How Penn State football is establishing physicality, with help from a ‘hit hammer’
Manny Diaz has brought plenty with him to Penn State from his time at Miami. The Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator has the same attacking playstyle, a strong emphasis on forcing turnovers and the type of aggressiveness he featured in his time as both defensive coordinator and head coach with the Hurricanes. The one thing he didn’t bring was the turnover chain. The giant, gold social media sensation was worn around players’ necks on the sideline after they forced a turnover for Miami.
Although it hasn’t joined him in Happy Valley, Diaz created something in that same vein to reward his players. He’s created the “hard hit hammer” — a hammer that a player carries around pregame if they had the biggest hit in the previous week.
Penn State head coach James Franklin says that goes along with the identity he wants his team to cultivate.
“Where it came from or where they ordered it online or whatever I don’t know,” Franklin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “Or whether Manny made it in his woodshop in his basement, I’m not sure of those details. But just trying to reinforce the physical aspect on defense ... and emphasizing toughness.”
That identity was on full display in the team’s 41-12 victory over Auburn with the lines on both sides of the ball imposing their will on the Tigers.
On offense, the line has been a question mark for years and for the majority of Franklin’s tenure as the program’s leader. It’s a group that has come under fire and one that the head coach didn’t want to speak about prior to the season. His reasoning was simple. He’d said so much in the past about the line improving, only for it to fail to meet the expectations he set. This year, he was going to let the outside world tell him how his offense was doing.
Three weeks in, how are they doing?
“I’m still not ready,” Franklin said with a laugh. “I’m gonna hold off. ... I do think this past weekend with zero sacks and being able to run the ball the way we ran the ball and being on the road and handling crowd noise, which can be challenging for an offensive line, I do think it was a step in the right direction. But we still have work to do and I’m still not ready to pound the table but I probably won’t be all year long because I know as soon as I say something positive something won’t go well.”
The line seems to have taken a step forward — especially given how well it played against Auburn — and helped the team run for 245 yards in the game. That’s been aided not only by one of the most talented freshmen duos in the country at running back, but also by the tight ends that have added value as blockers.
That begins with starting tight end Brenton Strange, who Franklin said is helping himself and the team with his physicality in the running game.
“I think he’s playing his best football right now,” he said. “... I think it’s been really impactful. We talk about the O-line all the time in the run game but our tight ends I think are having a big impact for it as well. ... I think that’s going to help us throughout this year offensively. I know it helps our defense going against him every single day at practice, really that whole group. And I also know it’s gonna help Brenton in terms of his future, whenever that opportunity comes at the next level I think it’s going to help him.”
Abdul Carter breaking out early
The No. 11 has a history at Penn State with its linebackers. Micah Parsons, Navorro Bowman, Lavar Arrington and Brandon Bell have all worn the number and all had great success while doing so as a Nittany Lion. Now the latest No. 11 is tasked with filling those shoes and is already off to a very strong start.
Carter — a true freshman — has 11 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble through his first three games, and really only two after he was ejected for targeting on his first defensive snap in the season opener against Purdue. Carter’s immediate impact is here because he’s both physically and mentally ready to take on being a linebacker.
“He’s freakishly fast, freakishly strong and doesn’t have the body of a normal high school linebacker coming in,” Franklin said. “... His dad talked about his maturity and his focus and he’s exactly right. His maturity and focus for a guy his age is impressive. Very disciplined young man who comes from a disciplined family.”
Carter’s play has been a key part of the Nittany Lions’ aggressiveness this season thanks to his ability to play all over the field. And while his hasty development has been a pleasant surprise for Franklin and his staff, he wants to be sure he isn’t overloading his true freshman linebacker.
“I think he can handle more but I think you have to be careful,” Franklin said. “Because if not you get greedy. You have a true freshman that’s having success so you start putting more and more on his plate and he doesn’t have the same type of success because it’s not just learning the defense, it’s learning the offense and all of the adjustments that take place ... and how that affects your role. We want to continue to help him grow and evolve but it’s always that fine line that you don’t do too much that now he’s thinking more than he’s playing. And right now he’s playing pretty well.”
Penn State on the national stage
Penn State drew plenty of praise and attention for the dominant victory over Auburn, leaping eight spots in the AP Top 25 college football poll, from No. 22 to No. 14. Franklin’s locker room celebration was plastered all over social media and then his team got an even larger boost from a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Former New York Giants QB Eli Manning went undercover as a walk-on at Penn State’s tryouts in late August and Monday the video of the prank went viral.
Franklin said being in the spotlight for those types of things is beneficial to the program.
“This is a game, it should be fun for the players, for the coaches, for our fans, for our alumni, for the community,” he said. “... Providing other opportunities to kind of peek behind the curtain, show some personality and allow people to see some of these things and have some fun ... you do need to have some things that are a change of pace. ... There’s value in it, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”
The added attention is only going to grow from here for the Nittany Lions. The team has a budding star at running back in Nick Singleton and is undefeated with two very winnable games up next. They should be 5-0 heading into a road matchup with Michigan in Ann Arbor with a chance to vault themselves into the College Football Playoff conversation by mid-October.
Quick Hitters
- Franklin said there was a freshman who played in two games who he would still like to redshirt. As noted by The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder, the three freshmen that have played in two games are KJ Winston, Cam Miller and Kaden Saunders.
- While the team has gone to different personnel groupings under Diaz, Franklin said there aren’t necessarily more, adding that the groupings change based on the strength of the team.
- Former five-star recruit Dani Dennis-Sutton is physically mature for a freshman, but nearly chose not to go to Penn State because players don’t have individual dorms, according to Franklin.
