Summer Session: Offensive Line
Continuing our position-by-position look at the Nittany Lions as the enter the summer months, we examine the offensive line, the areas it has obviously improved and the areas still to be sorted out.
OBJECTIVES: Brian Gaia’s graduation meant priority status for the Nittany Lions finding a new center this spring while also giving increased development time to a roster backloaded with freshman, redshirt freshman and sophomore talent across the line. With Brendan Mahon and Andrew Nelson still missing time this spring after season-ending absences in 2016, opportunities were plentiful.
WHAT’S CLEAR: When James Franklin and his staff arrived in Happy Valley in the winter of 2014, a total of nine healthy bodies existed along the offensive line to work with in their first spring practice. Now, even without Mahon and Nelson in the spring, and a few other absences due to unspecified injuries, this is a unit with the potential to be an asset to the Lions’ offense in the season ahead.
Truly, it’s been a remarkable transformation.
Though Franklin appeared to voice some frustration through the course of the spring regarding the injuries that didn’t allow necessarily for a cohesive look at what the fall’s starting unit might look like, the question at center appears to have found an answer.
At 315 pounds, Connor McGovern’s shift from a starting guard in the second half of the 2016 season as a true freshman into the team’s starting center appears to be complete. With it comes the extra oomph Franklin at times seemed to think was lacking in the past in short-yardage situations.
McGovern started nine games at guard last year, but he played center in high school and saw practice snaps at a variety of spots as an early enrollee last spring.
“I think Connor is probably most comfortable at center,” said Franklin. “That's what he played his whole high school career, but I think to ask a true freshman to come in for you and play center and start for you would be difficult.”
Listening to McGovern tell it, prior experience helped inform the transition, which went well.
“I was thrown around in all different positions: tackle, guard, left tackle,” McGovern said. “That taught me a lot about how everyone else is thinking on the field, so it helps me a lot more with my calls, too, at center. I need to come out a leader every single day and be more vocal and try to be more confident and make sure everyone else knows what’s going on.”
The question, of course, is the shape the rest of the line will take come preseason practice in August. Still, boasting starting experience from six returning players, gone are the days of entering a season blind to the group's battle-readiness.
WHAT’S NOT: In the Blue-White Game, McGovern started at center, Ryan Bates and Chasz Wright manned the tackle spots while Zach Simpson and January enrollee Mike Miranda lined up as guards.
Though Bates and Wright both appear in line to be potential starters at left and right tackle, respectively, the healthy returns of Mahon and redshirt freshman Michal Menet are likely to shake up the guard spots flanking McGovern. If and when Nelson makes his return, he’ll likely find a role as well in his final season of eligibility at Penn State.
A continuation of what has been a years-long evolution for the offensive line, the personnel has finally reached a point to be in a position to excel and withstand some of the bumps and bruises inevitable in the course of the season. Including Steven Gonzalez, Will Fries, Sterling Jenkins and Alex Gellerstedt, all of whom saw extensive work this spring, it is a group that still has to sort its arrangement out in full but obviously shows signs of great potential for 2017 and beyond.
As for the biggest spring objective, finding and feeling secure at the center position, there are still some lingering items for McGovern to prove, needing to match his developing leadership to his already developed strength and athleticism.
“We had Brian Gaia, who was a tremendous leader for us and really kind of understood what we were trying to do,” said Franklin. “Really, your center is kind of your quarterback of your offensive line. So allowing Connor to get some experience now at guard without having to take on those responsibilities, and now moving to center and being able to take on the physical responsibilities as well as the mental and leadership responsibilities, he's in a much better position to do that.”
Throughout the group, preparedness for the opportunity now exists, the individuals within it simply need to go out and do it.