Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> its true freshmen still in high school this spring, Penn State will get a smaller boost than usual this summer. Of course, the number of newcomers could rise if the Lions land any graduate transfers in the coming months. They had already landed one – former Florida State re- ceiver George Campbell – in February. The wave of departures has created an atmosphere in which it might appear that everything is up for grabs. And that's not entirely bad. While it's hard to imagine a scenario in which, say, Yetur Gross-Matos or Pat Freiermuth or K.J. Hamler aren't in the starting lineup Aug. 31 when Penn State welcomes Idaho to Beaver Stadium for the season opener, the coaching staff doesn't want anyone feeling too secure. "At every position, we have an open competition and guys will have to bat- tle," Franklin said. "That's even for returning starters. Return- ing starters have got to go out and they've got to prove that they deserve to come back and be the leader at that position. So that's across the board. We want all our guys to embrace that. We want our guys to em- brace that competition and have fun with it and under- stand it's going to bring out the best in them. It really truly is. It's going to be a really good spring." Here's a look at five of the more press- ing questions facing Penn State now that spring practice is under way in advance of the Blue-White Game on April 13. 1 Is Tommy Stevens ready to become Penn State's starting quarterback? This is the biggest question of the off- season, and the picture may not start coming into focus until after spring drills conclude. Stevens sat out the Cit- rus Bowl after undergoing surgery for an unspecified medical issue. Franklin prefers not to talk about the health of in- jured players, but he did admit recently that Stevens had suffered "a pretty sig- nificant injury [that impacted] his ability to continue training and developing and playing the role that we needed him to play." And yet, without getting into the fifth- year senior's medical situation, Franklin made it clear in February that he viewed Stevens as the Nittany Lions' first-team quarterback heading into spring prac- tice, followed by redshirt sophomore Sean Clifford, redshirt freshman Will Levis and true freshman early enrollees Michael Johnson Jr. and Ta'Quan Rober- son. "We're not in a situation to name a starter really at any position, but when we start out, you've got to put them in some order," Franklin said. "Tommy will be number one, and Sean will be number two and Levis will be number three and so forth down the line." If Stevens is healthy, there's every rea- son to believe that the depth chart will look that way in the fall. He gave the coaching staff a lot to think about in the spring and summer of 2016 before they named McSorley the starter, and he went on to play in 23 games as McSor- ley's backup, primarily as an all-purpose skill position player specializing in red zone catches and runs. He's a surpris- ingly slippery runner for a guy who goes 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, as evidenced by his average of 6.7 yards per carry and eight rushing touchdowns. He's only at- tempted 41 passes to date, completing 24 for 304 yards and four scores, but the coaching staff likes his potential and they really like that he was willing to wait his turn behind McSorley rather than transferring. Said Franklin, "I've got so much respect for Tommy. I've got so much confidence in Tommy." Clifford has impressed in very limited action. He's thrown seven passes in his career, completing five for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He could easily have another long touchdown pass on his re- sume, but DeAndre Thompkins wasn't THE FUTURE IS NOW Shorter is one of sev- eral freshman-eligi- ble receivers who will be looking to step forward into bigger roles this sea- son. Photo by Steve Manuel

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