What Penn State football coach James Franklin said about his team’s position battles, Wisconsin and more
Penn State football may not be releasing a depth chart this season, but head coach James Franklin clarified who a few of his starters and backups will be when he met with the media for his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Franklin didn’t directly declare redshirt sophomore quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson the team’s backup quarterback, but he did say he’s been taking 90% of the reps with the second unit in practice.
“He’s done some really nice things,” Franklin said. “He’s thrown for a high percentage, for a while there his attempts without an interception was ridiculously high. He had thrown a bunch of balls without turning the ball over. The ball jumps off his hand. When he’s confident pre-snap with what to do, he’s very effective post-snap. It’s getting him consistently really confident with what we’re trying to do and why and how.”
Roberson taking that number of reps adds a small amount of clarity to a position that has been cloaked in uncertainty all offseason and continues to be the focal point of the offense heading into Saturday’s noon matchup at Wisconsin in the season opener.
Redshirt senior quarterback Sean Clifford is the clear starter at the position — but just how good he will be is up in the air after a down 2020 season — and the rest of the unit hasn’t received any meaningful playing time. Roberson has attempted a single pass in his college career and the team’s third scholarship quarterback, Christian Veilleux, enrolled in January.
Franklin said the team would like to change the playing time aspect of that moving forward.
“I think he’s opened a lot of eyes this camp,” Franklin said of Roberson. “We’d love to get him some reps where we can. Meaningful reps in games.”
Franklin also made note of three other players who will receive meaningful playing time this season. Sophomore Curtis Jacobs will start at linebacker for the Nittany Lions, while redshirt senior Anthony Whigan and senior Eric Wilson — who transferred into the program this summer from Harvard — will split the playing time at left guard.
The Penn State head coach raved about Jacobs’ versatility and said he expects quite a bit out of the true sophomore in his second year.
“Curtis playing as a true freshman, really did some nice things for us,” Franklin said. “ ... He’s big and strong and fast and physical, but he also has the ability to cover in space and is really comfortable in space. He’s got some safety qualities, which is really what you want at that field backer position. We think he’s got a chance to have a big year for us. We need him to have a big year for us.”
Jacobs will likely join two starters from last season — redshirt senior Ellis Brooks and junior Brandon Smith — as the starters at linebacker this season.
Jesse Luketa position update
Senior Jesse Luketa has been practicing at both linebacker — where he’s played his entire career at Penn State — and defensive end this offseason, and that will continue moving forward.
In fact, the time he spends at each position could change every week as the coaching staff determines where they need him most.
“We’ve kind of always viewed Jesse like this,” Franklin said. “And I think his future is probably in this area, as well. We see him as a guy that’s going to play both linebacker and D-end for us. It’ll probably be rotation at both positions. There may be a week where he spends most of his time at defensive end, and there may be a week where he spends most of his time at linebacker, but we’re gonna need him to play both.”
Luketa’s versatility will be of added importance this season with DE Adisa Isaac potentially out for the season.
Jahan Dotson’s next step
Senior wide receiver Jahan Dotson made the decision to come back to Penn State after a dominant junior season, in part because he and several teammates didn’t want to leave the program on what they perceived as a bad note with a 4-5 record.
His return has allowed him to continue his own personal development as well, and part of that was running a 4.33 40-yard dash this offseason.
Franklin said the fluidity of Dotson’s game often makes him look slower than he is.
“He’s always been silky smooth and fluid with his movements,” he said. “... He’s just that guy that has tremendous body control and made everything look easy. Sometimes you don’t think he’s running very fast because he’s just so fluid in the way he does it, but no one catches him. He’s subtle with his moves. But now that he’s more explosive and stronger and bigger, I think that’s got a chance for him to translate into more explosive plays for us.”
Dotson said Tuesday morning he’s working on turning his speed into an even bigger asset moving forward.
“I always knew I was that fast,” he said. “It’s just kind of always the way I’ve been playing. ... I feel like this camp I’ve really been focusing on playing with speed all the time — controlling my speed, and then knowing when to use it and when not to use it. It’s a great weapon for me.”
Scouting Wisconsin
Penn State’s offense will be the center of attention this weekend for many reasons, but the defense its going up against will add even more pressure.
The Badgers routinely have one of the best defenses in the conference and are led by a defensive coordinator — Jim Leonhard — that turned down an opportunity to be the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator this offseason.
Franklin said the group Leonhard leads will present plenty of challenges, but will also give Penn State opportunities on Saturday.
“They play a lot of man coverage,” he said. “With man coverage comes opportunities if your man can beat their man. There’s obviously some things you can do scheme-wise as well.”
More importantly than the coverage, Franklin and the Nittany Lions will need their groups in the trenches to perform well.
While Wisconsin’s sack numbers last season were relatively low, ranking 100th among FBS schools with only 1.57 sacks per game, Franklin said the group has a way of making you feel it — even if they don’t get a sack.
“It starts up front, like it always does, whether it’s the (offensive) line or the (defensive) line,” he said. “...It’s interesting that they’re not overly high when it comes to sacks, but you feel them. They do a great job of pressuring the quarterback and feeling them in the pocket. It’s going to be a challenge. Jim Leonhard does a great job; they’ve been good on defense for a long time. We’re on the road, it’ll be a great challenge for our guys but I know we’re excited about the opportunity.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 3:26 PM.
