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P E N N S TAT E F O O T B A L L >> 2 0 1 8 K I C K O F F S P E C I A L NUMBERS GAME PSU is looking to several players to help fill its opening at the tight end spot | ike Gesicki is now in Miami, hauling in one-handed catches on the practice field for the Dolphins. His departure has opened up a spot in Penn State's starting lineup, so the Nittany Lions will have a new face at tight end when they open their season against Appalachian State on Sept. 1. But that's not the only opening in the Nittany Lions' tight end room this season. After Ricky Rahne was promoted to of- fensive coordinator last winter, Penn State needed a new assistant coach, so it hired Tyler Bowen away from Maryland to take charge of Rahne's former position group. Rahne said he has the utmost confi- dence in his successor, but the replace- ment of Gesicki is a question that remains open-ended. "Coach Bowen is a great football coach [teaching] scheme and technique. That's been a great deal for us," Rahne said. "But I told him the other day, when we were sitting down talking, how it's always going to be hard to replace a guy like Mike. You watch the clips coming out of Dol- phins camp right now and he's making all these one-handed catches and these guys are amazed. I wrote on Twitter the other day, 'I don't know if that makes the top 20 that I've seen.' It's hard to replace that." Hard to replace, yes. But Rahne, Bowen and head coach James Franklin have some ideas. Three scholarship tight ends return to the roster, although none have seen more than minimal experience. Redshirt junior Jonathan Holland backed up Gesicki last year, but much of his action was on spe- cial teams. The 6-foot-4, 252-pounder was named in July to the preseason watch list for the John Mackey Award, and he got an even more significant endorse- ment from his head coach after the first week of preseason practice. "I think Holland is really doing some nice things," Franklin said. "He's really had a good off-season, had a good spring. He's built on it." Franklin said he wasn't ready to declare Holland the winner, and that was because he was being pushed by the team's two other scholarship returnees: Nick Bowers and Danny Dalton. Bowers, a 6-4, 269-pound redshirt jun- ior, is a candidate for significant playing time after he hauled in his first career touchdown catch against Nebraska in November. The game against the Corn- huskers was one of only three in which he played last year, as his career has been sidetracked by injuries. As for the 6-4, 251-pound Dalton, he enters his redshirt sophomore season without having seen game action. "Bowers is doing some good things. Dalton is doing some nice things," Franklin said. "But I'd say right now Hol- land has been the most consistent. I've been very pleased with his blocking, things like that. He's always been a guy who can make plays in the passing game, but he's really doing a good job for us when it comes to the run game and block- ing. I've been really pleased with him and his maturity. It's been good. With Holland, Bowers and Dalton in the mix, along with a couple of highly touted freshmen, the coaches believe that they can make up for the loss of Gesicki through what Rahne labeled "a group ef- fort." "Every single guy who went in there [at the start of preseason camp], I can envi- sion them going in there [in a game]. I see productivity and I see guys who can play in the Big Ten," Rahne said. "I think that we have a very high-level tight end group, and I'm very excited about it." M POTENTIAL STARTER Holland played prima- rily on special teams last season but also backed up Mike Gesicki at tight end. He re- cently received praise from James Franklin for his performance during the off-season. Photo by Steve Manuel

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