Penn State football notebook: Nittany Lions attempt to build chemistry in pandemic-stricken season
Sean Clifford spent hours this summer staring at his iPhone, trying to visualize drills he’d work on with his teammates in a COVID-19-free world. The Penn State quarterback watched videos of his receivers running routes so he could practice throwing to his younger brother Liam.
The coronavirus pandemic canceled the Nittany Lions’ spring practices in mid-March, and preseason camp lasted for three days in early-August before the Big Ten initially postponed the fall sports season. Now, with the conference having reversed course, players are still trying to become acquainted with one another less than a month from their Oct. 24 season opener at Indiana.
“When we started lifting and probably the past few weeks, there were some freshmen that I still had never met before in person,” Clifford told reporters on a Zoom call Thursday during Day 2 of Penn State’s virtual media days. “We just hadn’t had that opportunity. We haven’t had summer workouts. We didn’t have the seven-on-sevens like we did in the past.”
For the Nittany Lions, building chemistry these next few weeks will be every bit as crucial as studying their next opponent.
Even with the team having put on pads for the first time Wednesday, off-the-field group bonding is still limited because of the virus.
“If you force chemistry, it’s not true,” Clifford said. “So I’m not going to force anything. But at the same time, it is much more difficult this year because you can’t after practice go grab some ice cream with a group of guys. You can’t go out to eat like you used to. We can’t go to the bowling alley, the pool party. ... So those little moments, we just don’t have with some of these guys.”
All of these obstacles have led to some players within the Penn State locker room still being strangers.
“There’s a lot of guys on the team that I’ve never even met before or talked to, just because we’re not with them every day,” junior receiver Jahan Dotson said. “... It’s kind of weird when you have practice and Coach (James) Franklin calls on maybe a new D-lineman, and you’ve never even heard of this kid before. So I’ve decided at practice every day to go out and meet someone new, meet someone different and talk to them.”
VARYING BIG TEN REPORTS
For over a month after the Big Ten’s Aug. 11 announcement to postpone the fall college football season, various reports surfaced. Some stated the conference was reconsidering its decision; others said the league would not go back.
A day before the conference made it official on Sept. 16 that it would in fact play, redshirt senior defensive end Shaka Toney tweeted that the “rumors” were negatively impacting players’ mental health.
“Just let them announce it please,” he said on Twitter. “If you care about the players in the B10 just wait for the answer.”
On Thursday, Clifford reiterated the same point. The redshirt junior said he felt that too many reporters were trying to be the first to break the news of whether the Big Ten was going to play or not, instead of making sure the information they were putting out was accurate.
“It’s tough on a lot of these guys’ mentals,” Clifford said. “Because obviously we want to play, and it was like a week before, and I’m hearing all these things about, ‘Oh, Commissioner (Kevin) Warren has had a conference meeting with all the Big Ten officials and they are not playing.’ And we’re all going to Coach Franklin, and we’re like, ‘What is this?’ And he’s like, ‘I haven’t heard anything.’”
SOCIAL JUSTICE UNIFORM PATCHES
James Franklin said Wednesday that a plan is “in discussion” for how Penn State will take advantage of a new NCAA rule that allows players to wear patches on their uniforms to support social justice causes.
A handful of players mentioned Thursday that they’ve already been thinking of messages they’d like to see displayed on the Nittany Lions’ uniforms.
“I feel I’d put ‘Black Lives Matter,’” Dotson said. “It’s broad, but it means so much to me right now with everything that’s going on in this world and all the social injustice we’re facing right now. It’s honestly just crazy. So I’d probably just go with a broad statement — Black Lives Matter.”
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and running back Noah Cain also weighed in on the subject. Porter Jr., a redshirt freshman, felt strongly about the message he’d want on his jersey.
“I would like to put ‘Black Lives Matter’ on mine, because that means a lot to me,” he said. “I feel like all lives can’t matter until Black lives do. And that’s my opinion.”
Cain’s idea was fairly straightforward, too.
“The biggest message to me would be ‘equality,’” the sophomore said, “that everybody is treated fairly in this world, that everybody has the right to speak their opinions.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 5:28 PM.
