The time has come to dust off the helmets and shoulder pads for James Franklin’s Penn State Nittany Lion football team as spring practice begins Friday. After a winter full of workouts and installing a new offense, Franklin and his team are excited about getting on the field.
“This is a time of year that we all get excited about,” the third-year head coach said at a press conference on Monday. “ Our guys have done a great job … we’re not just gaining weight, but the right type of weight.”
Penn State hits the field Friday for their first of 15 practices leading up to the Blue-White Game April 16th.
Workout Wonders
Over the course of the offseason, the members of the Nittany Lions football team hit the weight room and hit it hard as evidenced by some of the staggering changes to weights and testing numbers.
For Franklin, some players stuck out more than others.
“Saquon Barkley lost five pounds of fat and gained 12 pounds of muscle,” according to Franklin. “Barkley had a 4.0 pro-agility, ran a 4.38 in the 40, and a 390 power clean.”
Barkley will be a sophomore in the fall and looks to build on an impressive freshman campaign which saw the running back rushing for 1,145 yards while missing three-and-a-half games.
Freshman Kevin Givens also bulked up over the course of the off-season resulting in a position change from defensive end to defensive tackle now that the Altoona High product is north of 270 pounds.
“Givens had a 410-pound bench and 600-pound squat,” Franklin stated. “ We still need Givens to put some weight on before camp. But we fell comfortable that’s going to happen.
Position Changes
As with every off-season, the Nittany Lions have some holes to fill as a result of graduation and departures from the program as well as just natural changes to better playing time for individual players.
Originally recruited as a defensive back out of high school, Nick Scott will be moving from running back to defensive back this spring.
“Nick is actually a guy that came to me about moving. I think Nick is a competitor, but I think he also saw that Saquon Barkley has got some special qualities.” Franklin said. “He’s excited. He’s taken a lot of initiative. I see him getting together with John Reid and Jordan Smith and Haley and those guys, and spending time with them, working on the fundamentals and techniques.”
According to Franklin Scott will begin at corner where the depth is not quite as deep as it is at the safety position.
“At corner, we want to continue to create depth. And the other thing I said to him was, you talk about six-foot corners, he’s one of our better athletes on our team and if you can find a six-foot corner who can run the way he can run and has the length to get his hands on you at the line of scrimmage, it’s just learning the position,” Franklin added.
Joining Givens in switching to defensive tackle will be Curtis Cothran.
Quarterback Competition
With quarterback Christian Hackenberg heading to the NFL, a void has opened under center for the Nittany Lions as they look to fill the void with the quarterbacks currently on the roster.
Of the four quarterbacks currently on the spring roster, only redshirt sophomore Trace McSorley has appeared in a game for Penn State. McSorley, who played in seven games in 2015, played extensively in the TaxSlayer Bowl against Georgia after Hackenberg went down with an injury passing for 142-yards and two touchdowns in relief.
McSorley enters spring practices in a competition with both Tommy Stevens, a redshirt freshman, and Jake Zembiec who enrolled this spring for the Nittany Lions.
Franklin shed light into the competition between McSorley and Stevens saying, “It’s one of these competitions where they have a lot of respect and really like each other but they truly are competing in everything.”
As for Zembiec, the early enrollee, is a factor in the competition as well.
“The young pup in Jake Zembiec is right there with them as well, trying to prove his opportunity,” Franklin said.
While the competition to lead the Penn State offense in the fall is well underway, the third-year head coach is not in a hurry to name a starter just yet.
“I think you always would like to have your quarterback named as early as possible so they can go into the summer and really take ahold of the team. we want to make sure we are making the right decision, number one. And if that becomes obvious early on, great. If it needs to go to summer camp, we’re willing to go to summer camp and if it needs to be the first game, that could be the case as well,” Franklin said of the competition.
News and Notes
Brent Wilkerson, a senior tight end, has been suspended indefinitely from the team according to Penn State athletics stemming from being charged on March 8 with one count indecent assault and a summary count of harassment. A preliminary hearing for Wilkerson has been scheduled for April 6.
“We are aware of the charges against Mr. Wilkerson. He has been suspended indefinitely from all football and team activities until we have more information. We will not have any additional comment as this is an ongoing legal matter,” Penn State athletics said in a statement.
