Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1001699
2 0 1 8 S E A S O N P R E V I E W
Dolphins following an All-Big Ten career
in
which he caught 129 passes, the most
in school history by a tight end. That total
included a team-high 57 catches for 563
yards last season, and nine of those
catches were for touchdowns, another
team-high.
Who will fill Gesicki's shoes? Heading
into preseason practice, that's still an
open question. Jonathan Holland had
three catches last season and Nick Bowers
one, with the latter scoring a touchdown
on his lone reception. Holland appeared
in 12 games, while Bowers, recovering
from an undisclosed injury, played in only
three.
The presumed candidates to receive the
bulk of the reps this season, Holland and
Bowers were both out of action for the du-
ration of spring practice. As a result,
third-year sophomore Danny Dalton got a
heavier-than-expected workload, as did
walk-on Joe Arcangelo. Freshman Zack
Kuntz, a four-star prospect as rated by Ri-
vals.com, earned reps in early spring prac-
tices but did not play in the Blue-White
Game. Of the five tight ends on the roster
for the spring, the Nittany Lions had only
two available for the spring game.
For a team with a big vacancy to fill, it
was not an ideal scenario.
"Obviously we had a little bit less depth
there this spring," Rahne said. "But I
thought they did a nice job. I thought
Danny Dalton had a really good spring. I
thought he blocked well all spring. He did
a nice job today, caught the ball well,
picked up some first downs and things
like that throughout the entire spring.
"And then Arcangelo, he's got some
strength. He's got pretty good hands. He's
got to just continue to focus on what his
assignment is all the time and all those
sorts of things. But he's done a nice job of
getting in there and competing, which I
think is one of his strengths as well."
The team's many absences this spring
meant that there wasn't as much compe-
tition as might have been expected, but
that will change once preseason camp be-
gins in August. The returning players
have had months to recuperate since the
end of spring practice, and they were
joined in May by a new contender, as
freshman Pat Freiermuth enrolled for
Penn
State's first summer semester.
Rahne, who coached the Nittany Lions'
tight ends before being promoted to of-
fensive coordinator following Moorhead's
exit, said he's confident that the players
on hand will be able to provide the pro-
ductivity the offense needs.
"I think we have good tight ends, I really
do,"
he said. "I think we've got some guys
who will surprise some people. So I'm ex-
cited about what our tight ends can do,
and I'm excited about the freshmen we
have coming in as well. ... This offense
runs best when we have a great tight
end."
■
KEY PERSONNEL Joe Arcangelo, Nick
Bowers, Danny Dalton, Pat Freiermuth,
Jonathan Holland, Zack Kuntz
LOSSES Mike Gesicki*, Tom Pancoast
RISING STAR Both of Penn State's true
freshman tight ends received four stars
from Rivals.com, and one of those play-
ers – Kuntz – was on campus this past
spring as an early enrollee. But if we had
to guess which one will be a bigger con-
tributor immediately, it would be Freier-
muth. At 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, he
already has Big Ten-ready size, and
while he wasn't able to enroll in January,
he did arrive in time for the