Drew Allar on his development, Deion Barnes on becoming DL coach & more from PSU practice
Deion Barnes was nearly at a loss for words when he got the news. The then-graduate assistant had spent three years helping John Scott Jr., Penn State’s defensive line coach at the time, work with the position group. Now, two weeks after Scott departed for a job with the Detroit Lions, Barnes would be taking over.
“I was like, ‘Whoa,’” Barnes said after Tuesday’s spring practice. “It was like a wild moment. I mean, it’s incredible.”
Barnes is making the transition to full-time position coach at only 30 years old, and not too far off from when he learned he wanted to coach.
The former Nittany Lion defensive end had plans to play in the NFL for a long time, and kept believing in those plans even while he took up coaching at his former high school, Northeast High School in Philadelphia.
But it was then that he realized if playing did not work out, that he had a second path in mind and knew what he wanted to do if no calls came from any NFL teams.
“I didn’t know until it happened,” Barnes said. “... Then it was just me trying to help back at my high school, at Northeast. Once that happened, it was like, I actually love this thing. It turned my passion from actually playing to coaching.”
The transition from player to coach was relatively seamless for Barnes, who has relied on plenty of mentors along the way, including Scott, Penn State head coach James Franklin and Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.
Now that he’s taken over the room, he said not much has changed for him, but he is making sure to follow what Franklin wants from his position group. That doesn’t mean he’s changed from a disciplinary standpoint, but he has found a way to be more organized in what he does with his group.
“Organization, I think that’s the biggest thing I’m learning,” Barnes said. “Just making sure you plan your day, day in and day out and then communicating with the kids, not only just the football things but the off the field things as well. Just trying to make sure they’re organized as well, trying to make sure I’m a helpful hand more off the field than I was when I was a GA.”
Drew Allar’s development
No position will be more important for Penn State this season than quarterback, and while Franklin reiterated that there’s a competition ongoing for the starting spot, all signs point to sophomore Drew Allar.
While the expectation is from the outside that Allar will soon enough be declared the starter and begin his reign as the program’s leader, that doesn’t mean anything to him. He’s approaching the competition as exactly what it is, and not taking anything lightly. That applies to every position, not just his.
“I don’t think (the competition) affects anything,” Allar said. “I think every position is open. There’s no starters whatsoever until West Virginia comes around. I think everybody has that mindset. We’re competing against each other, but we’re doing it in the right way. We’re also helping each other at the same time. And it’s like that across the board at every position.”
Now in year two, Allar is making all of the needed adjustments to not just lead an offense, but to lead a program. That begins on the field for the young signal caller.
Last season he was learning from a veteran in Sean Clifford, who was in his fourth year of starting at Penn State and sixth year overall. Now all of those mental aspects of the game fall to him and making sure he knows what he’s doing on the field. Fortunately for him and the Nittany Lions, he’s already feeling more comfortable than he did a year ago.
“I’m definitely a lot more comfortable,” Allar said. “I think that just comes with the nature of being in an offense for the second year in a row. ... More comfortable with the run game, pass game, protections, all that. I think everything in general has slowed down for me, just from experience and being in the offense for a second year in a row.”
The other part of that is the off-field growth. Clifford was one of many leaders to leave the program and now that falls onto the next group of high end starters to take the mantle.
Allar, quiet by nature, has not always been the most forthright leader but is taking what he learned last season with Clifford an turning it into something tangible. He may not be constantly talking or at the forefront of every discussion, but he’s learning to pick his spots when it comes to being vocal.
“I definitely feel like I’m a little bit more vocal,” Allar said. “... I do feel like I need to step up and be more vocal at times still, but I think overall, the leadership as a whole is coming along really well. It might not be the same leadership as last year as far as like the same type of leaders but we could have more leaders than we did last year and more lead by example guys.”
All eyes on the running backs
Allar will lead the offense but he’ll do that by leaning on the running game. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen formed one of the best running back tandems in the country last season, combining for over 1900 rushing yards with each having over 850.
There could have been some element of surprise with how the duo performed, and how the running game performed in general, but that won’t be the case this year.
Everyone knows how good the backs are and that very much includes opposing defenses. Singleton said that’s been part of the message to the position group since the season ended.
“Me, Kaytron, the whole running back room, especially (running backs) coach (Ja’Juan) Seider are just preaching all eyes on us now,” Singleton said. “We’ve got to step it up.”
The work has already begun for Singleton to take the next step in his development this spring, but a portion of that doesn’t have anything to do with running the ball.
Yes, he would like to continue improving on his already elite level of play, but the group wasn’t great at working in the passing game last year. Singleton said he’s already taking strides in that area.
“I feel like I improved on the whole scheme of the offense,” Singleton said. “I feel like I know it better. I improved on route running and really pass protection I feel like I improved on.”
Quick hitters
- Both Singleton and safety Jaylen Reed outlined their aspirations to compete for a national title.
- Franklin said the team has been banged up at defensive tackle but both he and Barnes said Zane Durant has stood out so far this spring.
