Penn State once again opened the doors to Holuba Hall Wednesday afternoon to provide the media a brief glimpse into the Nittany Lions' practices ahead of the program's showdown with No. 20 Auburn.
And, as has been the case for every week since literally Penn State's first week of preseason practice (offset once by a Wednesday night practice at Beaver Stadium along the way), it rained here this afternoon to force practice inside.
Under those constraints, the media has a little less leeway to move around, but that hasn't upended our pursuit of a few news and notes items to whet your whistles, so to speak, before Franklin comes back to address the media this evening.
Until our full report from that, here are a few takeaways from the practice session:
1) "I'm (bleep) tough."
Penn State senior safety Jaquan Brisker was in full pads this evening participating in every aspect of the Nittany Lions' practice. And, at one point late in the 20 minutes of access we were provided, he came down with a beautiful interception (on air) while getting his feet down in bounds at the sideline.
The move drew praise from safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, a few ahhhhhhs from the peanut gallery, and most of all, the quote above from Brisker himself. Though injury concerns have followed Brisker since needing three timeouts for medical attention in the Nittany Lions' 16-10 win at Wisconsin to open the season, returning to play in just 20 snaps last week in the win against Ball State, the preseason All-American looks to be in good shape, to these eyes, heading into this weekend's clash.
2) "Atta boy Kobe!"
Penn State linebackers coach Brent Pry pretty typically provides words of encouragement through the individual drill lines, but one guy that has earned that praise repeatedly in the limited amount of time we've had access to practice has been true freshman Kobe King. King registered 24 snaps Saturday against Ball State in his first appearance in his career as a Nittany Lion and was credited with one tackle.
A couple of notes from the linebackers Wednesday is that King and Charlie Katshir were paired together with the second-string linebackers through the course of Penn State's defensive full unit interception drill.
3) Back in blue
Keaton Ellis was not only at practice Wednesday, he was back in his normal No. 2 jersey and worked with the top few rotations at safety. Now, he wasn't in the mix at the very top with Brisker, Tig Brown, Tyler Rudolph, or Sutherland, but he *was* with Jaylen Reed during drills.
4) No Lovett lost
While Ellis found his way out of scout team practice purgatory, Lovett appears to very much still be in that world. So, again, practicing, seems healthy running through drills, but wearing a scout team number. Have been told his return could be "soon." Take that for what it's worth, which is purposefully vague obviously, but leaves open some room that Penn State will get back his speed. He, again, does very much represent the home run threat that we've been talking about here among that set of running backs as being potentially absent without his presence.
5) In search of
This isn't gospel because the defensive line works clear on the other side of the field beyond where the media is able to go, and even our telephoto lenses don't do much for us when scout team players are dressed in numbers that aren't their own; but, no Hakeem Beamon sightings to these eyes. Same deal on offense where I haven't seen Sal Wormley, who I at one point very much anticipated to be in the mix at left guard.
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More from me whenever Franklin wraps - video, photos, and a notebook all still coming tonight.
And, as has been the case for every week since literally Penn State's first week of preseason practice (offset once by a Wednesday night practice at Beaver Stadium along the way), it rained here this afternoon to force practice inside.
Under those constraints, the media has a little less leeway to move around, but that hasn't upended our pursuit of a few news and notes items to whet your whistles, so to speak, before Franklin comes back to address the media this evening.
Until our full report from that, here are a few takeaways from the practice session:
1) "I'm (bleep) tough."
Penn State senior safety Jaquan Brisker was in full pads this evening participating in every aspect of the Nittany Lions' practice. And, at one point late in the 20 minutes of access we were provided, he came down with a beautiful interception (on air) while getting his feet down in bounds at the sideline.
The move drew praise from safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, a few ahhhhhhs from the peanut gallery, and most of all, the quote above from Brisker himself. Though injury concerns have followed Brisker since needing three timeouts for medical attention in the Nittany Lions' 16-10 win at Wisconsin to open the season, returning to play in just 20 snaps last week in the win against Ball State, the preseason All-American looks to be in good shape, to these eyes, heading into this weekend's clash.
2) "Atta boy Kobe!"
Penn State linebackers coach Brent Pry pretty typically provides words of encouragement through the individual drill lines, but one guy that has earned that praise repeatedly in the limited amount of time we've had access to practice has been true freshman Kobe King. King registered 24 snaps Saturday against Ball State in his first appearance in his career as a Nittany Lion and was credited with one tackle.
A couple of notes from the linebackers Wednesday is that King and Charlie Katshir were paired together with the second-string linebackers through the course of Penn State's defensive full unit interception drill.
3) Back in blue
Keaton Ellis was not only at practice Wednesday, he was back in his normal No. 2 jersey and worked with the top few rotations at safety. Now, he wasn't in the mix at the very top with Brisker, Tig Brown, Tyler Rudolph, or Sutherland, but he *was* with Jaylen Reed during drills.
4) No Lovett lost
While Ellis found his way out of scout team practice purgatory, Lovett appears to very much still be in that world. So, again, practicing, seems healthy running through drills, but wearing a scout team number. Have been told his return could be "soon." Take that for what it's worth, which is purposefully vague obviously, but leaves open some room that Penn State will get back his speed. He, again, does very much represent the home run threat that we've been talking about here among that set of running backs as being potentially absent without his presence.
5) In search of
This isn't gospel because the defensive line works clear on the other side of the field beyond where the media is able to go, and even our telephoto lenses don't do much for us when scout team players are dressed in numbers that aren't their own; but, no Hakeem Beamon sightings to these eyes. Same deal on offense where I haven't seen Sal Wormley, who I at one point very much anticipated to be in the mix at left guard.
**********************************
More from me whenever Franklin wraps - video, photos, and a notebook all still coming tonight.
