How Penn State’s offense will change in quarterback Drew Allar’s second year as starter
Still in the midst of fall camp, Penn State is inching closer to its season opener, with the matchup with West Virginia in Morgantown just over two weeks away.
There is a natural shift that will have to eventually occur, with individual growth giving up center stage to game planning for opponents.
But there’s also a level of reliance on what is being practiced now that the team will have when games roll around.
“In my opinion, if you’re doing it right, and we believe this here, the things you’re doing to beat your first opponent and an opponent in Week 8 or Week 10, you’re already practicing,” offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. “It might look a little bit different based on how your fall camp goes and some of the questions that you evaluate about yourself. But you are definitely doing things that you’re going to call already in that game.”
For now, though, the team is still preparing for the season as a whole with what has been a physical fall camp. That’s something Franklin said has been the norm for his program but isn’t something new coaches are used to seeing.
“I think we’ve always been a physical team and physical in camp and in spring ball,” Franklin said. “... I think we’re in a really good place. We’ve got a ton of work in short yardage, four-minute, stuff that’s hard to do without going live.”
Part of their preparations will include 11-on-11 work to get the team ready to go for the opener. But it’s not just about the reps themselves for the Nittany Lions.
It’s also about getting them under the bright lights, something the team will try to do before fall camp comes to an end.
“I think going to the stadium is going to be important for us,” Franklin said. “We haven’t done that yet.”
Kotelnicki’s offense taking shape
The biggest change from last year’s team to the one in fall camp right now is what it will look like offensively. Kotelnicki isn’t going to change everything the team does on that side of the ball, but he brings a level of creativity that the team didn’t display often in 2023.
Much of that is working on confusing the defense, something starting quarterback Drew Allar said Kotelnicki excels at.
“I think we do a really good job of getting our best playmakers the ball in space and creating distortion,” he said. “Which is all of what (Kotelnicki’s) philosophy is about. I’ve been really impressed with that. I could see the thought going in to camp of how we want to do that, but to see it actually paying off right now is really good.”
Creativity and distortion will help, but nothing will do more for the Penn State offense than the creation of more explosive plays, whether that’s in the running game or passing game.
The Nittany Lions consider any 12+ yard run or 15+ yard pass to be an explosive play, and that was an area the team fell short of at times last year. Kotelnicki said the goal is to have at least 15% of the team’s offense snaps result in explosive plays. That could impact the team’s ability to not turn the ball over, an area the Nittany Lions excelled in last year, but there’s a balance Kotelnicki would like to strike between the two.
“It goes with design, it goes with some intentions about what explosive plays look like and are,” he said. “... The intention of maybe setting up plays that are complementary, the intention of putting your players in their best position possible to succeed and the intention to make sure that you are pressing the ball down the field enough. And that you do have a plan or a vision for how much that needs to occur.”
Offensive line depth growing
One of the weaker groups in the early years of the James Franklin era has become a strength over the last few seasons. The team’s offensive line has become under-discussed, in part because there isn’t a lot to talk about with a group that figures to play at a high level without much flash or flair.
That’s not to say the top five is set in stone. In fact, the opposite is true. Franklin said Tuesday night that he anticipates plenty of players to see the field as part of the offensive line rotation.
“We’ve got a chance to have eight guys,” Franklin said. “I think we’ll have more than two tackles play. I think we’ll have at least three tackles play. I think we’ll have two centers play. How much? We’ll see. We’ve still got a ton of work to do between now and then, but I think we have probably a little bit more depth than we’ve had in the past.”
One of those players is freshman interior lineman Cooper Cousins, who Franklin expects to factor in at both center and guard this season.
The head coach previously said the freshman has gone above and beyond to try and earn playing time in his first year on campus.
“I don’t like to talk in ways that’s going to create crazy expectations,” Franklin said last week. “But I could not be more impressed with him. ... The guy is either in class or in the building and asking a ton of questions.”
Having that many linemen playing — including a true freshman — could be a cause for concern, especially in a new offense with a relatively young quarterback at the controls.
That being said, it hasn’t been much of an issue for Allar, who sees it as a positive for the offense.
“I don’t really notice it, to be honest,” Allar said. “I know there’s a lot of guys coming in and out, but there’s no drop off right now. And I think at that position specifically you need to have depth, just because of how much physicalness that there is in the trenches down there.”
Quick hitters
- Freshman wide receiver Peter Gonzalez is out with a long-term injury, Franklin said Tuesday night. Gonzalez had a chance to crack the receiver rotation this season.
- Tight end Khalil Dinkins has been dealing with “bumps and bruises,” according to Franklin. He’s slated to be the second tight end on the roster this year.
- Freshman tight end Luke Reynolds is someone Franklin said will play this year, although it’s yet to be determined on if that means playing in four regular season games and the postseason to preserve his redshirt, or if he’ll burn it by playing more than that.
