The Penn State Football Show

Big Ten expansion, quarterback competitions, and Terrelle Pryor's second consecutive selection as the Big Ten preseason player of the year can only mean one thing. Football season is near, and there is plenty to discuss and even more to hate on. I must admit my performance and posts were consistent early last year to start the season, but a faulty laptop held me hostage from posting from my man-chair, hence the fewer posts in the latter part of the season. Fortunately for us, and the PSFS blog followers, I'm back with fresh legs for 2010 with a recent purchase of a snazzy ultra-portable laptop.

A couple thoughts to kick things off, hopefully this gets the ball rolling for '10....

• Big Ten Expansion - safe to say its been a long time comin', however, I get the feeling the damage has not fully been done. I still believe a fourteen team conference is likely, regardless of the fact that Indy has been chosen for the 2011 championship game. I'm thinking along the lines of Pitt and Rutgers.
  
• Bye-Bye-Bye - thankfully Penn State will be getting a bye week this year, which pushes the season later into November and ending it only about 13 weeks prior to the remaining five BCS conferences (See "The 2,032,746 reasons why BigTen expansion was necessary").
  
• Quarterback Competition - its looking as if we're going to play the QB guessing game for another 1 to 2 years, let's just hope we don't leave the wrong guy in too long (See "Anthony Morrelli's Career").
• Big House Expansion - Michigan Stadium is once again the official "big house" with their recent stadium expansion. How many more 1-conference-win seasons can D-Rod afford until the unnecessary red sweatband gets the axe?
• Roll-Tide - September 11 has been circled/highlighted/saved to your MS Outlook work calendar for months now. This game intrigues me and I honestly haven't the slightest prediction. My biases lead me to believe it will be a good game, but it's hard to imagine this offense will produce with a new QB in a hostile environment against the reigning champ (See "2008 Penn State offense @ Ohio State"). Can the new trio of LB's contain Ingram? Again, letting my biases getting to me here, but I think putting points on the board will be a bigger issue than keeping them off the board.
  
• Supply & Demand - Much hoopla has been created over the recent ticket hikes effective for the 2011 season. Gonna stick with my guns on this one. If the people don't like it, don't buy 'em. Fact of the matter is tickets have been under-priced for years, and it only took them until now to make the adjustment (See "Any NFL Team's Season Ticket Prices"). Either sack up and drop the cash, or sit down and release the footrest on your recliner.
• Players to Watch - I'm looking forward to see how DM6 responds to an outstanding 2009 campaign. Will the 6'5 WR continue to deliver with an inexperienced QB at the helm? Keeping the deep-threat in the back of opponents' minds will be key to getting ER22 some running room behind a relatively fresh looking o-line.
  

I wasn’t able to attend this year’s Blue White Game. Luckily it was televised by ESPN 2 with Herbstreit, Millen, Musberger and Desmond Howard calling the game, which was pretty sweet for a spring scrimmage. The game was far from promising, with the obvious concerns being 1. Quarterback and 2. Offensive Line.

Kevin Newsome came to Penn State as a highly recruited dual-threat quarterback. In his limited time last year, he looked very raw and displayed an incredibly awkward throwing motion. I was hoping that would be fixed in time for the Blue White game, but it clearly wasn’t. This dude really looks goofy out there. Albright texted me that he’s shocked every time Newsome drops back without falling over his own two feet. His throwing motion is kind of like Michael Robinson’s but far more awkward. And most of his passes were not within 20 feet of any receiver. He showed decent arm strength, but no accuracy whatsoever. He doesn’t seemed poised or comfortable out there at all. He can run with the best of them, but he’s not a quarterback, and he’s not the answer.

McGloin looked much more comfortable and poised running the offense. There is no denying that this 5’11” former walk-on from Scranton lacks the athletic ability that Newsome possesses, but he’s a much safer bet at quarterback. Anyone who has been following Penn State football for a decent amount of time can already tell you what is going to happen. McGloin will be the opening day starter. Newsome will come in occasionally for a series and do a lot of QB running plays. Like Rudy said, it will be similar to the Thompson/Casey duo. The problem is Thompson was better than McGloin and Casey was better than Newsome.

Yes Paul Jones was the most impressive quarterback out there on Saturday. But does anyone honestly believe Joe Paterno would start a true freshman quarterback? There is no chance. If that happens, you will have the definitive answer to the often asked question of how much coaching does Joe actually do these days? If there is a true freshman starting quarterback at Penn State, you will know that Paterno had nothing to do with that decision.

Jones did look very good out there, but don’t get too excited yet. Keep in mind he was not facing any blitzing, and he’s still only 18 years old. Don’t expect too much from him early on. I think they will find ways to give him some snaps early, and his playing time could increase by the end of the season, especially if Penn State loses a few games. But anyone thinking that he will start from day one needs to get that out of their head.

Once again the offensive line looked very shaky. Penn State really struggles with preparing new starters on the offensive line. The line doesn’t become good until the seniors have about 2 games left. Then they graduate and the line stinks again. This team will be strong on defense once again. Even with the quarterback concerns, they could be a very good team if they had a good offensive line. I’m just not so sure they will. They have all the other pieces of the puzzle. Loaded with talent at the skills positions. Very deep at running back. Some very promising wide receivers. And a strong defense. But they won’t be able to run the ball if the offensive line struggles. We know they won’t be a very good passing team, so a strong running game is crucial. If the line can develop by the start of the season, that will open up a lot of options for the offense. Royster can have a big year, Newsome can run the ball some, and the play action pass would be far more effective. All the Lions would need from McGloin would be to have him be a Trent Dilfer type quarterback that doesn’t turn the ball over and manages the game well. So, along with QB, offensive line is going to be a big determining factor of the success of the team this year.

Gerald Hodges just looks like a beast out there in his uniform.

Curtis Dukes looks really good as well. Great size. Showed good speed and vision. I think he will be good.

I will be interested to see who steps up at the tight end position this season.

Where was D’anton Lynn? Did he play?

As Saturday approaches, we are faced with a very interesting and one of the most important spring games in recent memory. A few years ago, the QB situation was up in the air, but the two candidates (Clark and Devlin) were well established and had been with the team for a few years. Now we enter with a true freshman, and two true sophomores. Newsome displayed some of his terrific athleticism last year, but also his inexperience as he was prone to put the ball on the ground and tended to be pretty inaccurate with the football. Word on the street is that McGloin, the walk-on, is outplaying Newsome and Jones and is the most polished passer of the group and currently has more backing from his teammates than the other QB's. I am all for the best quarterback playing, but I also look at this year as a rebuilding year. This is a young team, and there will be some games that are lost because of the inexperience of the team. In the future, however, McGloin is not the answer. I would accept a two-QB system a la Rashard Casey and Kevin Thompson, but I think having McGloin start would simply be a temporary solution, and it would hurt the team for 2011. Newsome needs to get game experience even if he isn't the best QB this year. I can't stress this enough.

The running game on the other hand looks stellar. Royster has proven himself over the years and might not even participate in the game. Green has improved and seems to play his best football in bowl games. If he can become a better runner between the tackles, watch out. Silas Redd and Curtis Dukes are the guys to watch though. Thunder and lightning, and the future of this ground game. Reports indicate that Redd is ready to go and most likely will not be redshirted this fall.

The wide receiver position is another one in good hands, and a few new faces will bring even more talent to the most stacked position for the Lions. Brandon Moseby-Felder and Shawney Kersey who redshirted last year are two of the fastest players on the team and have really impressed this spring. Guys like Drake, Smith, and Brown are sophomores with experience and have pushed Chaz Powell to the defensive side of the ball. Powell is a big dude and could thrive on the defensive side of the ball. You need him on the field and I think that this move is a good one.

The secondary will be something I take a close look at as well. They could be a terrific unit with the return of pretty much everyone (Wallace should be easily replaced). This years squad is very aggressive and should produce more turnovers with their play. We saw what Stephon Morris could do in coverage, and now Derrick Thomas will join him on the field. He is reportedly a bigger version of Morris, but due to the fact that he started school in the summer and not winter, he redshirted. This could be a dominating force.

Linebacker and defensive line got decimated by departures, but these are the positions that Penn State has thrived off of, and I expect them to be solid. Defensive end should be at an elite level, and Devon Still might be able to make the kind of impact that Odrick has the past few years.

The offensive line is a giant mess, and I have no idea who will be starting where come September, but for now, Wisniewski has been moved back to guard and Doug Klopacz has taken over at center. I think the coaches were hoping one of the young guys like Shrive and Howle would be able to push for a starting position, but they look to be a year away from that. There is still a lot of talent on this line, but with the way JoePa has been ripping on them, it appears they just aren't there right now. The fact that he does tear into them on a regular basis means he believes they can be good.

Should be an interesting game, and I'm thankful that this year I don't have to pay some jabroni $10 to watch it in shitty resolution on my computer and I can enjoy it on my 46" Sony Bravia instead. Wish I could be there, but I've got a 10k to run tomorrow and a sister to beat or God have mercy on my soul. I remember back in the day when I was in college, I'd go to these games mildly hammered and start cheering for the White team hardcore and boo when the Blue team was doing well. People thought I was weird.

Since the activity of the blog has been rather quite of late, I thought I would share some of the news and notes that I have heard/seen coming out of State College since the start of Spring Practice. Maybe you have heard, maybe you have not. Either way, enjoy…

• Nick Sukay has switched jersey numbers from #18 to the highly coveted #1 jersey which is interesting since this number has generally been reserved for a senior cornerback (ala Justin King, AJ Wallace, Anwar Phillips).
• Ironically, Khairi Fortt is wearing #11. Is this an omen, and, will he start in 2010?
• Chaz Powell has been moved from WR to DB. I was thinking this might happen with the abundance of talent at WR and Powell’s lackluster 2009 campaign. I think he could provide a little more depth at Safety.
• Stefen Wisniewski is working at both Center and Guard spots. Remember all the mishandled snaps in the Outback Bowl? Are the coaches not happy with his progression?
• Drew Astorino is recovering for shoulder surgery and will miss all of spring practice. Too bad because he needed spring ball to become more familiar with the strong safety position.
• Joe says that Matt McGloin has a shot at winning the starting QB job…………REALLY?
• The Blue-White game will be televised on ESPN2 and is the first Big Ten spring game to be televised nationally.
• Starting punter candidate Anthony Fera was hit with an underage drinking citation!

With the NFL draft slowly approaching the "experts" come out with drafts of Mock Drafts to tickle our fancy or maybe to just piss me off. Todd McShay (who I feel like we can all agree is a buffoon who would make a better doorstop than a sports analyst) and many others have both Odrick and Bowman much lower than I would expect because of "off the field issues". This is what bothers me about these idiots. A human being with common sense would see that the infractions that Odrick and Bowman committed, while not trivial, were really nothing so great in magnitude as to worry an NFL team. The New England Patriots drafted Brandon Merriweather (reallllly should have taken Poz!) with their first round pick....the same Brandon Merriweather who took part in the infamous UMiami-FIU slugfest where he did some head-stomping. Navarro Bowman is the kind of guy that I would have babysit for me, and Jared Odrick may have beat the piss out of someone, but whatever. Is that so wrong? Are these guys going to pull a Plaxico Burress and shoot themselves in the leg? NO! But McShay wants to prove to everyone that he knows how to read, and pretend that he knows what he's saying. Bowman is the best outside linebacker in the draft, and if he isn't taken in the first round, it won't be because of his character or any other "issues". Odrick is also a sure thing in the first round. He was not a flashy player, but the fact that the Big Ten coaches named him the defensive player of the year really speaks volumes about how they had to gameplan against him. He demanded double teams and was very effective both against the run and the pass. There has been talk that Minnesota would like to grab him, and the Patriots would also be a likely candidate to take him in the first round.

As for other Penn Staters in the draft, Sean Lee will go anywhere from the second to the fifth round with a lot depending on his performance at the combine. Josh Hull might even get drafted, which would be a great thing to see. He is the definition of a hard worker, and although he will never be a starter in the NFL, he is a kind of guy that can play effectively on special teams for a lot of years, something that many take for granted. Some also criticized Lee for not taking part in the Senior Bowl, but with that game it seems that very few players improve their stock. Tim Tebow for example absolutely ruined his chances of getting drafted with his agonizing performance (ok....I liked it). Andrew Quarless will be an interesting pick as well. He will get drafted, but where? Tough to say at this point, but I could see him going as high as the third round, and who would have imagined this a year ago?

Daryl Clark isn't a guy I see getting drafted in the first three rounds, but there really aren't many capable quarterbacks in the draft, and QB's usually get drafted higher than they should. Some analysts said that Clark had a bad Shrine game performance, but he performed pretty well. I think he will have a career in the NFL for a few years at least. The rest of the Penn State class will most likely sign with a team, but getting drafted might not be in the cards. Jeremy Boone is one of the better punters in the class. AJ Wallace, despite his five stars as a high schooler, had a lackluster career. He's athletic, he's fast, but just not a great football player. Someone might take a chance on him in the seventh round. Lastly, Dennis Landolt. He's a good player, and will get his chance in mini-camp, but I don't see him getting drafted.

All in all there is a lot of talent from PSU in the draft, and I fully expect both Bowman and Odrick to go in the first round. And McShay will still have his stupid job, and next year will roll around and we'll have this same bitch session about his unqualified, talentless ability to analyze sports. I hope he develops an allergy to hair gel.

For those who do not follow the fight game former Nittany Lion national champion Phil Davis scored a decision victory in his UFC debut, moving his record to 5-0. Davis notched a dominating 30-27 win from all judges over UFC veteran and former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann. For those unfamiliar with scoring this means Davis won all three rounds.

Stann is a decorated Marine and an all around tough SOB. He is by no means a top 5 fighter but he has fought and beaten a who's who of mma fighters. This was a very stiff test for Davis. I am very excited at the prospect of Davis's career as he is not your traditional wrestler trying to learn the fight game. Most wrestlers in mma are stout and stiff with their movements. They rely on their ability to take their opponent down and "ground and pound" him in to submission. This is a rather boring fight to watch. Davis, on the other hand, is an extremely athletic guy who was always more comfortable on the mat then on his feet which lends itself well to the jiu-jitsu style grappling necessary in the fight game. He is also very tall and lean for his weight class which should help tremendously in his striking.

Keep an eye on your tv guides for a replay on Spike TV. Congratulations to Phil on which should be a long and promising career. You can also join his facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/philmrwonderful. There is usually a link to some shady Ukranian website where you can watch the fight for free.

National Letter of Intent Day was on Wednesday, and Penn State finished with a very good recruiting class. Most publications rank them around 10-12 nationally, and pretty much everyone has them as the top class in the Big Ten. The Big Ten as a conference was down in recruiting this year, mostly due to a very rare down-year by Ohio State. The Buckeyes have consistently recruited top 10 and often top 5 classes, but this year they were ranked around 20. Michigan had a top 25 class once again. Their recent struggles haven't seemed to hurt their recruiting.

Even though Penn State's class ended up being very good, I was not very happy with how the recruiting season ended for the Lions. They started out on fire, with a very impressive list of early commitments. They were ahead of the game from the start, getting lots of high quality commits early. A lot of people, including myself, were thinking it would finish as a top 5 class. They ended up losing two verbal committments in wide receiver Adrian Coxson and Defensive Lineman Dominique Easley, both switched to Florida, who finished with the consensus #1 class. A lot of people were hoping to land top running back recruit Marcus Lattimore from South Carolina and were dissapointed when he chose the Gamecocks over the Lions. In my opinion though, this was not that big of a loss, and it was a longshot anyway since he was from SC. With Royster, Green, and Beachum on the roster, and 4-star recruit Silas Redd coming in with this class, there was no need for another running back.

Notes from this class:

-Interesting that the top two prospects in this class were both from Connecticut. Don't see that very often.

-Quarterback was a big time need and Penn State got two great ones in Jones and Bolden. I've seen Jones play a few times. He is a physical specimen, a huge dude with a big arm, a lot like Clark. But he is far from being ready to play quarterback in college. His mechanics need a ton of work and he is very raw. Enrolling early will help him for sure. I've also seen some video of Bolden, who has much better mechanics. He has a real quick release and a strong arm. He is extremely skinny though. He definitely needs to put on some weight. He did not enroll early. Even though the quarterback position is wide open for next year, anyone who thinks that either of these two true freshman have a shot at being named the opening day starter has clearly not followed Joe Paterno for very long. It will be Newsome or McGloin or maybe even Brackett, but that doesn't mean one of these two won't win the job eventually.

-Excited to have another Norwood on the team.

-Most important observation on recruiting: Notice that Florida State had a top 5 class after Bowden retired. I think Paterno retiring will have the same effect on PSU recruiting. Not to say that he is holding them back, but when Joe Pa decides to leave, that will be the start of something new and exciting at Penn State and will attract a lot of recruits. Especially since the top two recruiters on the staff are Bradley and Johnson, and they will most likely become the head coach and defensive coordinator.

Overall I'm very happy with this class and excited to see what they can do.