PSU Pod: Penn State Football Spring Preview - Defense Edition
The PSU 365 Pod previews the Penn State Football team ahead of spring and today we talk about the defense.
Podcast Penn State Football Spring Preview - Defense Edition
- Thread starter Richie O
- Start date
I believe CJF indicated base defense would be 4-2-5. I am not familiar enough with coach Knowles scheme to know how much he uses 3 LBers. I think the starting DTs will probably be Durant & Gilliam but after them not sure who is next in the depth chart. Does Alonzo Ford. Jr have eligibility? I know he was injured again and wasn't sure if his eligibility was extended. If so, is he still rehabbing?
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Ford will most likely start alongside Durant. Ford was playing well last year until he got injured. Deluca will take over for King at LB, but is at least 15 pounds lighter. Deluca and Rojas will get a majority of the reps at LB. Knowles like to use a “jack” who is a hybrid DE/LB on the Dline. Carter would’ve been perfect at the spot. My guess is Granville will fill this role. So expect DDS, Durant, Ford, and Granville as the front four.
Up front, this looks like the least talented front seven in memory. The secondary is in rebuild mold. We will see what happens at safety. Does the position revert to the Franklin mean (aka, bad) or can a solution be cobbled together? Should the trend hold, the defense will take a major step back as it has at every stop for Knowles. Defensively, this could be a pretty rough year if the schedule proves to be a strong as expected.
Last year we had King at LB. I'm not sure Robinson is an equal replacement and I don't know if Wylie will be healthy. That might be OK if we were stronger at DT. Maybe Ford will fill that 2nd spot but he hasn't been able to stay healthy. So yes, I'm concerned about our strength up the middle.
Gee we missed all your asinine posts the past few days. Welcome back.
Kraft needs to be enlightened about the wisdom and possibility of a coach Breen hire
At DE do not forget about T A&M transfer and getting Zuriah Fisher back from injury can help DE Spot. Disappointed that we did not get an extra season for our 5th year DE.....and disappointed that Vilbert Smith transferred to play for the Dark Lord in UNC.
It does feel as if the tide has turned dramatically and that we have better starters and more depth on the OL compared to the DL.
It does feel as if the tide has turned dramatically and that we have better starters and more depth on the OL compared to the DL.
The key to continual playoff runs is reloading. The portal helps, but you have to recruit and develop great players to keep the pipeline steady and full.
Last year, there was tons of worry about the DL. "How will we replace Chop and Adisa?" We moved Carter, DDS stepped up, and Amin had a very solid year. We returned a lot of DTs, but most were not considered impressive. They held their own.
Returning DDS and Durant gives us known building blocks. Now we just need the pipeline to flow.
Wait until next year. We will graduate/lose a lot off the '25 OL unless new starters emerge. However, if they keep playing guys the way they have and building depth, I think we will be ok.
Thanks for cutting and pasting your comment from a few months back that everyone ignored.
Knowles total defense:
Oklahoma State - 2018 - 97th, 2019 - 61st, 2020 - 34th, 2021 - 9th (was 85th in total defense the season before he started)
Ohio State - 2022 - 24th, 2023 - 2nd, 2024 - 1st (was 38th in total defense the season before he started)
As far as the least talented front seven in memory, that can easily be blamed on your poor memory.
Really poor memory? Inasmuch as Penn State plays a 4-2-5 defense his claim that the team will have the poorest “front seven” in memory is pure stupidity. By the way, I note that Knowles defense improved during his first year at OSU.
Ford really was playing well and moved past Beamon as the season went along, with a very experienced DT group ahead of Ford last season. If he's back playing at that level he'll for a top DT starting two along with Durant, and with King gone the team will need to be strong in the middle of the DL. Should be nice competition this spring for the next 2 or 3 DT's on the depth chart.
When talking about replacing King at LB Franklin mentioned around 5 players as candidates to replace King, but did not mention DeLuka. That says that DeLuka will stay in his role at Sam LB and likely alternate with a DB depending on the opponent, down and distance, etc. Franklin spending a considerable amount of time talking about the candidates for Mike also says to me that PSU won't abandon the Mike LB under Knowles.
If Fisher is healthy likely he'll be given an opportunity to start opposite DDS, with Granville, along with White, Harvey and some others competing for snaps as backups. Lots of depth at DE even with Vilbert moving on.
Should be an interesting Spring to see what impace Knowles has on the defense.
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In spite of the losses at DE there is plenty of young talent that could surprise in a positive way this Spring and into Fall. Granville, Robinson, Harvey, Williams, and even Kemajou.
We were spoiled with all the experience in the 2024 2/3 deep at DT. So Barnes and Knowles will be developing and sorting out the young players at DT as well behind Ford and Durant. Gilliam, Blanding, Cook, Andrews, Mupoyi, Wafle and also Artis who's been at PSU a while but hasn't really shown he' ready for a big role. Just need 2 or 3 of that group to develop and with Gilliam getting snaps as a true freshman last season he's likely headed in that direction.
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DeLuca is currently the 2nd heaviest LB on the team at 235 (only behind Kari Jackson 237). I don't think we see any 3 LB sets under Knowles (he'll likely just bring 2 safeties down). I don't think Knowles will utilize a true Mike. Essentially, both LBs are asked to be a Mike and Will (with safety or corner support) as far as inside/outside support goes.
Week 1 vs Nevada, we will likely see DeLuca and Rojas start, but I am not positive they end the year starting.
Hopefully Rojas is fully recovered.
CJF said he will be limited this Spring. That dies give some of the younger LBers extra reps during the Spring to acclimate to Knowles scheme.
Hard to say. If he can play the downhill part, he could be very solid. He's such a tweener. He doesn't appear to have box LB instincts, but it could be poor form. I wonder if he would be situational better as the Jack because he has a natural knack for edge rushing (probably why he played DE in HS at 200 lbs).
There are a lot of LB body's to contend with as well. Rojas runs the best of them, but if somebody makes the Kobe King leap they might steal some snaps.
Truth be told, we just need SOMEBODY to improve and be better than Rojas was last year. Whether it's Tony or somebody else matters not to me.
I have not heard any name mentioned for middle linebacker so far. So, we won't actually play one? Instead we will play two outside linebackers?
You would hear a number of names as potential replacements for King if you listen to Franklin's PC from earlier this week. He mentioned Robinson, Wylie and some others.
Regarding Knowles preference for a 4-2-5, Franklin has said the goal is to get the best 11 players on the field. Overall it would seem that the secondary has a considerably larger number of experienced players by position than at LB, and King Mack returning helps that comparison even after both Winston and Reed are moving on to the NFL. Will be an interesting Spring to see how things are progressing on the alignment preferences, although I doubt we as fans will find out much of how things are playing out in practice. And the evaluations may end up carring over into the beginning of the 2025 season as the decisions may be impacted by the progress of some of the talented but as of now inexperienced young players.
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If you watch how Knowles deployed his LBs at OSU, both are basically box LBs who have to be able to run sideline to sideline. Maybe you can look into it more, but they didn't appear to have a true Mike.
Essentially, you have 2 Will's based on responsibility (at least that is how I would define it; welcome to any other input others may have).
My bet is Wheatley ends up with the green dot and is the play caller. I believe Downs did this for OSU, but I'm not looking it up to verify.
What to Expect From Penn State's Linebackers Under Jim Knowles
The Nittany Lions are relatively inexperienced at linebacker, which coach James Franklin said could lead to a defensive shift.
According to this, Franklin mentioned Rojas AND DeLuca first before naming 5 other LBs behind them.
What about the A&M transfer? Forget his name but I expect him to he a good contributor on the D-Line.
Enai White at DE. Similar size (on paper.....) as DDS.
Was injured while at TAM, but was a big, talented DE that could really break out for PSU.
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