Blue White Illustrated

T H E 2 0 1 8 S E A S O N man of habit, Penn State head coach James Franklin began his weekly press conference at Beaver Stadium as he always does. Three days earlier, the Nittany Lions had thrashed Pitt on its home turf, 51-6, but while the final score was surprisingly lop- sided, Franklin began the presser with his customary deconstruction of the team's performance, assessing the positives and negatives, noting the individual players who had stood out, and sizing up the keys to the game in all three facets: offense, defense and special teams. He did all this, as he always does, in his opening remarks, before fielding any questions from the phone lines. It was a familiar scene. But in the midst of it, Franklin was able to highlight an as- pect of the team's performance that had not always been a strength in previous seasons, even in victory. Against Pitt, the Nittany Lions had performed well up front on both sides of the ball. How well? "We dominated the line of scrimmage," he said. Dominant performances have been an annual expec- tation for the Nittany Lions' defensive line, but the of- fensive front had been a work in progress throughout Franklin's first four seasons. It was Penn State's thinnest position group when he arrived in 2014, having been eroded by NCAA-mandated scholarship reductions that prevented the team from adequately replacing gradu- ated standouts like John Urschel and left it vulnerable to injuries, of which there were several that first season. It took years to identify, sign and de- velop the kind of offensive line talent that Franklin knew he would need in order to turn the program back into a frequent title contender. The evolution began in February 2014 with the signing of three offensive line prospects, including future starter Chasz Wright. It continued in subsequent years with the arrival of four- star prospects such as Ryan Bates, Michal Menet and Connor McGovern, among others. But offensive lines don't take shape overnight, and even as recently as last season, the Lions never quite knew what to expect. "There were games where we were able to protect pretty consistently," Franklin said. "There were games where we were able to run the ball pretty consistently. And then there were games where the running game disappeared, from a scheme standpoint, but also in just being able to get a consistent push and move- ment up front." This year, the Nittany Lions returned five starters from the 2017 campaign, and Franklin entered spring practice with a firm belief that the group was ca- pable of taking that next step. Much of the coaches' optimism stemmed from Menet's promotion to a starting lineup that also included Bates at left tackle, Steven Gonzalez at left guard, McGovern at center, and Wright and Will Fries at right tackle. Menet was at right guard in SNAP DECISION A surprise position switch has helped PSU's offensive line continue moving forward | A NEW POSITION Menet had been expected to start at right guard, but the coaching staff stationed him at cen- ter in preseason prac- tice, and he played that position during the nonconference season. Photo by Steve Manuel

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