mahomes and how he makes things easier for offensive coaches. And everybody is going to watch the experiment in Baltimore.
It's a speed game now -- especially with the anti-concussion rules changes.
It's not just Fitz and Donahue - there's a high amount of concern from everyone regarding the offensive line's ability going into the season. What's most concerning is that the ongoing issues haven't been nailed down to a root cause - evaluation, recruiting, talent, coaching, scheme all seem to be contributing somehow but what's really going on here? Definitely becoming the most interesting storyline as the season begins.
The fact that this guy thinks Jan Johnson is going to be the defensive MVP speaks volumes about his prediction of a 7-5 season. From the linked CDT article:
"BRET PALLOTTO: 7-5
Offensive MVP: WR KJ Hamler
Defensive MVP: LB Jan Johnson
Breakout: RB Ricky Slade
Four of Penn State’s first five games are at Beaver Stadium, with the exception being a trip to Maryland in Week 4. A 5-0 start doesn’t seem unreasonable. Add wins at home against Indiana and Rutgers in November, and you’ve found seven wins on the schedule.
However, since 2015, the Nittany Lions are 3-9 against Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. Ohio State and Michigan are preseason top-10 teams, and Michigan State will be coming off a bye when it meets Penn State. Losses to those programs leave Penn State at 7-3 with games at Iowa and Minnesota unaccounted for.
Like the Spartans, Minnesota is also scheduled to be coming off a bye — and has 17 returning starters. Give that one to the Golden Gophers. Iowa could be Clifford’s first start against a top-25 team on the road. It’s also one week before the biggest home game of the season: Michigan. The Hawkeyes beat the Nittany Lions for the first time since 2010 and Penn State finishes at 7-5."
7-5 doesn't make sense unless PSU really has trouble on the OL.
But Jan Johnson having a great year seems possible to me. He is an excellent athlete and his relative lack of speed won't be an issue with the speed around him. If he can be a play maker in the middle, that would be big for this team. I'm very comfortable with Johnson and Brooks at that spot. You don't have to be flashy, you just have to fend off blocks, let the ends and outsides turn the action inside and make clean tackles.
But Jan Johnson having a great year seems possible to me. He is an excellent athlete and his relative lack of speed won't be an issue with the speed around him. If he can be a play maker in the middle, that would be big for this team. I'm very comfortable with Johnson and Brooks at that spot. You don't have to be flashy, you just have to fend off blocks, let the ends and outsides turn the action inside and make clean tackles.
I think he'll start. But don't think he gets more than 50% of the snaps. PSU will be in the nickel 50% of the time and Cam and Micah will stay on the field. Then Jan will share snaps with Brooks and Smith at Mike as well.
That's what I'm thinking. I'm not saying he won't have a great season, but there's at the least 4 other guys I'd put ahead of him for MVP chances.
