Blue White Illustrated

PHIL'S CORNER Penn State turns to seven early enrollees to help bolster positions of need hen I sat down in the middle of December and glanced over the Nittany Lions' spring practice scholarship roster, it didn't take long to realize that Bill O'Brien and his staff had serious depth problems at quarterback and in the secondary. The only scholarship quarterback remaining on Penn State's roster following the 2012 season was sophomore Steven Bench. Matt McGloin completed his college playing career in November, and Paul Jones made the decision in October to transfer to Robert Morris. In the defensive backfield, Penn State said goodbye to field cornerback Stephon Morris. The graduation of Morris was only the most obvious of several concerns in the secondary. The Nittany Lions also needed to build depth behind returning cornerback Adrian Amos, free safety Malcolm Willis and strong safety Stephen Obeng-Agyapong. In coaching terms, depth was almost nonexistent at these positions. In fact, former "run-on" redshirt junior Ryan Keiser was the only listed returning scholarship player behind Willis and Obeng-Agyapong at the safety spots. The situation at cornerback seemed to be a bit more steady with redshirt junior Jesse Della Valle and sophomores Jordan Lucas and Da'Quan Davis having accumulated some playing experience. Also, there were hopes that redshirt freshman Jake Kiley could work his way into the mix this spring. But the depth at cornerback was far from optimal. The lack of depth at the two posi- W tions influenced O'Brien and his staff to make concerted efforts to find players in this recruiting cycle who could graduate from high school in December and enroll at Penn State when the university's spring semester began on Jan. 7. O'Brien was able to find seven prospects – five of whom were offered scholarships and two of whom will walk on – that fit that mold. The seven early enrollees are: athlete Richy Anderson of Frederick, Md.; tight end Adam Breneman of Camp Hill, Pa.; quarterback Tyler Ferguson of Bakersfield, Calif.; defensive back Anthony Smith of Randolph, N.J.; defensive back Jordan Smith of Washington, D.C.; quarterback Austin Whipple of Salisbury, Conn.; and quarterback D.J. Crook of Worcester, Mass. Whipple and Crook will join the program as run-ons. Five of those recruits will be in position to provide Penn State with much-needed depth at the two areas that appeared to have the most serious issues heading into spring practice. "We have seven new players here on campus who basically arrived over the weekend," O'Brien said at his Jan. 7 news conference. "I think you know who they are. We have a combination of scholarship and run-on guys. We're really excited about both groups of guys who came in here, and we just really want them to get off on the right foot academically." O'Brien emphasized that academics have to come first for the early enrollees. In addition, they must get ac- climated to Craig Fitzgerald's strength and conditioning program. They'll need to lay a foundation in order to be in top-notch condition for spring practice, which starts the last week in March. The quarterbacks – Ferguson, Whipple and Crook – will also be spending a lot of time with O'Brien and quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher leading up to spring practice. It is going to be essential for Ferguson, Whipple and Crook to join Bench in the film room at least several times a week during the next three months. They'll also have to be involved in a series of informal workouts that occur on a weekly basis with Penn State's skill players. This will help them develop chemistry before spring practice begins. It will be the same type of crashcourse learning that helped McGloin to have the finest season of his career. O'Brien said McGloin's attitude and his diligent approach to learning the offense played a big role in his success. "I think that's just the system we run," O'Brien said. "It requires a quarterback who has a brain, who can think fast. "I think guys who are good in that system, they love it because it is a challenge. Every day is a challenge that they enjoy." McGloin embraced O'Brien's approach from the moment the new coach stepped onto campus the day after New England's Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants a year ago. It's the reason McGloin improved each week during the season, and it's the type of attitude Bench, Ferguson, Whipple and Crook will need to adopt throughout Penn State's winter workout sessions. That's because the quarterback's performance is the key to O'Brien's offense. On the surface, it appears as though Penn State will enter spring practice with the most inexperienced group of quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Bench is the only quarterback on the roster who has run the offense in game conditions. This past fall, he played in two games – Virginia and

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