How the Penn State QB room is showing growth, and other notes from strength coach Dwight Galt
It’s difficult to discuss the upcoming Penn State football season without making note of the team’s quarterback situation. Unsurprisingly, the team’s signal callers were brought up when assistant athletic director for performance enhancement Dwight Galt met with the media Thursday morning.
Galt, who has been with the Nittany Lions since James Franklin took over the program in 2014, said both redshirt junior Sean Clifford and redshirt freshman Ta’Quan Roberson — the only scholarship players at the position who return from last year’s team — have shown plenty to feel positive about this offseason.
“Sean is Sean,” Galt said Thursday morning. “He had an unbelievable winter. He continues to develop his leadership skills. ... Ta’Quan has always been one of my favorite guys. He’s a very, very steady hardworking, positive, can-count-on type of guy. He’s really stepped up big time.”
The two quarterbacks, along with winter enrollee Christian Veilleux, will have a chance to start on level playing field this season after Clifford had a distinct leg up in years past.
Franklin brought in Mike Yurcich as the team’s new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach after parting ways with Kirk Ciarrocca, who held the same position for just one season. Ciarrocca’s offense looked similar to the one the Nittany Lions had run since Joe Moorhead implemented it in 2016.
Now with Yurcich as the playcaller, there’s been more of a reset, which has benefited Roberson.
“Having a new coordinator has actually been a good situation for him because he starts off on the same field with learning that system as anyone else that would be older than him,” Galt said. “He knows this is a great situation for him to be even there, just because Sean was having so (many) more reps. We feel good about him.”
A level playing field should allow Roberson to create some competition at the spot Clifford has held down for two seasons.
The redshirt freshman — who is entering his third year on campus after last year didn’t count toward athletes’ eligibility due to an NCAA ruling — now has two years under his belt after arriving as a four-star recruit in 2019. He’ll likely enter the season as the team’s backup, at worst, after former backup QB Will Levis transferred to Kentucky earlier this year.
The threat of competition from Roberson looms over the quarterback room, but it hasn’t changed how Galt has handled Clifford. Instead, it’s the mileage on the redshirt junior’s body that made the team alter his workouts.
“I had him on a totally different program this winter that I think was really what he needed (for) continuing to improve his ability to perform on the field physically, but also to make sure his body is as bulletproof as possible,” Galt said.
Of course, some of the punishment Clifford has taken over the past two seasons is because of the offense the team ran and the number of times he was sacked. Galt’s training program for the position has mitigated that damage in some fashion — in part because he trains quarterbacks like they’re both passers and runners.
“You guys know my philosophy of training quarterbacks,” Galt said. “It’s a quarterback/running back. We’ve had great success with our quarterbacks making plays with their legs. That’s something that’s kind of been near and dear to me. It’s making sure that it’s not the traditional, ‘Oh watch the shoulder they gotta throw.’ I had to make sure that body can handle any expectation we have on the field.”
Transfers adjusting to PSU strength and conditioning program
Usually winter workouts present an opportunity for winter enrollees to get a taste of college life and what it’s like in a high-level college football program. But this year there’s a second group of newcomers who are making an adjustment — incoming transfers.
Franklin and the Nittany Lions were more active in the transfer portal this winter, adding five commitments from scholarship players who spent last season at other programs. Four of those players have already enrolled.
That group already has experience in a college strength and conditioning program, but no two programs are built the same and coaching staffs are often looking for different benchmarks in weight training. Defensive back Johnny Dixon and running back John Lovett should have less of a struggle coming from Power-5 programs — South Carolina and Baylor, respectively — and playing positions where different body types can excel across systems.
The two defensive linemen in the group, Arnold Ebiketie and Derrick Tangelo, have had to adjust because of the situations they were in before they arrived on campus.
“These are two guys that are gonna step in and potentially be great contributors for us,” Galt said. “... Arnold came in and wasn’t the typical weight of a typical Penn State (defensive) end. He’s already gained seven pounds in the short time he’s been here and he’s an incredible athlete. He’s blossoming big time with the type of training we have.”
Tangelo, unlike Ebiketie, had more of a transition due to the type of training Penn State does compared to what he did at Duke.
“Derrick, it took him a couple of weeks to get into the program for some other health reasons,” Galt said. “Once he came into the program, it’s been phenomenal. ... He put 65 pounds on his power clean just in the short time that he’s been here. ... It’s been a really big transition for him, the weight room has, but especially the 14 running workouts (we do). ... To Derrick’s credit he’s done a really great job of catching on and the guys have been very supportive of him. He’s almost there. We’ve got another few weeks to go. We feel good about him.”
Nittany Lions set to shine at Pro Day
Eight players are set to take part in Penn State’s March 25 Pro Day, but all eyes will be on two athletes who have a chance to light up their workouts — Jayson Oweh and Micah Parsons.
“I think that it’s going to be a very, very interesting fireworks show when they start testing,” Galt said. “Both of them, as we all know, are very gifted athletically.”
Oweh and Parsons have been training together in Los Angeles — and are also next door neighbors while they train — but they aren’t the only former Penn Staters who will try to improve their draft stock in two weeks.
Tight end Pat Freiermuth — who is coming off season-ending shoulder surgery — will be one of the five others participating on March 25. He’s set to run every drill except for the bench press and the vertical jump, according to Audrey Snyder of The Athletic.
Even with Freiermuth ready to go for the most part and four other Nittany Lions from the 2020 team set to participate in Michal Menet, Lamont Wade, Shaka Toney and Will Fries, Oweh and Parsons are most well-positioned to light up the event because of what they’ve done in the past.
“It’s gonna be a really good day for us,” Galt said. “We’re really excited. I think that Jayson and Micah are both gonna test extremely well based on what they’ve done here in the past. I’ve been sure to make sure that all the NFL scouts — all 120 of the ones that I’ve talked to this past year — know what’s coming. I don’t want any surprises. It’s gonna be all eyes on these guys.”
Early enrollees impressing — especially at OL
Penn State added seven freshman enrollees in January to go with the four transfer enrollees, adding to a group of players who have yet to experience the Nittany Lions’ spring practice, after last year’s was canceled due to the pandemic.
Galt said he’s been impressed with the group to this point, but there are two players in particular — Nate Bruce and Landon Tengwall — who are standing out in a big way along the offensive line.
Tengwall was more of a finished product than his classmate because of the experience he had in high school. The early enrollee was a four-star prospect as well and attended a program Galt has familiarity with in Good Counsel.
“My kids all went to Good Counsel, so I’m very familiar with that school and that program,” Galt said. “Kid comes in he’s 319 (pounds), he’s got low body fat ... he’s got unbelievable development for a freshman coming in.”
Bruce was a three-star offensive guard from in-state Harrisburg, who was listed at 6-foot-4, 320 pounds as a senior in high school, but Galt said he’d already shown off athleticism to go with his size.
“You’ve got (Landon) then you’ve got big Nate,” Galt said. “He came in about 30 pounds more, doesn’t quite have the same training background as Landon did, but I’ll tell you one thing, Nate is something. He’s a special athlete and a special kid. He’s been phenomenal. This is all totally new to him. He never really trained like he has this last eight weeks. Talk about adapting quickly, he did a really good job and he is tremendously strong.”
The two young linemen have a head start on where most freshmen at the position begin their careers, and that could lead to early playing time with the departures of Michal Menet and Will Fries for the NFL and C.J. Thorpe for the transfer portal.
“I think these two guys have an extremely bright future with us,” Galt said. “... Depending on how they pick other things up they could definitely be guys that could really quickly assimilate into some kind of a rotation. Now, as we all know true freshmen playing offensive line is extremely rare. And, to be really honest, it generally — in my 36 years — is usually need based as much as anything else. But there’s no doubt that these two guys are on the right path.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 3:31 PM.
