NFL
By: Courtney Walsh
Penn State football is here again! Dust off those hoodies and get the cider with that extra punch in it rolling the best time of year has arrived! A 10-3 season last season with losses to Michigan and Ohio State and it ended with a loss to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl. With many changes and a new 12-team playoff, the hopes are high and fans are hungry for more from coach James Franklin and crew. With three new coordinators in the fold can they put things together quickly is a major question. I am super excited to see what Andy Kotelnicki does with this offense coming from Kansas where they had exciting explosive plays. The week one matchup is a road trip to Morgantown, West Virginia not a place on my vacation bucket list and a hard place to win. Here are the offensive and defensive keys to the season and this game.
Offensive Keys
This unit has 7 players back and what does year 2 for Drew Allar look like? The duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen line up in the backfield and once again are important to being effective. The offensive line has some new faces along with the WR group. With 6 new players from the transfer portal I look at former Buckeye Julian Fleming, and former Wisconsin tackle Nolan Rucci. Drew Allar can’t be Mr. Checkdown let it GO kid throw the ball downfield and make defensives nervous. His numbers were not bad when you look at how much it was dink and dunk it makes the numbers look funny in the light. With a 6.8 yards per completion average that won’t cut it in today’s Big10.
Getting the running game going like any other offense is a big part so those defenders have to think about it and play action pass game to get rolling. Who will the playmaker on the outside be needs to be answered quickly talk out of camp was to keep an eye on freshmen Tyseer Denmark and as I mentioned Julian Fleming coming from OSU that is a WR factory of late. Use of the tight end will go up under this new OC and for anyone who watches football a good tight end is a quarterback’s dream.
Defensive Keys:
It will be a mostly 4-2-5 look and like the offense expect some bumps as the guys get used to Tom Allen’s system. The former Indiana head coach takes over a unit that was top-5 in almost all categories. Adisa Isaac and Chop Robinson play on Sunday so new faces step into a major role. Enter Abdul Carter (4.5 sacks) and Dani Dennis-Sutton (3.5 sacks). The depth will show up Saturday as it will be a hot one and the Nittany Lions can rotate bodies. If they can apply pressure things don’t get easy with one of the most talented secondaries in the nation. I said what I said. KJ Winston, Jaylen Reed, and Zakee Wheatley are strong and smart this defense will roll with 5 defenders in the backfield. The linebackers will grow game by game sounds corny but it’s true. A steady pass rush cures everything so hoping for the best.
Overall:
Things get started on Saturday! I see this team winning at least 10 games and a win against the Mountaineers would set them up to be 5-0 heading into the USC game. It is CFP playoffs or bust with this collection of talent that is a good mix of experience and hunger to show what they can do. An offense that makes explosive plays and classic PSU defense. Is anyone else already working on their “whiteout” outfit or is that just me? Swing by our partners over at Fanatics for new merchandise and support me. I am here all season long #WeAre
