Godwin updates offense's progress
Penn State junior wideout Chris Godwin talked about the progress of the new Nittany Lion offense, tempo, his younger wideout teammates and the ongoing quarterback battle between Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens.
The concept of Joe Moorhead’s new offense at Penn State is basic enough.
Streamlined teaching, building one concept on the next, and a limited menu of plays that are presented in a variety of ways; all of it done very, very quickly.
“There’s not any lengthy calls, everything’s a one- or two-word call at the line of scrimmage. For the most part the only people that are hearing words are the offensive linemen and that’s because the quarterback’s communicating to them. Everyone else it’s from a signal,” said Moorhead. “So there’s not a ton of run plays, there’s not a tremendous number of pass concepts, but I think there’s enough variations in those things we do to make it seem like we’re doing more than we actually are. Window dressing is a lot of what people refer to it as.”
Embedded in the thick of preseason practice, the window dressing is what the Nittany Lions are working on in earnest as their home opener against Kent State draws near.
Catching up with the media following practice earlier this week, Penn State junior wideout Chris Godwin described the progress his offensive unit is making as the practice sessions accumulate. “I just think it's our understanding of the offense and the tempo that we want to go at,” said Godwin. “Every day, we're constantly trying to push the tempo faster and faster so when the games come, they're a little bit easier than practice so that we're dictating the tempo and we're going as fast as we want to go. I think that's our constant growth, just executing plays perfectly at a really fast tempo.”
Godwin, who led the Nittany Lions with 69 receptions and 1,101 yards last season, represents one of the few returning bright spots for a Penn State offense that sputtered for the past two years.
Finishing in the bottom half of the Big Ten in every major statistical offensive category last season, averaging just 348.4 yards and scoring only 23.2 points per game, the Nittany Lions’ offensive woes put constant pressure on their defense. Understanding the risks that an uptempo offense adds to the equation, Godwin said he and his teammates are taking special care to make sure the same mistakes don’t happen this year.
“It's just one of those things where we have to execute,” said Godwin. “We understand that we're going at a fast pace and sometimes that can put our defense in a bad position, but at the end of the day we have to execute our given play so that we don't have to. We don't want to put our defense in those bad positions. I think we're getting a lot better at understanding how we want to attack defenses and where we want to go on each and every play.”
Godwin also offered up his opinions on some of the other trending topics as the Nittany Lions progress through the preseason.
On the benefits to naming a QB sooner rather than later: “I’m not sure if there are any. Being that there's a quarterback competition, they're getting equal reps for both guys, so it's just a matter of when coach wants to name the starting quarterback, that's who we'll go with. But, I feel very comfortable with both guys.”
On Trace McSorley: “Speed. He's a speedy guy. He's obviously a very smart guy. A high-GPA guy, and it shows on the field. He has a lot of football IQ, so he rarely makes mistakes.
On Tommy Stevens: “They're both smart guys, but the difference with Tommy is, he's a bit taller. I think he's about 6-4, so when you think of Tommy, you just think of bigger stature, but they both play pretty similar, they both have really good legs and the ability to kind of pick apart defenses.”
On Juwan Johnson and Irvin Charles improvements: “Their mentality, their approach to everything. Last year, they were true freshmen coming in and they were just trying to find their way. But I think a year being in the program, being around all the other guys, they understand the work ethic that it's going to take to be great. We're all kind of pushing each other and they're coming along right with us to get better.”
“They bring a different skillset. They're big guys, so they have the ability to go up and make the jump catch and be a bigger body for defensive backs. It's just one of those things that kind of changes the tempo for us.”
On the secondary: “They're doing a great job. The offense and defense, we're both going at a really fast pace because the offense is dictating that, but the defense is doing a great job staying right there with us. They have great depth at defensive back, so each and every group is coming in and they're pushing us. I think it's going to be beneficial for us down the road, but we have to keep working each and every day to try to build that work ethic.”
On one impressive player this preseason: “I think a young guy that I've been really impressed with this camp has been Garrett Taylor. He's gotten a little bit bigger this offseason and he's really worked on his techniques, so I think he's doing a great job against all of our receivers, honestly.”