The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing where Penn State football stands heading into the offseason
Penn State head coach James Franklin led his football team to as good of a start as one could expect in 2021. His Nittany Lions were 5-0, with wins over strong teams like Wisconsin — on the road — and Auburn. The team was rolling into Iowa undefeated with a chance to be ranked in the top two with a win.
The game started much like the season had, with Penn State taking a 17-3 lead and looking in control of what the outcome would be. But then, Sean Clifford didn’t come back in. The redshirt senior starting quarterback suffered an injury and missed the rest of the game and the Lions lost.
Then they lost again. And again. Suddenly Penn State was 5-3 and didn’t finish much better, closing out the season 7-6 with six losses in its last eight games.
The answer to how the year had gone was obvious to Franklin after losing the Outback Bowl to Arkansas.
“Well, obviously a pretty obvious question and answer,” Franklin said. “Not what we had hoped for. Obviously did some really good things early on, made some huge plays, had some big-time wins in tough environments on the road to start the season. We had some injuries that we weren’t able to overcome quick enough. But we’re responsible for all of that. I get it. I get it. But overall I’m proud of the guys in that locker room not only as players. A lot of moving parts on the staff as well, which wasn’t brought up. But that’s part of college football now. I’m very, very appreciative of the guys in that locker room, players, coaches, staff, everybody else. But, yeah, I get it. It’s a fair question.”
Now he and his staff will have to repair the issues within the team. There are plenty of positives to draw from within the roster and the program, but there are plenty of gaps that need to be filled and problems that need to be solved, something Franklin made note of following the season’s conclusion.
“We started out 5-0, did some great things, weren’t able to finish the season the way we wanted to,” he said. “We’ve got some things to work on and we’ll get it fixed.”
Good
Secondary: There isn’t a brighter spot on the Penn State roster right now than the secondary. The group brings back arguably the team’s best player in safety Ji’Ayir Brown. He led the Nittany Lions in interceptions in 2021 and chose to use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brown is elite against the pass and strong against the run and should follow in the footsteps of his position mate in 2021 — Jaquan Brisker — as a leader.
The starter next to him is up in the air but Brown along should be enough to make the secondary tandem one of the best in the Big Ten. There aren’t many questions about who will be playing on the outside either. Joey Porter Jr. returns as a starter at cornerback and Kalen King is the clear frontrunner to play opposite him after being the primary backup as a true freshman. The slot should be occupied by Daequan Hardy, who established himself as a high level starter in coverage and even against the run despite his lack of size. The biggest question at corner will be whether Porter Jr. can overcome his issues with penalties. If he does, this group should be far and away Penn State’s best next season.
Receiving options: Despite losing Jahan Dotson to the 2022 NFL Draft, Penn State should be in relatively good strength. Let’s ignore how the team’s offensive weapons were used in 2021 or how they may be used in 2022, and instead look at the value they can bring to a team if used properly. Wide receiver will likely take a step back without Dotson, but that doesn’t mean the group won’t be good. Parker Washington is the top in-house candidate to replace the team’s best weapon and showed in the Arkansas he can get open enough to be a No. 1 option.
The other player who could fill that void is incoming transfer Mitchell Tinsley, who lit up opposing defenses at Western Kentucky last season. He’s a strong, physical presence on the outside unlike any on Penn State’s roster. Tinsley is a good route-runner and wins at the catch-point by overpowering opponents. He’s a sure handed receiver who will have the chance to improve off his above average athleticism with an offseason in Penn State’s strength and conditioning program. The other options aren’t solidified at receiver with Malick Meiga and KeAndre Lambert-Smith having plenty to prove, but the group of tight ends on the roster should prove to be viable with plenty of upside. Specifically, Theo Johnson should be in line for a breakout season at tight end and could be the big-bodied weapon the Lions have lacked on the outside if he’s utilized that way.
Manny Diaz: There are going to be some assumptions made in any evaluation of a new coordinator hire before the hire has a chance to call plays, but hiring Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator should bode well for Penn State. Frankly, there weren’t many coordinators that changed teams that were better than Diaz. An argument can be made that Jim Knowles, who left Oklahoma State for Ohio State, would have been a better hire, but it’s fair to say he and Diaz are in the same tier of coordinator.
Penn State’s new DC is an experienced play caller who brought substance and style to the Miami defense when he was at the helm from 2016-2018, prior to his time as the team’s head coach. Diaz was one of the originators of the unit’s “turnover chain,” a chain shaped in the form of Miami’s “U” logo that defenders put on when they forced a turnover. Of course, the genesis of the chain was simple — celebrate turnovers and players will have even more incentive to cause them than the already powerful incentive of getting the ball back. The chain and its purpose are emblematic of how Diaz’s units have played defense. They’re fast, they’re physical and they’re aggressive. Penn State has a good unit as it is, but Diaz could add another dimension to a group that was already one of the 10 best in the country in 2021.
Quarterback: This may catch some by surprise, given Sean Clifford’s struggles in the 2021 season after his injury against Iowa, but it’s hard to argue the group is in good position now and moving forward. Clifford is still not the ideal quarterback in offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s offense, given his accuracy issues and struggles within the pocket, but he can still be a competent starter like he was to start the 2021 season. The reason for belief in the room is who’s behind Clifford. The addition of Drew Allar and Beau Pribula as true freshmen — both of whom enrolled this month — will get most of the headlines and could represent the future of the position. They’re both prospects with the opportunity to grow into long-term starters and even much more — especially in Allar’s case.
The five-star freshman will have some fans clamoring for him to start before he ever takes a rep and will likely have others doing the same after he puts his arm talent on display in the spring game. He may or may not contend with Clifford for time by the end of the year, but his presence in the room gives the quarterbacks much more upside than they had last season. The other major reason for optimism is that Penn State has a quarterback with game experience at backup in Christian Veilleux. Veilleux played almost the entire game against Rutgers after Clifford left due to an illness. He played well in that game and proved that — in a pinch — he can be relied upon. Allar deserves the hype, but it’s Veilleux who can push Clifford to the next level — or for his job — because of his experience.
Bad
Offensive decision making: It’s easy to see the running game issues — more on those shortly — but Penn State desperately needs Yurcich’s offense to be better and a lot of that falls on his shoulders. Yurcich’s play design was excellent throughout the season. He drew up opportunities for his weapons to get open with space to operate in the open field once they got the ball. But the timing of his play calls left much to be desired. He had two games that stood out in particular with his play-calling. The team’s loss to Michigan State began with Clifford throwing all over the Spartan defense before Yurcich inexplicably called for runs on nine of the next 15 plays.
Then, in the Outback Bowl against Arkansas, the Penn State defense was worn down by the Arkansas rushing attack and in need of a breather on the sideline. The Nittany Lions had found success in the running game with Keyvone Lee and Noah Cain, leading to one logical conclusion — the offense should run the ball to benefit its defense and because it was the group’s most obvious path to success. That doesn’t mean running the ball on every play, but giving Lee and Cain opportunities to get going and play complementary football for a defense in need of some snaps off. Instead, Yurcich’s offense continued airing the ball out and essentially put Lee on ice for an extended stretch of the game. The offensive coordinator should be credited for the early development of Clifford before his regression and for the play design. The decision-making, however, left plenty to be desired.
Special teams: Penn State’s special teams may be just as good — if not better — in 2022 than it was in 2021 but there’s a lot up in the air with the unit as things stand. First and foremost, the team lost its leader when special teams coordinator Joe Lorig departed for Oregon in early January. On top of that, arguably the unit’s two most important players will also be moving on with kickoff specialist, kicker and punter Jordan Stout and Dotson, the team’s punt returner, declaring for the 2022 NFL Draft. Stout seemed to lose the field goal job to Jake Pinegar, one of the contenders to replace him, but Pinegar did not impress in his limited reps this season.
There is some reason for hope with the unit. Lorig was quickly replaced by Stacy Collins, who led a high-level special teams unit at Boise State in 2021. He will have a tall task in replacing his predecessor, but there’s evidence that suggests he should be a suitable replacement. The kicking spot could go to Sander Sahaydak, who was a top-rated kicker out of high school in 2021. while the punting job could go to true freshman Alex Bacchetta, who was a top-rated punter in this year’s 2022 class. Dotson’s spot could go to Washington, but the former returner’s reliability to haul in every punt that came his way will be difficult to replace. They’re all viable options, but the uncertainty looms as reason for potential concern next season.
Ugly
Rushing offense: There was never going to be anything else here. Penn State’s run game was the least successful part of the team in 2021 and it wasn’t all that close. The Nittany Lions didn’t block well when they ran and their running backs failed to find the holes that were created on the infrequent occasion that they were. There is some reason for hope, with incoming five-star running back Nicholas Singleton, who enrolled earlier in January but there still isn’t a lot of reason to have faith in the blockers up front. The unit lacked physicality at the point of attack and several linemen mentioned that as a flaw within the group in 2021.
It’s possible that the line will be more physical next season, but at least two starters will be gone from last year’s team in left tackle Rasheed Walker, who left for the draft, and left guard Eric Wilson, who exhausted his eligibility. Olu Fashanu replaced Walker in the Outback Bowl and played well, but he’ll need to do that over the length of an entire season to inspire confidence that things will be different next year. Penn State has some young players — like Landon Tengwall — who could step up on the interior and provide more physicality, but the Lions should be looking to the transfer portal to plug more holes up front until all of the younger players are ready to go.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 12:15 PM.
