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T H E 2 0 1 9 N I T T A N Y L I O N S looking to replace all four starters in the secondary. Despite the personnel over- haul, the Lions finished the season ranked second in the Big Ten in pass defense, al- lowing opponents to complete only 53.6 percent of their throws. With players such as Castro-Fields and Sutherland waiting to step into bigger roles, there's no reason to think that the upswing won't continue next season. STAFF SAYS Smith: "We have a lot of depth at the secondary position. Every now and then, a freshman will come in and contribute, like a few years back, John Reid came in and started his first game of his freshman year. Now we don't have to re- quire a guy to step in right away unless he's blessed and talented that way. We have a lot of depth. Amani will step out, Tariq will step right in. We have more freshmen coming in and some guys already in the program. There's quite a lot of depth, even at the safety position. We're in a much better position than five years ago." SPECIAL TEAMS KEY RETURNEES KR: Journey Brown, K.J. Hamler; P: Blake Gillikin, Cade Pol- lard; PK: Rafael Checa, Vlad Hilling, Carson Landis, Jake Pinegar, Justin Tobin; PR: K.J. Hamler KEY LOSSES KR: Johnathan Thomas; LS: Kyle Vasey; PR: DeAndre Thompkins NEWCOMERS None OUTLOOK The kicking game was a huge liability in the Citrus Bowl, and the Nit- tany Lions' disappointing afternoon in Orlando rekindled memories of previous special teams setbacks, a slide that began in the opener when Appalachian State's Darrynton Evans returned Penn State's first kickoff of the season 65 yards for a touchdown. On the bright side, the Lions did appear to find a couple of special teams stars this past season in Pinegar and Hamler, and one of the best things about those players is that both have three more years of eli- gibility. The coaching staff brought Pinegar along slowly, giving him only three field goal opportunities in Penn State's first four games. He struggled a bit initially, missing two of those three kicks. But starting with the Ohio State game, in which he converted attempts of 34 and 39 yards, the true freshman from Ankeny, Iowa, was solid. He hit six of his last eight kicks of the regular season, including a pair of 49-yarders. The downside here is that he goes into the off-season on the heels of a bad game against Kentucky in which he missed a 40-yarder and had a 36-yard attempt partially blocked. As for Hamler, he gave the Lions a jolt of electricity right from the start. His 52- yard kickoff return against Appalachian State was the play that sent Penn State on its way to a comeback victory. He finished the season averaging 26.2 yards on 20 re- turns to rank seventh in the Big Ten. The Lions will also return Gillikin for his fourth starting season, so the punting job will be in good hands. His 44-yard aver- age, which included a 71-yarder in the Citrus Bowl, ranked second in the Big Ten. The biggest vacancy on special teams is at the punt return spot, where Thomp- kins must be replaced. Hamler filled in on occasion this past season, but will the coaches want to use him in that role full- time when he's also starting on offense and probably bringing back kickoffs as well? That's an open question. Reid has done it before, but he, too, is a starter. So unless Hamler is simply too good to be denied, it's likely that the Lions will turn to one of their up-and-coming young players to fill this role. STAFF SAYS Special teams coordinator Phil Galiano on Hamler: "We want him to have the ball in his hands every opportu- nity we can. We think he can score every time he touches the ball, but we also know we have to make good decisions for the outcome of the team. For example, on kick return, it's not always how deep the ball is kicked, but how much hang time was there and the location of the catch. Any chance we get where we feel we can get a positive return and a good play, we want him to bring the ball out. There are other times when it's in our best inter- est… to take a knee and save time, and we communicate that. But make no mistake about it, when we can get the ball in his hands, we want him to get it and go score." ■ A LEG UP In his first season as Penn State's starting kicker, Pinegar con- nected on 16 of 24 field goal at- tempts. Photo by Steve Manuel

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