Wide receivers, offense and other questions Penn State’s Blue-White game could answer
Penn State will close out spring ball Saturday afternoon with its annual Blue-White game. The Nittany Lions will take the field at Beaver Stadium publicly at 2 p.m. Here are some final thoughts and predictions ahead of the Nittany Lions’ last spring practice of the year.
How different is the offense?
This will be the first public showing for the new Penn State offense and there are plenty of questions about what exactly it will be this season.
The primary one has to be how Drew Allar will fit into it. The junior quarterback is heading into his second season as the starter and is best utilized in situations where he can show off his elite arm strength and ability to make difficult throws in difficult ways. That will likely be a priority for new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, but Kotelnicki also has leaned on the running game in the past.
That should help free Allar up with teams focusing on Penn State’s running backs, but it will also likely involve him. It wouldn’t a surprise if there was an increased use of the option game in the offense, allowing Allar — and backup Beau Pribula in certain spots — to use their legs to make plays. That’s part of the next question about the unit — how creative will Kotelnicki be as a Nittany Lion?
He’s been known to use motion and misdirection to get his best athletes in space and that will likely be an emphasis this season, given the team’s lack of explosive plays in 2023. It’s highly unlikely the team is going to put all of its best plays on display in a scrimmage, but there should be a small sampling of the creativity — and of how Allar fits — that creates a window of what to expect when the season begins.
Have the wide receivers taken a step?
There isn’t a position group on the team with more questions about it than wide receiver. The Nittany Lion receivers underwhelmed in 2023 and there hasn’t been a massive turnover at the position this offseason. There has been a major addition in Julian Fleming and a couple subtractions in Dante Cephas and Cristian Driver, but those are the primary alterations to the group.
Fleming has dealt with injury issues in the past, and could finally take a step into being a No. 1 option, but the rest of the positional improvement will have to come from within. That adds pressure to someone like Harrison Wallace III, who has also had injury issues in the past and will have to take another step in his development to be a true No. 2 receiver. With Wallace and Fleming presumably starting, that leaves the slot position as the only opening. KeAndre Lambert-Smith is presumed to be at the top of the depth chart, but will need to show more consistency to earn the lion’s share of those reps. If it’s not him, Kaden Saunders and Liam Clifford remain players to monitor for the slot.
It’s highly unlikely a big performance Saturday would give anyone the job, but it is an opportunity to see if any players have stepped up at the position.
Who goes after spring ball?
There’s no way around it, Penn State — and most other programs around the country — will likely see players enter the transfer portal when the window for them to do so opens up on April 16. The question is, who will they be and what will the circumstances be around their exit from the program?
The Nittany Lions are set to be over the 85 scholarship limit once the rest of their 2024 recruiting class enrolls during the summer, but by how much depends on who you ask.
“We’re in great shape,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “Don’t see any of those things (being) an issue.”
Regardless of what the number is, the team will need to find a way to get to that magic number of 85 by the time the season starts and it will almost assuredly involve players leaving via the transfer portal. There are some positions that have been speculated on where potential exits and entries could occur. But for now, the program is focused on the retention aspect of the portal.
“We’ve got to recruit our locker room come next week,” cornerbacks coach Terry Smith said. “After spring ball, who knows who the hot guys are in the locker room. We just gotta talk to each guy and show them their value and worth to our program and hope that we don’t lose a guy.”
Either way, Saturday could be another data point in determining what the future is for certain Nittany Lions as they prepare to make choices about their future.
Final predictions
Offensive MVP: RB Cam Wallace. We don’t know the rosters yet, but backup running back seems like a likely spot for the MVP on that side of the ball. Kaytron Allen was not at Tuesday night’s practice when the media was present, and he and Nick Singleton have earned the right to have their reps managed. Wallace has a shot to be the primary beneficiary Saturday afternoon.
Defensive MVP: LB Tony Rojas. Rojas is the perfect mix of a player who is talented and ready and contribute, but isn’t enough of a veteran to have his reps limited. He should be all over the place and has a chance to make enough plays to have the biggest defensive performance.
The last word
Penn State head coach James Franklin on the structure of the spring game
“We’ve got some bumps and bruises, we’ve had a very physical spring ball, but we expect to have more of a traditional spring game. That’s where we’re at right now. That’s what we plan on doing.”
