Penn State 2019 Season articles

[KnightSlayer]

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.

I'm hoping he has a good year too but, it doesn't make sense to predict him as the MVP of the defense. Parsons, as a freshman, had arguably a better year than Johnson, while splitting time with Farmer. Parsons will undoubtedly have more snaps this year and, it's a distinct possibility that Johnson will share more snaps with some of the younger guys. Bret appears to be one of those guys who just likes to be different when making predictions. He knows if he is right, he can boast about it but, if he's wrong, no one will really remember or care what he said.

 

[MoyerJones]

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.

Very interesting statement from Fitz, and I do believe there are probably general narratives to sort of prove his point from just the B1G, e.g. Wisconsin's OL and tOSU's OL. IIRC tOSU's line last year was supposed to be dominant and they ended up being fairly average. 2019 Michigan OL could tend to prove Fitz's point about the difficult task for OLCs in 2019.

I don't think Limegrover could use the "no-win situtation" argument as an objectively valid excuse (however). There are other factors that are more prevalent in terms of PSU's OL performance...as TWOC mentions...

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.

Have to consider also the loss of experience (Bates, McGovern, Simpson...having at least one or two of them would have taken some of the pressure off during the install portion of preseason), and CJ Thorpe missed a year of tutelage. Then also factor that we are missing Nana...and Juice (for hopefully only a short period of time).

Any OL coaches out here? Perhaps they can give some reprieve to the worried. Install periods are tough. What makes them immensely difficult (and often insane-making) is when you're trying to install against a top-shelf defense.

 

[PearlSUJam]

I'm hoping he has a good year too but, it doesn't make sense to predict him as the MVP of the defense. Parsons, as a freshman, had arguably a better year than Johnson, while splitting time with Farmer. Parsons will undoubtedly have more snaps this year and, it's a distinct possibility that Johnson will share more snaps with some of the younger guys. Bret appears to be one of those guys who just likes to be different when making predictions. He knows if he is right, he can boast about it but, if he's wrong, no one will really remember or care what he said.

Nothing against the kid, but if we're 7-5, I don't think anyone is going to care if Jan had a good season or not.

 

[Judge Smails]

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.

I'm not going to bash the guy because he's a former walkon. IIRC he ran a 4.1 shuttle in the offseason. Like most of our guys under Galt, he has increased his athleticism every year. But he hasn't shown that he is anything other than an average defender to this point in his career. Hope he has a great senior year. 4 guys? I'd say he'd be behind about 15 guys on defense for MVP, counting backup guys like Oweh, Simmons, Brisker, etc. who could have breakout years.

 

[PearlSUJam]

I'm not going to bash the guy because he's a former walkon. IIRC he ran a 4.1 shuttle in the offseason. Like most of our guys under Galt, he has increased his athleticism every year. But he hasn't shown that he is anything other than an average defender to this point in his career. Hope he has a great senior year. 4 guys? I'd say he'd be behind about 15 guys on defense for MVP, counting backup guys like Oweh, Simmons, Brisker, etc. who could have breakout years.

Exactly.

 

[Judge Smails]

https://bwi.rivals.com/news/ten-redshirt-freshmen-to-watch-this-season

Ten redshirt freshmen to watch this season

1. WR Justin Shorter, Penn State

18
NATIONAL
1
STATE
3
POSITION
JUSTIN
SHORTER

RANK
6.1
6'4" | 220 LBS | WR
SOUTH BRUNSWICK
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ
CLASS OF 2018

SIGNED LOI
8/6/2016
PENN STATE
Recruiting: Shorter avoided any real drama in his process by committing to Penn State during the summer leading up to his junior season. Michigan, Virginia Tech and Rutgers were also considered, but the Nittany Lions were considered the heavy favorite.

The skinny: Shorter likely would have made an impact in 2018, but some nagging injuries slowed his progress. He has impressed throughout his time on campus and has continued to improve as we near the 2019 season. The Penn State wide receiver group has plenty of potential, but it is Shorter who has the greatest likelihood of becoming a star during his time in Happy Valley.

Farrell’s Take: Shorter was a five-star for a reason, a kid who had great size and an uncanny ability to adjust to the football. In the Penn State offense he can be a huge weapon, especially in the red zone and in the middle of the field. I wasn’t convinced he was a five-star until the end of the process but he kept improving and now expectations are high.

 

[Judge Smails]

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

There seems to be a drumbeat from PSF beat writers in projecting an 8-4 type season with several media members talking about 7-5 as a real possibility for this team. For context, a 7-5 final season result would be the same result as the 2013 team, O'Brien's last season and a unit decimated by scholarship reductions. A 7-5 result wouldn't be too far from the back-to-back 7-6 records that Franklin put up, again, with severe restrictions and scholarship penalties in place. The 8-4, 7-5 predictions are being made by beat writers with the full knowledge that the roster has been rebuilt in a way that hasn't been seen in decades at PS - honestly, perhaps ever. I see some weak points on this team: at OT; breaking in new QBs; a WR unit that bombed last year, and I am not certain how this defense will match-up with a power run team. I just think a lot of these dire rebuilding type 7-5, 8-4 predictions don't account for the enormous potential upside this team has. I see a hungry team. A lot of team unity. I think this team is going to shock a lot of media geniuses.

 

[Judge Smails]

IIRC Taylor decreased his body fat to 7% from 10% while increasing his weight from 176 to 181.

 

[Judge Smails]

 

[tboyer]

+1 Richard. I find the 'overall talent' argument very compelling.Talent is talent. When Franklin started PSU had probably top 30-40 talent; now it's legitimately top 10 talent. The other compelling argument is that last year's receivers were so awful, this has to be a major bounceback -- there are too many four start prospects at wideout for that unit to not be successful this year. The third argument is simply that the D has national top 5 potential -- the D has athletes like we haven't seen in 10 years.

The only scenario I see for 5 losses is that the OL has fatal problems, can't run block and can't pass protect. And PSU has QBs who can't bail out the offense with their legs -- the OL simply HAS to be adequate this year or it could be like Hackenburg in 2015.

I'm not saying that will happen. The most likely scenario is that the OL has problems but can play well enough to run the offense in the early games, and improves by the middle of the season.

There seems to be a drumbeat from PSF beat writers in projecting an 8-4 type season with several media members talking about 7-5 as a real possibility for this team. For context, a 7-5 final season result would be the same result as the 2013 team, O'Brien's last season and a unit decimated by scholarship reductions. A 7-5 result wouldn't be too far from the back-to-back 7-6 records that Franklin put up, again, with severe restrictions and scholarship penalties in place. The 8-4, 7-5 predictions are being made by beat writers with the full knowledge that the roster has been rebuilt in a way that hasn't been seen in decades at PS - honestly, perhaps ever. I see some weak points on this team: at OT; breaking in new QBs; a WR unit that bombed last year, and I am not certain how this defense will match-up with a power run team. I just think a lot of these dire rebuilding type 7-5, 8-4 predictions don't account for the enormous potential upside this team has. I see a hungry team. A lot of team unity. I think this team is going to shock a lot of media geniuses.

 

[KnightSlayer]

There seems to be a drumbeat from PSF beat writers in projecting an 8-4 type season with several media members talking about 7-5 as a real possibility for this team. For context, a 7-5 final season result would be the same result as the 2013 team, O'Brien's last season and a unit decimated by scholarship reductions. A 7-5 result wouldn't be too far from the back-to-back 7-6 records that Franklin put up, again, with severe restrictions and scholarship penalties in place. The 8-4, 7-5 predictions are being made by beat writers with the full knowledge that the roster has been rebuilt in a way that hasn't been seen in decades at PS - honestly, perhaps ever. I see some weak points on this team: at OT; breaking in new QBs; a WR unit that bombed last year, and I am not certain how this defense will match-up with a power run team. I just think a lot of these dire rebuilding type 7-5, 8-4 predictions don't account for the enormous potential upside this team has. I see a hungry team. A lot of team unity. I think this team is going to shock a lot of media geniuses.

Here is what I've found so far. I too think some of them are being overly cautious with regards to Penn State while being overly optimistic for our opponents.

1 - 7-5 Bret Pallotto, Jed Donahue,
1 - 8-4 Josh Moyer, Cory Giger, Neil Rudel, David Jones, Peter Terpstra, Mark Wogenrich, Audrey Snyder,
2 - 9-3 Jon Sauber, Lauren Muthler, Todd Irwin, Mark Brennan, Bob Flounders, Greg Pickel, Rich Scarcella, Paul Schofield,
1 -10-2 Nate Cobler, Devin Jackson,

 

[Judge Smails]

 

[TheWizardofCamelot]

With Urban gone, I just can't see anyone in the BIG East Division going unscathed. I think if we can go 2-1 vs. Mich, OSU, MSU - we'll be playing in Indy come December. 10-2 probably wins you the east this year?

That's an issue too. The BIG East has an argument for the top division in all of college football, but we keep cannabalizing ourselves out of the playoff each year.

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

Here is what I've found so far. I too think some of them are being overly cautious with regards to Penn State while being overly optimistic for our opponents.

1 - 7-5 Bret Pallotto, Jed Donahue,
1 - 8-4 Josh Moyer, Cory Giger, Neil Rudel, David Jones, Peter Terpstra, Mark Wogenrich, Audrey Snyder,
2 - 9-3 Jon Sauber, Lauren Muthler, Todd Irwin, Mark Brennan, Bob Flounders, Greg Pickel, Rich Scarcella, Paul Schofield,
1 -10-2 Nate Cobler, Devin Jackson,

Awesome post! Love that these people are on record here with their predictions. Maybe they will end up as visionaries.

I have no idea how this thing plays out. But, I just know for years the discussion among media members is that PS simply doesn't have the talent to match up with O$U (even though PS has played them to a 1 point the last 2 years and won outright in 2016) and (yuck) scUM (even though PS woodsheded, bludgeoned, garroted, and degloved M in 2017). Now, PS has 50+ players 4* or 5* on the roster. Yeah, a lot of these players are young like Oweh. But Oweh has playing experience and has been lifting weights like a maniac for the past 15 months and if he is as good as we think he is, he will be NFL bound after next year, so how really young is all this talent in that context? Oh the media looves to hate on this program. Maybe I am wrong and the oline plays like Chernobyl. Or maybe I am right and this team flashes depth and skill like hasn't been seen in years this year and makes up for some overemphasized shortcomings.

 

[tboyer]

The Athletic national college football guys (Bruce Feldman, Andy Staples, Stewart Mandel) all picked PSU to win 10 so that should be added to the list. I haven't seen Audrey Snyder's prediction yet -- she obviously knows the program well.

Here is what I've found so far. I too think some of them are being overly cautious with regards to Penn State while being overly optimistic for our opponents.

1 - 7-5 Bret Pallotto, Jed Donahue,
1 - 8-4 Josh Moyer, Cory Giger, Neil Rudel, David Jones, Peter Terpstra, Mark Wogenrich, Audrey Snyder,
2 - 9-3 Jon Sauber, Lauren Muthler, Todd Irwin, Mark Brennan, Bob Flounders, Greg Pickel, Rich Scarcella, Paul Schofield,
1 -10-2 Nate Cobler, Devin Jackson,

 

[Judge Smails]

Anyone think this year's Penn State team could be like the 1993 PSU team? Team went 10-2. The offense was lead by a lot of sophomores, like this year. Collins was a Jr but hadn't played much. Boat raced Tennessee 31-13 in the bowl game to set up their undefeated season the following year.

Offense
Pos. # Name Class
RB 2 Mike Archie So
TE 81 Kyle Brady Jr
RB 32 Ki-Jana Carter So
QB 12 Kerry Collins Jr
WR 10 Bobby Engram So
C 60 Bucky Greeley Jr
G 50 Jeff Hartings So
T 68 Andre Johnson So
RB 29 Brian O'Neal Sr
G 54 Marco Rivera So
FB 38 Jon Witman So
WR Freddie Scott Fr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Penn_State_Nittany_Lions_football_team

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

The Athletic national college football guys (Bruce Feldman etc) all picked PSU to win 10 so that should be added to the list.

Should I subscribe to the Athletic....

 

[SR108]

+1 Richard. I find the 'overall talent' argument very compelling.Talent is talent. When Franklin started PSU had probably top 30-40 talent; now it's legitimately top 10 talent. The other compelling argument is that last year's receivers were so awful, this has to be a major bounceback -- there are too many four start prospects at wideout for that unit to not be successful this year. The third argument is simply that the D has national top 5 potential -- the D has athletes like we haven't seen in 10 years.

The only scenario I see for 5 losses is that the OL has fatal problems, can't run block and can't pass protect. And PSU has QBs who can't bail out the offense with their legs -- the OL simply HAS to be adequate this year or it could be like Hackenburg in 2015.

I'm not saying that will happen. The most likely scenario is that the OL has problems but can play well enough to run the offense in the early games, and improves by the middle of the season.

I guess I am a bit more optimistic regarding the OLine than most. I believe we have an upgrade at left tackle and at guard. (One of our tackles last year is playing center this year.) Thorpe and Miranda are both big strong nasty dudes, and Walker is a true athletic big time left tackle. I realize they are inexperienced and there are some camp struggles, but they are going against one of the better front sevens in college football in camp, and they have three preseason games to get it together, with the competition progressively more challenging each week. There is also young competition pushing Gonzo and Fries which should make them better. If this OLine is not a good to great unit by mid season, they need to find a new coach.

My biggest question mark is at QB. Turnovers are killers, however, we should have a stout defense to protect our young QB at least early in the season when mistakes could be more frequent.

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

I wonder how many *potential* 7-5 teams have a likely starting QB that was listed as "most accurate" at the Elite 11? derp.

https://victorybellrings.com/2016/06/05/sean-clifford-named-accurate-elite-11-competition/

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

Han just doing a one-handed thing. Very 7-5 like....(ok, i'll stop).

 

[MoyerJones]

I will never understand the race to "I told you so" pre-season W/L picks by PSU beat writers/journos. They're just comparing the current PSU's team against the last few years, and making a pick. It's just page filling.

Moreover, why make a pick (other than gambling) when you have 0 idea about future injuries. It just makes no sense to me.

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

I will never understand the race to "I told you so" pre-season W/L picks by PSU beat writers/journos. They're just comparing the current PSU's team against the last few years, and making a pick. It's just page filling.

Moreover, why make a pick (other than gambling) when you have 0 idea about future injuries. It just makes no sense to me.

It is like getting a new book and predicting what will happen on the last page of the book before you've ever read even one page of the book. Clairvoyant.

 

[Judge Smails]

 

[djr4rebs]

https://victorybellrings.com/2019/08/20/penn-state-football-james-franklin-starting-qb/

Will we find out tonight?

 

[Judge Smails]

 

[MoyerJones]

Clifford = QB1

https://www.collegian.psu.edu/football/article_d3078a94-c398-11e9-a718-bbf5ea3b62c2.html

Levibots Unite!

 

[Option Bob]

Clifford = QB1

https://www.collegian.psu.edu/football/article_d3078a94-c398-11e9-a718-bbf5ea3b62c2.html

Levibots Unite!

Not doubting you, Moyer; however, from the article: "During Wednesday's practice, James Franklin announced that Sean Clifford will be the starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions this year."

Isn't today Tuesday? Does he mean after last Wednesday's practice? I watched James' "scrum" with reporters, but he didn't announce Clifford at that time.

Maybe I just missed it. If so, sorry for the error.

BTW, shouldn't the term be "Willbots"?

 

[MoyerJones]

Not doubting you, Moyer; however, from the article: "During Wednesday's practice, James Franklin announced that Sean Clifford will be the starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions this year."

Isn't today Tuesday? Does he mean after last Wednesday's practice? I watched James' "scrum" with reporters, but he didn't announce Clifford at that time.

Maybe I just missed it. If so, sorry for the error.

BTW, shouldn't the term be "Willbots"?

Yes, today is Tuesday. I saw that too.

Willbots is fine with me.

I haven’t seen the media scrum yet.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Judge Smails]

 

[Judge Smails]

I think it is very significant that Soph DT Mustipher got his own media availability after practice like this. Maybe someone has a better recollection, but I don’t remember a player so young getting what at PSU under Franklin is an honor (aside from media day when they are all available). They have really raved about him incl JF above.

 

[Judge Smails]

Don’t do it to ‘em KJ

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

JD 5 - Han. Jahan Dotson - next Engram.

 

[TheWizardofCamelot]

I think it is very significant that Soph DT Mustipher got his own media availability after practice like this. Maybe someone has a better recollection, but I don’t remember a player so young getting what at PSU under Franklin is an honor (aside from media day when they are all available). They have really raved about him incl JF above.

View embedded media

The coaching staff has been raving, including Franklin during his media availability yesterday evening. I think we're looking at a huge jump in his production this season - a la YGM last season.

 

[tboyer]

Didn't Dotson get his own media availability as well yesterday? But I agree, Mustipher seems like a great player and also one of the emerging leaders of the team. He will be playing a lot of snaps and making a lot of plays.

I think it is very significant that Soph DT Mustipher got his own media availability after practice like this. Maybe someone has a better recollection, but I don’t remember a player so young getting what at PSU under Franklin is an honor (aside from media day when they are all available). They have really raved about him incl JF above.

View embedded media

 

[KnightSlayer]

Don’t do it to ‘em KJ

View embedded media

I know we are all wowed by KJ's amazing speed and wiggle, as the call it but, equally impressive are his hands. I love the way he just snatches the ball out of the air.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[MacNit07]

I think it is very significant that Soph DT Mustipher got his own media availability after practice like this. Maybe someone has a better recollection, but I don’t remember a player so young getting what at PSU under Franklin is an honor (aside from media day when they are all available). They have really raved about him incl JF above.

View embedded media

Totally agree - very significant. Impressive young man with an equally impressive background. I expect big things this year!

 

[Judge Smails]