If we can't hold on to our 2 RBs, the other portal acquisitions are utterly meaningless and you wasted your time with everything else you wrote.
Portal needs next year
- Thread starter Psugo823
- Start date
If we can't hold on to our 2 RBs, the other portal acquisitions are utterly meaningless and you wasted your time with everything else you wrote.
We can agree to disagree on what it means to be better. To many fans, better is defined by beating OSU and Michigan, getting to the BIG championship, and contending for a CFP spot.
Beating up on Maryland, Indiana, and Rutgers is not enough.
As a program, PSU must improve beyond 3rd and 4th place finishes in their own division. Until PSU makes that leap, it will remain in that irrelevant zone and not good enough to beat the better teams.
10-2 is better than 7-5. You can feel free to debate that until the cows come home and you are going to lose every single time
That is just reality. The rumors that we are going to lose a couple of players to big NIL deals are out there. The number of players worthy of a big time deal is very limited. Singleton seems the most likely. So long as we don't lose both we are OK. MY doesn't want a run heavy offense. Neither does Franklin.
Wideout looks like really a huge void right now. Tinsley will be gone and who knows about Washington. The young wideouts have made some plays but there's not much size. I do think Liam Clifford has the makings of a terrific possession receiver -- very good technique and better size than I expected.
The absence of returning stars plus super talented offensive backfield plus it's Mike Yurcich's offense at least means Penn State will be a sought-after destination for transfers and decommits (and maybe walk-ons -- does Deon Butler have a son? )
PSU doesn't really threaten defenses deep this year because they don't have the receiver or the arm. Next year they'll have the arm and if they can't use it because they don't have the receiver, that will be a significant weakness. Those running backs will see safeties up all year if PSU doesn't have wideouts who can catch the ball deep.
The absence of returning stars plus super talented offensive backfield plus it's Mike Yurcich's offense at least means Penn State will be a sought-after destination for transfers and decommits (and maybe walk-ons -- does Deon Butler have a son? )
PSU doesn't really threaten defenses deep this year because they don't have the receiver or the arm. Next year they'll have the arm and if they can't use it because they don't have the receiver, that will be a significant weakness. Those running backs will see safeties up all year if PSU doesn't have wideouts who can catch the ball deep.
PSU was 0-2 against OSU and Michigan in 2021.
PSU is 0-2 against OSU and Michigan in 2022.
Zero improvement. Still losing to the big boys.
Singleton and Allen aren't going anywhere. Freaking relax.
Yes it is but when the schedule is significantly easier, it is hard to take much away from a three game improvement. We are definitely better, but maybe not as much as most think. Purdue is easily our best win but would rank well below several teams we lost to in 2021.
I am not saying either are leaving, but in the portal era, it is stupid to think one wouldn't and wouldn't.
I understand the perspective that it could happen.
I'm only pointing out that if it did occur, the portal acquisitions you mentioned are absolutely worthless. You can't rebuild your team with true freshman and the portal every year. Look at Mel Tucker: 1 year, he's NY6, the next year he's likely not making the playoff.
In addition to that, you aren't going to acquire top talent from the HS ranks if you are nothing but a stop gap program. If our recruiting falls off a cliff, that's one thing.
And these rumors are everywhere. It's essentially the wild west anymore. Everybody is going through it.
I really do not believe we were better due to the portal players brought in . This year's portal players were place holders.
At WR we were better with Dotson and Washington and the same collection of subpar WR's that rotate in among the aformentioned two.
This season we had no WR of the capabiity and production of Dotson. Yes, we then had Washington as the #1 WR, but the WR group was not as good.
Along the OL, the reason the OL is better in 2023 is due to Fashanu, Wormley, Tengwall before he got hurt, Shelton playing excellent for a true freshman, and Scruggs settling into the Center position. Nourzad is not a leader of the OL and with or without him the 2023 OL would have been better than the 2022 OL.
Ebiketie on the other hand, did make the DL better.
The main reason that the team got better in 2022 is the contribution and early maturation of a good number of young players, including the high impact true freshmen. Carter's impact allowed Jacobs to go back to Sam where he is an all B10 player, from Will where he is an average player. King and Elsdon improved as the season went along, and the end result was a very good LB group, something few would have predicted when the preseason lineup was Sutherland, Elsdon, and Jacobs.
Obviously at RB the unit is night and day better solely due to Singleton and Allen.
At DE it was a combination of things. Robinson coming in as a young player who played LB in 2021, and adjusting to DE where the PSU coaches saw him playing when they were recruiting him. DDS coming in and making an impact for a true freshman, and Isaac coming back from injury and getting better as the season went along. Also Vanover getting better.
In the secondary it was as much the young players progressing, Reed, Wheatley, and Winston at Safey and King, Dixon and Wilson at CB, as it was about Porter and Brown as returning leaders also doing a great job.
The upcoming portal action may only yield some more place holders that will marginally make up for some recruiting misses at WR and along the OL. But for PSU to improve as a team, Franklin needs to find impact players that will actually make the WR group better, and possibly at OL as well. From the transfer portal or via a couple late commits for the 2023 class. I'm not optimistic he will be able to do that at WR whre it is needed most. But with the deep, talented, and high impact 2022 recruiting class, there will be players stepping up from the current roster to make the team better at about every position other than possibly WR and DT.
Last edited:
Similar threads
