Penn State mailbag: TE usage, players not seeing snaps despite hype, more
It's time for the latest Penn State Nittany Lions football mailbag!
Head coach James Franklin's team returns to the field on Saturday when Ball State visits Beaver Stadium for the 2021 home opener. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports One, and a capacity crowd is expected.
In this week's question and answer piece, BWI's Nate Bauer, David Eckert, and Greg Pickel answer your queries about tight end usage, players not seeing snaps despite receiving offseason hype, and more.
It's time to jump into the mailbag.
@PattyTakes213: Is Marquis Wilson gonna see the field this year? He made a bunch of big plays as a freshman but now that they have him working both ways there isn’t a clear path for playing time
Eckert: This is a great question. To be honest, I'm not 100 percent sure where he fits right now. This is mere speculation, but I think it's a bit more likely that we see him at WR than at CB, just because the Nittany Lions are not as deep at that position. If you look at some of the names and the experience at that cornerback spot it's difficult to see Wilson breaking in. That said, I do think he'll play at some point. It's a long season, guys are going to pick up bumps and bruises. The Nittany Lions will need their depth.
Pickel: So, yes, it is fair to wonder if Wilson finds himself as the odd man out at both corner and receiver. He practiced on both sides of the ball during both camp and the leadup to Wisconsin, but when it came time for a starter to come out, Daequan Hardy and Kalen King were the only other corners who faced the Badgers and Winston Eubanks backed up Parker Washington in the slot. I do think we'll see him carve out a snap count for himself as the season moves along, simply because of his speed, but it might not be as big of a role as we would have expected a month ago at this time.
Bauer: Barring something unforeseen, Wilson's ability to immediately surpass Jahan Dotson or Parker Washington was obviously always a nonstarter, and sliding past KeAndre Lambert or Cam Sullivan-Brown seemed unlikely as well. So in that sense, this is an opportunity for Wilson to develop and grow in his knowledge and skill as a receiver, which is more complex and nuanced than it might appear on its face. Frankly, the Ball State and Villanova games are going to give us a better sense of what's next for Wilson, assuming some low-stress opportunities for him to play.
If he plays, we'll see where he's at in that development and, if he doesn't, we'll have a better feel for where Penn State believes him to be.
@therealnj11: What happened to the loaded TE room? I couldn’t tell if they just weren’t getting open or if the game plan wasn’t focused on getting them the ball. Clifford rarely threw the ball to the middle of the field which makes me think they weren’t part of the game plan.
Eckert: Look, this is not an experienced group. Brenton Strange has been around for a while but he has very little time under his belt of being 'The Guy.' Theo Johnson is a true sophomore. Neither player had a very good first showing, but I also don't think we should be making overarching judgements about the group's ability based on a road game against one of the top two or three defenses the Nittany Lions will confront this season. I think Mike Yurcich and the Penn State coaching staff realized in the second half that this was a game they needed to win with speed. They weren't going to beat the Badgers at their own game physically. That meant getting their running backs and wideouts in space — maybe taking some targets away from the TEs — and you saw how it worked out. Have some patience with this group, they'll come around.
Pickel: Mike Yurcich has absolutely no problem using a tight end as the third and even fourth receiver on some passing downs, and so it's hard for me to conclude that the tight ends weren't a part of the game plan. The problem was that they couldn't create separation, and the few times they did, the pass either sailed high or off their hands. The snap count for this position group will equal production throughout the season, but yeah, this wasn't the opening performance anyone expected, and it's worth reminding everyone that seeing is believing, and while Brenton Strange, Theo Johnson, and Tyler Warren all have loads of potential, they also don't enter the season with the kind of production guys like Pat Freiermuth and Mike Gesicki have showcased. They have to prove it, and I think they will, but the effort must be better than it was in Week 1 for that to happen.
Bauer: I don't want to gloss over the sentiment of the question, but in a game that saw just 54 offensive snaps for Penn State, period, and had absolutely no rhythm in the first half to the tune of just one first down, I'm not drawing much of anything from Saturday's tight ends performance, at least from a receiving perspective. I don't think there is any question, however, that Saturday demonstrated the versatility that Penn State envisions for this group being put into action. Strange lined up as a fullback, inline for 16 snaps, split wide for four, and was in the slot for another 19 snaps according to PFF, and Johnson took snaps inline, split wide and in the slot, too. And Warren, though he appeared in just six snaps offensively, also played both inline and in the slot. Let's see what this group does this weekend against a Ball State defense that will have to endure some mismatches before we make any judgments.
@CNickler23: Will the offense do more RPO to allow quick slants or [Sean] Clifford running be an extension of the traditional run game?
Eckert: I don't believe Penn State will totally abandon the RPO schemes that have been a key part of its offense for the last several seasons, but I also think James Franklin is allowing Mike Yurcich to make this his offense in a way that I don't think he has with previous coordinators. So, we'll see where that takes us. As for Clifford running the ball, I would not be surprised if the coaching staff is a little bit wary about that. He is one of three scholarship quarterbacks, and the two guys behind him have very little experience. If Clifford gets hurt, they're in trouble. They may want to limit the number of hits he takes on a week-by-week basis.
Pickel: I'm going to attack this from more of a general perspective: What we saw at Wisconsin in the second half is more indicative of what we'll see from this attack moving forward. Yes, I believe some RPO stuff will be worked in because almost every college football offense has a version of it. But, you also saw some of the principles of a Yurcich-called game: Screens, perimeter work, and deep shots in addition to trying to get the run game going up the gut. Some are panicking after the first performance, but I don't think there's anything to worry about, and that should be proven on Saturday against the Cardinals.
Bauer: I'm with Dave and Greg on this one, and honestly, Franklin more or less alluded to the type of running he's anticipating from Clifford this season during his Tuesday press conference. Clifford has healthy, viable weapons all over the field this season. So when the check down to Noah Cain is there, against taking off himself, Clifford is going to be directed to get the ball to Cain. Yes, Clifford will still run when escaping a collapsing pocket if other options aren't available to him, but with Penn State's aforementioned depth challenges at quarterback and what Yurcich likes to do, that element is likely to appear in significantly smaller doses than anything we saw last season.
@MattRR2431: What experience , if any do we have at the qb position behind Clifford ?
Pickel: I'll answer this for everyone: None. It'll be important for the Nittany Lions to have a comfortable fourth quarter lead against both Ball State and Villanova so that Clifford can rest and more importantly, Ta'Quan Roberson can get some actual game reps.
@TimmeLederman: Did they try to get a transfer QB? If not, WHY?
Pickel: Yes, and it didn't work out. That was always a good possibility and it ended up being the case.
Bauer: Just going to add one thing to Greg's message, which is that it's decidedly more complicated than scanning the transfer portal and just taking anyone who is available and interested. That's true of the entire roster, but particularly at a position like quarterback, you have to make absolutely certain that the guy coming in is a fit in where he stands in his eligibility and how everyone else envisions their trajectory. Otherwise, you're bringing in someone you know less about than the guys you have, and could very well lose more than you already have in Will Levis and Micah Bowens this offseason. Not finding a connection in the portal at quarterback certainly wasn't Penn State's preferred route, but the precariousness of a room that was already down to three meant no chances could really be taken to bring in anyone but a proven commodity in exchange for disrupting that delicate balance that remained in the program.
@Jbenn23: If [Jordan Stout] continues to struggle at place kicking, will [Jake] Pinegar take over and let Jordan focus on 2/3 aspects in kickoffs & punts?
Eckert: To put it simply, yes. I don't think Penn State will continue to force Jordan Stout out there for short kicks if he continues to miss them. It should be noted that there was a bad hold on one of his missed kicks on Saturday, but, as James Franklin put it, you have to make the kick — regardless. I don't know how bad things would need to get for the Nittany Lions to make that switch, but certainly that's something that is on the table.
Pickel: I wouldn't rule it out, but let's all hit the brakes here a little bit. Stout missed a chip shot that was bad and an extra point with a bad hold, but he was terrific in almost every other aspect. I'm not ready to kick his field goal kicking duties to the curb just yet and Jake Pinegar is starting to feel like the backup quarterback the week after the starter struggled. Maybe it's not the case, but it's usually the case that if the backup was so much better than the starter, he would be the starter. James Franklin won't rule out a change so we won't either but I'd be very surprised if it happens this week.
Bauer: James Franklin made plain Tuesday that the performance at Wisconsin for Stout as a place kicker was being viewed in two ways. The first is that it didn't upend the fact that Stout flat-out won the competition with Pinegar in the preseason. And the second is that the issues Stout experienced went beyond his personal performance to include the snap, the hold, and the kick. If those issues aren't resolved quickly, I won't be surprised to see Penn State go back to its prior arrangement, but I also expect Stout and the rest of the place kicking operation to get the opportunity to rectify what went wrong on Saturday.
@FlyorDie881019: Brisker played like a beast but was continuously banged up throughout the game. Assuming he’s good to go against Ball State, will the staff try to rest him a bit with Auburn the following week?
Eckert: Absolutely. If and when Penn State feels like it has this game won I think you will see the defensive starters from last week on the sidelines, Brisker included. Penn State's defense was on the field for over 40 minutes against a very physical offense. Keeping them fresh for Wisconsin should be a priority.
Pickel: Yeah, I don't think there is any question that Penn State will rest as many starters as soon as possible following the grueling day in Madison, but that's almost entirely dependent on how the offense performs in addition to whether or not Brent Pry's unit is racking up the stops. Tariq Castro-Fields and Jaquan Brisker should be the first guys out, however, once the opportunity presents itself, and Ji'Ayir Brown shouldn't be far behind.
Bauer: Take that concept and expand it through the entirety of the roster. At no point will this be spoken publicly ahead of time, but this is a critical game - as Franklin has often noted in retrospect - for program development. It just can't be overstated how important it is to not only take care of business, but to also do so early in the game to open the opportunity to get live game reps in down the depth chart in situations like this.
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