Penn State Football

Lions lean right on offense

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Jeff Rice - jrice@centredaily.com

On its best rushing afternoon of the season, Penn State ran twice as many times to the right as it ran to the left, and more times to the right than to the left or up the middle combined.

The good news for the Nittany Lions is that Saturday’s 338-yard performance was a confidence builder for the entire offense and an important step forward for right guard Lou Eliades and right tackle Nerraw McCormack.

CDT file photo/Craig Houtz

Penn State ran behind right guard Lou Eliades plenty during a 35-17 win over Illinois on Saturday.

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The bad news is that Penn State could be without half of that side of the line this week.

McCormack has missed the bulk of practice this week and is likely to miss Saturday’s game against Eastern Illinois with a right ankle injury. Sophomore DeOn’tae Pannell, who started the first four games of the season at right tackle but has also been limited by an ankle injury this week, is splitting first-team repetitions with senior Ako Poti.

“We have a couple of injuries that we’re dealing with, so we have some jelling to do,” Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark said Wednesday. “But we’ve made strides from the beginning of the season.”

Eliades, a 6-foot-4, 300- pound redshirt junior from Ocean, N.J., has had a lot to do with that. After spending time at left guard and right tackle during his first three seasons, he has found a home at right guard and has gradually improved since overcoming a preseason ankle injury of his own.

“Lou got over the initial shock of what it takes to play with a little discomfort,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said Tuesday. “And I think he’s coming along.”

Paterno wasn’t as high on Eliades — or left guard Matt Stankiewitch — earlier in the season. He replaced the former with Quinn Barham and the latter with Johnnie Troutman for several series in the Syracuse game. Troutman eventually beat out Stankiewitch for the starting job.

Eliades kept his. “I knew I wasn’t playing a great game so I was kind of more upset with myself,” he said.

“I took (the benching) as I have to get everything together, so I could be the person to fill the spot. I didn’t want any question marks; I wanted to be the guy.”

McCormack, who transferred from Nassau Community College in 2007, looked like he was ready to become the guy at right tackle after playing solidly in relief of Pannell against Iowa and during his first career start last week in Champaign.

“He’s a vocal guy on the offensive line,” said tailback Stephfon Green, who was also a teammate of McCormack’s at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, N.Y. “He’s been working hard to get better.”

Clark and tailbacks Green, Evan Royster and Brent Carter averaged 8.4 yards per carry and ran for five touchdowns against a spongy Illinois defense. Eliades’ pulling block cleared the way for the first score, a 52-yard burst by Green. Clark’s two touchdown runs were both on dives over the middle, but a 15-yard touchdown run by Royster and an 11-yard scoring run by Carter were both off right tackle.

“I think we made some big strides on Saturday with the running game,” Eliades said. “And we did a good job protecting Daryll, gave him time to make good decisions in the passing game.”

If both McCormack and Pannell are unable to play, Poti, another junior-college transfer, would likely become the ninth Nittany Lion offensive lineman to see significant first-team reps and the eighth to start a game this season. That’s a big change from 2008, when Mike Lucian’s Senior Day start for Stefen Wisniewski was the line’s only change in the starting lineup the entire season.

“A little bit of the chemistry is sacrificed when you alternate players,” Eliades said. “But we’re all pretty much being coached to do the same thing.”

Jeff Rice can be reached at 231-4609.